Frags
Frags (from the Vietnam War-era term of “fragging,” or “frags” for short, to indicate a practical joke) were part of SR-71 Blackbird crew members (or Habus)’ traditions.
Former Blackbird pilot Richard H. Graham recalls a very special frag that took place at Kadena Air Base (AB), Okinawa, Japan, home of Sr-71 Det. 1.
He explains in his book Flying the SR-71 Blackbird: in the copckpit on a secret operational mission;
‘There were a lot of unit rivalries on Kadena between the SR-71 crews and the RC-135 reconnaissance crews from the 55th SRW at Offutt AFB, Nebraska. We were all there on a TDY basis with a common mission of gathering intelligence on the enemy. There was plenty of free time to think up pranks to play on each other.
The mobile crew
‘One day, the mobile crew* had just launched the SR-71 and went to the Officers Club to grab a bite before they were due back for the landing. They parked and locked the mobile car in front of the club. An RC-135 crew just happened to park right beside the mobile car, and one of them looked inside and saw a kit bag with “CLASSIFIED” labels all over it sitting on the back seat.
‘This was a big no-no!
‘They knew who it belonged to, but thought it would be cute to call the security police and let them know there was classified material in a military vehicle parked in front of the Officers club. Needless to say, this breach of security turned into much more than a practical joke.
RC-135 silhouettes spray painted all over Kadena by SR-71 crew members
‘To get revenge, we made stencils of their RC-135 aircraft and spray painted them all over the base. They thought someone in their own squadron had done the job and were proud to see their plane stenciled on signs, poles, and buildings. The natural assumption was that they did it and their squadron ended up having to remove all the painted planes. Touché!
‘In hindsight these pranks seem petty, but at the time they were all part of the experience. A lot of the shenanigans we did back then would probably get us in big trouble in today’s Air Force.’
*The mobile crew was so named because it was always on the go. Crew members primary duties were to make sure the plane was 100 percent ready for the flyers and to get the SR-71 into the takeoff position, unimpeded, at the precise takeoff time. The mobile pilot and RSO preflighted both cockpits before the primary flyers arrived at the aircraft, ensuring the cockpits were set and everything was in perfect order up to the starting engines checklist. There was a tremendous amount of trust between the primary crew and the mobile crew. On several occasions, because of time constraints, crews literally started both engines immediately after getting into the cockpit; they had complete confidence in the mobile crew’s ability to set all the cockpit switches in their correct positions and to check out every single item.
Check out Habubrats SR-71‘s Twitter profile, SR71Habubrats‘s Instagram profile, and Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder Habubrats‘s Facebook page for further Blackbird photos and stories.
Photo by U.S. Air Force
