Tag: Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird
“Excitement, adrenaline pumping, and we dropped like a rock into Northern Laos!” Col. David P. Dempster, former SR-71 Blackbird back seater Col. David P. Dempster enlisted in the Air Force at age 19 and qualified for the Aviation Cadet Program. He graduated from Harlingen AFB, Texas, in 1955 as a rated navigator...
This was the only time that Santa Claus marshalled in an SR-71 Taken by former SR-71 Crew Chief Tsgt. David Burns, the odd photos in this post show Santa Claus marshalling in an SR-71 Blackbird Mach 3 spy plane. Burns was a Blackbird Crew Chief at Beale Air Force Base (AFB),...
"I assumed the Soviet MiG-31 fighter pilot would like nothing better than an opportunity to fire his missiles at an SR-71 Blackbird. Certainly, the SR-71 Blackbird would be a prized target," Ed Yeilding, former SR-71 pilot As we have explained in a previous article, retired Soviet MiG-31 pilot Major Mikhail Myagkiy took part in several intercept attempts on SR-71 Blackbirds...
On Jun. 29, 1987, during a “Baltic Express” reconnaissance mission, an SR-71 piloted by retired Lt. Cols. Duane Noll and Tom Veltri, experienced an engine failure. They were intercepted by two different pairs of Swedish air force Viggens... Four Swedish air force pilots received U.S. Air Medals during a ceremony held in Stockholm, Sweden, on Nov. 28, 2018, recognizing their...
"If the SR-71 had violated Soviet airspace, a live missile launch would have been carried out. There was practically no chance that the aircraft could avoid an R-33," Major Mikhail Myagkiy, retired Soviet MiG-31 pilot In this article, a retired Soviet MiG-31 pilot, Major Mikhail Myagkiy, recalls techniques used during practice intercept attempts on SR-71 Blackbirds participating in Peacetime Aerial Reconnaissance...
Had there ever been an order to shoot down the SR-71, the MiG-25PD crews were ready. But the routine of this event never escalated to such a dramatic situation Immediately after World War II, it was clear that two geopolitical systems would dominate the world. Inherent in both was their mutually abiding mistrust of one another, which sowed the seeds...
"Suddenly the wife began sliding her wedding ring off and handed it to me. She said, 'I would love to have my ring flown at Mach 3,'" Richard H. Graham, SR-71 pilot The following story appears in Col. Richard H. Graham’s book Flying the SR-71 Blackbird. At a Wife's Insistence Sometimes visitors would ask if we would take a personal trinket of theirs...
The tale said that President Johnson was supposed to name the Blackbird the "RS-71" and that he confused the letters, reversed them, and said "SR-71" The following story appears in Col. Richard H. Graham's book Flying the SR-71 Blackbird. On 24 July, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson gave a news conference at the State Department auditorium with 315 people in attendance. For...
"We had no viable emergency airfields, and I did not want to be a no-notice, no–flight plan, single-engine emergency arrival at David Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, especially since the Israeli government had not been informed in advance about the mission," Jim Wilson, SR-71 pilot Throughout its nearly 24-year career, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Mach 3-strategic reconnaissance aircraft remained the world’s fastest and...
"How about solid waste? We just had to control any urges. There was occasional incidents; no names mentioned here!" Richard H. Graham, SR-71 pilot In the following story, which appears in Col. Richard H. Graham’s book Flying the SR-71 Blackbird, Graham himself explains how you could have a bathroom break while flying the legendary Habu. Bathroom Breaks The most frequently asked question about the pressure...
