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Blackbird
The SR-71, unofficially known as the “Blackbird,” was a long-range, Mach 3+, strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft.
The first flight of an SR-71 took place on Dec. 22, 1964, and the first SR-71 to enter service was delivered to the 4200th (later 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., in January 1966.
The Blackbird was in a different category from anything that had come before. “Everything had to be invented. Everything,” Skunk Works legendary aircraft designer Kelly Johnson recalled in an interesting article appeared on Lockheed Martin website.
Emergency Landing
For instance, the SR-71 was conceived without a boarding ladder. So, how did SR-71 crews get out of the plane when they landed in emergency?
SR-71 Blackbird pilot Stormy Boudreaux explained to me;
‘Yes, SR-71 was designed without a boarding ladder, but the crew could disembark the aircraft without a ladder, with a little bit of gymnastics.
‘They would first open the canopy. The canopy was manually opened, by unlocking and pushing it up until it latched in open position.
‘Then they would unstrap, and remove their spurs. Now they could climb over the side, slide down the chine, hang from the edge of the chine and drop a short distance to the ground.
‘(In an extreme emergency – say if aircraft was on fire they could even eject while the plane was stopped on the ground but they must do that before unstrapping. The normal D-ring or an alternate ejection T-handle could be pulled to initiate ejection.)
SR-71 hanging and jumping down from the chine to get out of the plane
‘But under normal situations the procedure went like this: the RSO would open his canopy, unstrap, climb down the chine, sit on edge of chine reverse turn and hang from chine and drop to the ground. He had a spare set of landing gear pins that he would install then signal the pilot he could shutdown. The pilot would hold the brakes and keep the engines running until the pins were installed and chocks were installed to keep the jet from rolling.
Boudreaux concludes;
‘Quite often even at a “land-away base” someone responding to the SR-71 landing would have a 6 or 8’ step ladder in their truck that could be used instead of hanging/jumping down from the chine.’
I often wondered how my father and others were able to get out of the airplane without assistance.
Jump? And now I know – they would open their canopies and slide down the chines until they reached the edge then hang down for a short drop to the ground. Getting back in though – it was necessary to use the local base’s ladders or moveable platforms such as a B-4 stand to get back into the cockpit.
Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Twitter Page Habubrats SR-71 and Facebook Page Born into the Wild Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.
Photo credit: Crew photo colorized by Robert D Hall lll
