President Jimmy Carter
From 1977 to 1981, American politician and humanitarian James Earl “Jimmy” Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924–December 29, 2024) served as the 39th president of the United States. Carter, a Democrat, was Georgia’s 76th governor from 1971 to 1975 and a member of the Georgia State Senate from 1963 to 1967. He was the longest-lived president in US history and the first to reach the age of 100.
This particular SR-71 Blackbird story is also associated with President Jimmy Carter.
An aviation buff
The actual unofficial top speed of the SR-71 Blackbird is Mach 3.52. This happened because of the urgings of a Catholic priest!
SR-71 pilot Tom Alison said, “My God, Padre, what more do you want? I came within 5 degrees of burning up this entire airplane! “What more do you want?”
The Father wanted to make sure that he broke the official record of the fastest speed in the SR-71; that’s what he wanted.
Father Hesburgh was used to asking for a lot and getting it.
According to the University of Notre Dame website, Father Theodore Hesburgh, President of the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, was an aviation buff. He was hooked after a flight in a barnstormer’s stunt plane at the age of 10 that his Dad paid five dollars for. In his autobiography, he wrote that he has logged nearly three million miles in the air, flying in supersonic fighter jets such as the F-14 Tomcat, as well as in exotic aircraft such as a Torpedo Bomber, a Weather Plane, and many more. He also broke the sound barrier several times, flew into a volcanic crater, and piloted a naval bomber over the Pacific despite having no formal flight training.
But he wanted more.
The ultimate prize would be to fly in the world’s fastest airplane and break the current record. That record was set in 1976 at Mach 3.2.
President Jimmy Carter lets a Catholic Priest fly aboard an SR-71 Blackbird
Hesburgh’s chance came while talking with President Jimmy Carter in the White House.
President Carter was thanking the Roman Catholic priest for his Goodwill accomplishments during a meeting at the White House; he asked Hesburgh, ‘Is there anything I could do for you?’ President Carter recalled the moment Hesburgh asked for the favor: ‘I said, “Fr. Hesburgh, it’s not customary for civilians to ride on a top-secret airplane.”
He said, ‘That’s all right. I thought you were Commander-in-Chief.’
The chief of staff of the Air Force called Hesburgh two days later. He was expected to report to Beale Air Force Base in California to go through a rigorous testing and training regimen. Hesburgh had to learn how to use all the instruments in the back seat, including radios, navigational equipment, and dozens of gauges and meters, after passing the psychological and physical tests astronauts must undergo. After that, he had situational training for a variety of emergencies, such as equipment failure and ejection. Perhaps the oldest VIP to ride in the SR-71 was Father Hesburgh. He was sixty-one. Senator Barry Goldwater would be a close rival for this distinction. In 1969, he received his VIP ride at the age of sixty.
On Feb. 28, 1979, Hesburgh and the SR-71 pilot, Major Tom Alison, prepared for their attempt to break the Blackbird’s speed record.
The priest wanted to push it to the limit.
An almost impossible task
After cruising at 30,000 feet just under the speed of sound, Allison and Hesburgh dove 5,000 feet and broke the sound barrier. They then turned their nose upwards and rocketed past 80,000 feet, accelerating through Mach 3. As Hesburgh watched the speedometer, the Blackbird pushed past Mach 3.52, breaking the plane’s speed record.
In his autobiography, Hesburgh said that when he’d landed, he asked Alison if he had pushed the plane as fast as it would go. Alison responded, “My God, Padre, I went within five degrees of burning us up. What more do you want?”
Hesburgh fulfilled a lifelong dream—he set an unofficial airspeed record in the world’s fastest airplane, an SR-71 Blackbird. This became the Father’s proudest accomplishment, a story that he told over and over again to his friends.
This is a truly remarkable story about a man who asked for an almost impossible task and received it!
Check out Habubrats SR-71 X profile, SR71Habubrats Instagram profile, and Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder Habubrats Facebook page for further Blackbird photos and stories.
Photo by U.S. Air Force and Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, Naval Photographic Center
