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The Blackbird
What aviation geek doesn’t love speed, new technologies, advanced manufacturing methods, and the mysteries of a secret government program? Many aircraft embody these features, but none come close to the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird.
It could fly over Vietnam in eight minutes, its electronic counter measures were so advanced that they are still in use today on other airplanes and remain top-secret, had tires filled with nitrogen, and was made from one of the most expensive metals on earth. And, it’s still the world’s fastest plane.
For speed, innovation and secrecy, no aircraft of its era came close to the SR-71 Blackbird.
First public display since the 1976 record-setting speed record
As told by Paul Crickmore in his book Lockheed Blackbird: Beyond the Secret Missions – The Missing Chapters, in 1977, Blackbird pilot Buz Carpenter and RSO John Murphy’s TDY at Mildenhall, United Kingdom, was extended to support the air tattoo celebration of the Queen’s silver jubilee open house. This would be the first public display of an SR-71 since the record-setting speed record in 1976 from New York to London in under two hours.
Carpenter recalls;
‘The SR-71 would be part of the static display but roped off so that people could not touch the aircraft. We were advised that, indeed, the Russians were coming. To prevent the Russians or anybody else from exploiting the display. No sensors were left on the aircraft, all fuel had been removed from the tanks, and the plane was heat-soaked to an ambient temperature to prevent infrared cameras from discovering the aircraft’s secrets, internal structure, and support systems. We four crewmembers Buz Carpenter, John Murphy, JT Vida, and Tom Alison were standing around the aircraft, answering questions from the crowd when sure enough the Russians showed up in numbers. They took numerous regular and infrared photos. Some of the Russians even had hidden microscopes.
‘They were a site to see coming up like a convey of quails.
Soviet MiG-23 pilot asks to bring an SR-71 at Vladivostok
‘It looks like the Salvation Army had outed them. Their dress sense was from a 1930s movie about American mobsters. They were wearing double-breasted suits made from a rougher cloth than one normally sees.
‘The head of the Soviet delegation is a former MiG-23 fighter pilot who’s quite relaxed and talkative in his demeanor. He asked John and me to drop in on Vladivostok (the USSR) as a gesture of peaceful relationship.
‘We just quipped “please forward that request to our state department.” Buz Carpenter.’
Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter X Page Habubrats SR-71, Instagram Page SR71Habubrats and Facebook Page Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder Habubrats for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.
Photo credit: NASA and U.S. Air Force
