The SR-71 Blackbird
The SR-71, commonly referred to as the “Blackbird,” is a sophisticated, long-range strategic reconnaissance aircraft that evolved from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A. Its maiden flight occurred on December 22, 1964. The first SR-71 to be deployed entered service with the 4200th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing (later the 9th) at Beale Air Force Base, California, in January 1966.
On March 8, 1968, Lieutenant Colonel Buddy Brown and Reconnaissance Systems Officer Major Dave Jensen became the first to fly an SR-71 Blackbird (aircraft #978) from the United States to Kadena Air Base in Japan, known as OL (operation allocation). Buddy had transitioned from flying the U-2* to the SR-71 and had participated in numerous daring missions. He was chosen for this significant task because, at the time, he served as the chief of Standardization.
The SR-71 that landed at Kadena AB two hours before it took off from Beale
Buddy and Dave faced several challenges with the SR-71, as the aircraft was not accustomed to tropical climates. The following account comes directly from Buddy Brown’s memoirs.
‘The first leg of the first flight of the SR-71 across the Pacific was to Hawaii. And then on to Kadena, it took five hours. When I flew the U-2 on this same flight, it took five days (that included resting). Speed is good! On the third leg of the flight, we encountered another small problem: my left generator went offline, and I couldn’t reset it. This was a NO-GO situation, which means I should land as soon as practical…
‘My decision was to continue on because we were only 1000 miles (less than 30 minutes) from Kadena. At this time, on the high-frequency radio using our coded callsign, I contacted mama [Kadena’s Command post] and informed them, “I was lost, but was making good time” [because despite the problem, Buddy’s SR-71 was flying REALLY fast].
‘We landed at Kadena with no further problems.
‘We took off from Beale at 11:00 AM and arrived at Kadena at 9:00 AM; two hours before we took off from Beale, we beat the Sun!*
Next to the CIA’s A-12 hangars
‘For the first few weeks, we would be using the hangars next to the CIA hangars; that’s where the A-12s were. A couple of the CIA pilots briefed us on the missions they were flying and what to expect when flying some of our missions. They were very helpful. Kadena was one of the major US strongholds of the Far East. Since I had flown the U-2 a few years before out of Kadena, I was very familiar with the Far East.
‘Dave and I had over a week to target study the route of flight and survival techniques in case we were shot down, refueling, emergency recovery, HF procedures. Dave and I were planning to fly the first mission operational.
‘My backup crew was Jerry O’Malley and Ed Payne; they were briefed on the mission also.
‘The following day, March 21, 1968, the routine was normal during our taxi out at the end of the runway for the engine run-up and trim, [but] the ANS system froze on us. This, of course, was a NO-GO situation, which caused us to abort the mission.
‘Our backup crew, O’Malley and Payne, flew the first operational Sortie in aircraft # 976.’**
Notes
*Former SR-71 pilot David Peters recalls: “It always fascinated me to see the Sun in the periscope go down and disappear in the East as we outran it. And then to catch up to it and see it come up in the West.”
**Noteworthy: Buddy Brown could have been shot down over Cuba since he was Major Rudolph Anderson’s backup. If there had been a technical problem with Anderson’s U-2, it would’ve been Brown who was killed over Cuba. And because of a technical difficulty, it was not Buddy who became the first to fly an operational mission in the SR-71.
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Photo by U.S. Air Force
