‘Al and I had the ACTUAL speed record. 2200 indicated in our equipment aboard 958! Theirs… 2193… NAH!,’ Lt. Col. George Morgan, SR-71 Blackbird RSO
In 1976, the world looked very different. The Cold War with the Soviet Union was at its peak, and Americans were waiting in long lines at gas stations. That year also marked the United States’ bicentennial. To commemorate the occasion, officials set out to break several records using a remarkable aircraft: the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird.
The SR-71, informally called the “Blackbird,” was a long-range, highly advanced strategic reconnaissance aircraft derived from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft. The SR-71’s maiden flight occurred on Dec. 22, 1964, and the first operational aircraft was delivered in Jan. 1966 to the 4200th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, California, which was later redesignated as the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing.
As recounted by Angela Woolen in the article “SR-71 pilots, crew relive absolute speed record,” on Jul. 28, 1976, retired Maj. Gen. Eldon (Al) Joersz, serving as pilot, and retired Lt. Col. George Morgan, the reconnaissance systems officer (RSO), established the world absolute speed record for jet-powered aircraft by reaching 2,193 mph—a record that remains unbroken.
Today, SR-71 #958—the Blackbird that set the speed record—is exhibited at the Museum of Aviation near Warner Robins, Georgia.
Notably, during the record-setting run, Joersz and Morgan encountered an inlet unstart, but it still did not stop the iconic Blackbird from achieving the absolute speed record.
SR-71 pilot David Peters explains,
“If Joersz and Morgan had just a normal unstart without a burner blow out if probably didn’t slow them down much, but they certainly would have had the record higher without it.”
If the inlet unstart hadn’t briefly caused an engine to seize, they would have been able to exceed 2,193 mph and still remain below Mach 3.3. This note is from George Morgan: “Al and I had the ACTUAL speed record. 2200 indicated in our equipment aboard 958!”
“Theirs… 2193… NAH!”
Peters explains,
“Just to clear up a couple of points. First, an unstart does not usually cause the engine to shut down. In this case, it was just an unstart of the inlet, which can be recovered rather quickly. Second unstarts were much more likely in the 2.6 to 2.9 range, especially in the climb. High Mach unstarts were much more rare.”
Any SR-71 and any crew could indeed have completed that record-setting flight. However, the commander was always going to choose his most dependable team—and he chose Al Joersz and George Morgan for the mission. In the early days of the SR-71 program, the goal was to avoid drawing attention to the Blackbird. But in honor of the United States’ 200th bicentennial anniversary, President Ford asked whether an SR-71 could make a speed run. SR-71 commanders never turned down a request from the President.
The aircraft completed the first of its two passes at a speed far greater than what was needed to set the record. However, just before the start of the second pass, one of the engines shut down. By the time the crew got it running again, the jet had already flown well past the starting line. The engine ultimately recovered from the unstart.
Capt. Al Joersz, the record-setting pilot, said, “By the time we’d gone through the checklist, we’d already passed the second gate, thus officially starting the run. Still, we exited the gate at Mach 3.2.”
Peters concludes:
“If they hadn’t had the unstart when they were going through the gate, the record speed would’ve been higher. Their goal was to make 2200 mph.”
After the inlet unstart and subsequent engine restart, Joersz and Morgan could have pushed the Blackbird to its limits, reaching Mach 3.3. However, in 1976, there was still a strong desire to keep the SR-71’s true top speed secret, as that information remained classified. As a result, the US Air Force chose to set the speed record very cautiously, ensuring they did not reveal how fast the SR-71 was actually capable of flying.
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Photo by U.S. Air Force
