The SR-71 Black Bird, as it has become known, is the fastest Reconnaissance aircraft ever created. The SR-71 aircraft was one of four aircraft designs developed under the “BlackBird” project. One of the misconceptions of the SR-71’s beginnings, it was created specifically as a replacement for the U-2 spy plane. In fact, the original drawings and specifications were on the drawing board between the years of 1957-1958. The Gary Powers event, which was the shooting down of a U-2 aircraft which he piloted, did not occur until May 1st of 1960.
The engineer and creator of the SR-71 was the now legendary Kelly Johnson. Johnson was the creative genius behind the infamous U-2 spy plane and the infamous WWII P-38 Lightning fighter plane. The P-38 Lightning became a highly regarded air-to-air combat aircraft, and ground attack fighter used in both the European and Japanese theater of war. It was also one of the first propeller driven aircraft to reach and sustain 400 mph flight. One of its standout missions was the interception and downing and death of Japanese Admiral Yamamoto in the Pacific ocean, which was a huge turn of events in WWII.
The original program was named “Oxcart”. This program was being run by the CIA and led to the development of the A-12 design from outward appearance looks identical to the later, SR-71 with the exception that it is 7 feet shorter in overall length. Contract with the US government was actually signed in mid-1959. For the aircraft to reach the heights and speed required to evade both radar, and ground -to-air missile systems, the aircraft had to be both fast, and light weight. The only material of the day that could meet these requirements and the temperature extremes the aircraft would face was titanium. Titanium by itself presented another set of problems for the engineers. First it was difficult to shape and work with, and second, the United States did not have any commercially viable source. Ultimately, the final version of the SR-71 was composed of 93% titanium. The only known producer and supplier of Titanium in the 1950’s and 1960’s was the USSR. The CIA went about setting up a series of shell companies around the world to purchase titanium from the USSR, which is a story unto itself.
The Advanced Development Programs division was commonly known as the “Skunk Works”. There were a total of 50 Black Birds were built. Thirteen of the aircraft were the CIA as version A-12 and thirty-two were built for the US Air Force as version SR-71.
The first CIA A-12 operational mission was flown by the CIA out of Japan, over Vietnam in 1967. The first SR-71 operational flight was in 1968. Once the SR-71 arrived on the air pad as the newest in the Blackbird family, it was soon tested in fly off known as’ Pretty Girl ‘, against the A-12 and found to be superior in both operational abilities, and flight performance. Soon after the test results were complete, the A-12 was sidelined by the CIA in favor of the SR-71 design.
The SR-71 was constructed on the west coast of California, but was transported in pieces over the mountains of California to be assembled and flown from the secret Air Force base known as “Area 51”. While the SR-71 still holds flight speed and altitude records that still stand today, it should be noted that these records were not a one-time event. In fact, the SR-71 reached these records each time it flew. Highest recorded altitude was 85,068 Ft., fastest recorded speed was 2,193 mph. The Craft itself was powered by two Pratt & Whitney Ram Jet engines, capable of continuous after burner thrust of 34,000 lbs. In a phrase: “faster than a speeding Bullet”, an amazing engineering feat.
Footnote: Information gathered from retired Colonel USAF Joe Kinego; Pilot SR-71.
