‘During that pass, we had “13 fireballs” come out of the plane’s exhaust. It looked beautiful, and people wanted to know if it could be done again.’ SR-71 Blackbird RSO, Lt. Col. Doug Soifer.
Captured in 1986 at RAF Mildenhall, this video showcases an SR-71 Blackbird, a Mach 3 spy aircraft, generating 13 stunning fireballs during its performance at the Air Fete Air Show. In Richard H. Graham’s book, SR-71 Revealed: The Inside Story, former Blackbird RSO Lt. Col. Doug Soifer narrates the serendipitous creation of this exceptional SR-71 footage.
‘On our very first TDY to Mildenhall, Mike Smith [the pilot] and I were lucky enough to be there for Air Fete—the big annual air show at Mildenhall. We got to fly the first day and thought we did a good job.
‘During the 20-minute sortie, we had a real hard kick during one pass when we went to afterburner and pulled up tight. We didn’t think much about it until we landed and were overwhelmed by people as we stepped off the jet, and they asked us what we did. We had no idea what they were talking about until someone brought over his camcorder and showed us the tape.
‘During that pass, we had “13 fireballs” come out of the plane’s exhaust. It looked beautiful, and people wanted to know if it could be done again. They used the picture of us with the flames coming out for the next year’s Air Fete poster. Mike and I became known as the “Fireball Twins.” The maintenance people figured it was the TEB [triethylborane] shooting out of its container and igniting the JP-7. With that start, we had an exciting six weeks in England.’
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Photo by Stuart Freer
