The Blackbird
The SR-71, commonly called the “Blackbird,” is a long-range, high-performance strategic reconnaissance aircraft that evolved from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A. Its maiden flight occurred on Dec. 22, 1964, and the first operational SR-71 was delivered to the 4200th (later redesignated the 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, California, in January 1966. The U.S. Air Force officially retired the SR-71 fleet on Jan. 26, 1990.
Over its almost 24 years in service, the SR-71 held the distinction of being the fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft in the world. Flying at 80,000 feet, it was capable of observing 100,000 square miles of the Earth’s surface every hour.
Captured on Nov. 1, 1981, by U.S. Air Force scene camera operator Ken Hackman, the striking photos in this post show an SR-71 Blackbird flying with only one engine in full afterburner and using a single rudder.
SR-71 with just one engine in full afterburner
Why is that?
“‘That is what we called a ‘single-engine go-around,’ says Stormy Boudreaux, SR-71 Blackbird pilot. ‘It was a practiced emergency procedure. It simulated what you had to do if you were making a single-engine approach to land and, for a variety of reasons, something made the runway or the landing impossible, so you ‘went around’ on only one engine. The tremendous thrust with one engine in full afterburner and the other in idle was eye-opening! To counter the yaw from that engine required full rudder as well as banking the aircraft into the good engine in order to maintain your flight direction down the runway.”
“Most twin-engine aircraft have to do something similar, but it’s darn right frightening the first time you try it in the SR-71. That one engine in AB is really pushing the nose around, trying to turn the jet away from that engine, and the amount of bank angle when at low speed makes you glad you are strapped tightly in the seat. It’s almost a knife-edge pass!”
Single-engine go-around
Boudreaux is echoed by David Peters, another SR-71 pilot.
“As Stormy said, the picture[s] indicates a single-engine go-around. Thrust was never an issue. What became imperative was the ability to point the airplane. Under most conditions, full opposite rudder and a slight bank into the operating engine was enough. By under certain conditions, other factors came into play. Minimum control speed being most important.”
“We had a couple of missions out of Mildenhall that went hot to the tankers. That required a heavy takeoff using a 65,000-pound yo-yo fuel load. In the wintertime, with freezing temperatures in England, min control speed was a huge factor. Once the burners lit, if you lost an engine on takeoff, your only option was to eject. Why, you ask.”
SR-71 with just one engine in full afterburner: the most dangerous operation
“Well, the runway there is only 8,000 feet. There was so much thrust developed in the cold, heavy-air climate that your speed combined with gross weight would not allow you to abort since you couldn’t stop the airplane. There was plenty of thrust available to fly on one engine, but there was so much thrust you could not control it below min control speed, which in those cases was generally around 260 knots. So, the only thing you could do was pull both engines to idle, pop the chute, and eject.”
“I always felt that was perhaps our most dangerous operation.”
Check out Habubrats SR-71 and Born into the Wild Blue Yonder Facebook pages for further Blackbird photos and stories.
Photos by Scene Camera Operator Ken Hackman / U.S. Air Force
