If you do some simple algebra, the SR-71 is much faster than
the published data. As the story below shows, only about
60% of the flight time is spent at supersonic speed. Yet
the speed for the flights are in the 2,000 mph range even
counting the subsonic time into the average.

I would expect that the maximum speed was 4,000-6,000 mph.


"Big John" wrote in message
...
| Been lurking and not posting but think this will be of
interest to
| all.
|
| Wheee. Look at the numbers )
|
| Big John
| ************************************************** ********
|
|
| FLYING THE SR-71 AT A "LEISURELY CRUISE" OF M3.0+ AT FL800
|
| An SR-71 flight in the 1973 Yom Kippur War
| by Col. Jim Wilson, USAF (ret.)
|
| On Oct 6th 1973, the armies of Egypt and Syria opened an
offensive
| against Israel on two fronts, launching a coordinated
series of air,
| armored and artillery attacks across the Suez Canal into
the Sinai and
| on the Golan Heights. The preemptive strike came as a
result of a
| failure to resolve territorial disputes arising from the
Arab-Israeli
| War of 1967.
| These disputes involved the return of the Sinai to Egypt
and the
| return of the Golan Heights to Syria. UN Resolution 242
and Egyptian
| President Sadat's peace initiative failed to bring peace.
Sadat
| wanted to sign an agreement with Israel provided the
Israelis returned
| all the occupied territories, but Israel refused to
withdraw to the
| pre-1967 armistice lines. Since no diplomatic progress
was being made
| toward peace, Sadat was convinced that to change things
and gain
| legitimacy at home, he must initiate a war with limited
objectives.
|
| Along the Suez Canal, 80,000 well-equipped members of the
Egyptian
| army who had crossed the Suez on rapidly constructed
pontoon bridges
| attacked fewer than 500 Israeli defenders. In the Golan
Heights
| approximately 180 Israeli tanks faced an onslaught of
1,400 Syrian
| tanks. Initial Israeli military losses were significant
and assistance
| was requested from the USA.
| National reconnaissance satellites did not have the
capability at the
| time to provide the intelligence that was needed to
sufficiently
| assess the situation. The 9th SRW at Beale AFB, CA was
alerted to
| prepare to fly SR-71 missions from Beale AFB, over the
area of
| conflict and recover at Royal Air Force Base Mildenhall,
England, a
| mission within the design capability of the aircraft,
although a long
| and logistically difficult mission never accomplished
before in an
| operational environment.
|
| Within the first few days of the conflict the supporting
Arab nations
| initiated an oil embargo, making oil a weapon of war and
contributing
| to a decision by the British government to deny approval
to use
| Mildenhall as a recovery base.
|
| Plan B was rapidly drawn up to fly the SR-71 out of
Griffiss AFB New
| York, through the area of conflict and recover back at
Griffiss. These
| never before accomplished 12,000 mile missions would
require five air
| to air refuelings, the deployment of sixteen KC-135Q
supporting
| tankers with special JP-7 fuel to Spain and a specialized
maintenance,
| intelligence and operational support planning staff to
Griffiss. The
| 9th SRW was well prepared and in utmost secrecy the forces
were
| mobilized and deployed. The first mission was successfully
completed
| on Oct 13th.
| I was a fairly young pilot in the squadron at the time,
with only one
| operational tour and about 120 hours of SR-71 time under
my belt. On
| Oct 20th I was assigned to fly a backup SR-71 from Beale
to Griffiss
| and to stay at Griffiss in an alert posture, prepared to
fly follow-on
| missions. We flew successful missions on Oct 25th and Nov
2 where I
| served as backup pilot.
|
| My turn as primary came up on Nov 11th. The excitement
level was
| high, as I certainly wanted to be part of the Air Force
and the Wing
| success in completing the mission as tasked.
| Takeoff was at 2AM on a brisk and clear autumn night with
about
| fifteen inches of snow already on the ground. It was
peacefully
| calm---until I lit each of the 34,000 lb thrust
afterburners. The
| first 450 miles had to be flown subsonic at .9 Mach, since
we had to
| clear the commercial aircraft flight tracks out of Boston
and New York
| to Europe before we could safely conduct air-refueling
operations.
| Radio silent electronic rendezvous with three tankers, 250
miles out
| over the North Atlantic at 3AM went well, as did the
70,000 lb (10,600
| gallons) fuel offload.
| You don't know the true meaning of dark until you've been
in a
| situation like this. We likened it to refueling in an
inkwell. After
| completing a few post refueling checks, I lit the
afterburners and
| started my acceleration to a leisurely Mach 3 cruise
across the
| Atlantic. The airplane performed flawlessly, thanks to the
extra
| special effort by the maintenance guys. About 2000 miles
across the
| Atlantic on an easterly heading I watched with excitement
as the sun
| peeked over the horizon and came up right in my face, in
about a
| minute and a half, a nice vantage point for viewing this
daily event.
|
| The second refueling was conducted in daylight, a couple
hundred miles
| north of the Azores. This was another 70,000 lb offload,
35,000 lbs
| from each of two tankers while the airborne spare tanker
was not
| needed. I started my second acceleration and headed for
the straits
| of Gibraltar. Cruising through the center of the narrow
straits at
| 80,000 feet with clear weather 100 miles on both sides
providing quite
| a spectacular view.
|
| As we proceeded down the Mediterranean toward the mid-east
the weather
| grew gradually worse, as forecast. The third air refueling
south of
| Crete, although in poor weather, went as scheduled. After
packing in a
| full load of 80,000 lbs of JP-7 fuel, I lit the
afterburners and
| started the acceleration toward the target area.
|
| At .98 Mach, just prior to going supersonic, maximum fuel
flow in full
| afterburner, a red engine oil quantity low light
illuminated steady on
| my emergency warning annunciator panel. I stared at it in
almost
| disbelief, while scanning engine instruments, oil
pressure, rpm,
| exhaust gas temperature, nozzle position for other
indications of
| trouble. Although there were no confirming indications of
problems, I
| couldn't just ignore the situation and continue on into
the target
| area with the possibility of an engine failure at
supersonic speed
| over the Sinai. 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 missions
| and they were in a battle for survival.
|
| To my pleasant surprise, a few seconds after coming out of
afterburner
| the red emergency warning light went out. I was by now
fairly well
| convinced that it was a false momentary indication, but it
had cost me
| 2500 lbs of critically needed fuel. My tankers were now 80
miles
| behind me heading further away. Getting rejoined to top
off with fuel
| would present a new set of problems. I decided to light
the burners
| and press on. Except for a 5 second flash during
acceleration I never
| saw the light again.
|
| My flight track went down the Suez canal past Cairo before
making a
| left turn at Mach 3.15 to the north across the battle
lines in the
| Sinai. I continued on a northerly course across the Dead
Sea and over
| the center of the Golan Heights with the panoramic and
point cameras
| providing imagery of hundreds of targets on both sides of
the
| aircraft. Approaching the Lebanon border I made a sweeping
right turn
| out over Syria and then back into the Sinai on a parallel
flight path
| for maximum coverage. The airplane was running well and I
pushed it up
| a bit to Mach 3.2 before exiting the area near Port Said.
|
| Once out over the Mediterranean I started a descent to
25,000 feet for
| my fourth refueling. As fate would have it, not only was I
low on fuel
| because of my previous oil low warning problem, but also a
| thunderstorm had moved in over the scheduled air refueling
contact
| point. My Reconnaissance Systems Officer (RSO) using
electronic
| azimuth and distance measuring equipment got me to within
less than a
| mile behind my tanker, but the visibility was so poor that
I couldn't
| see the tanker. We continued 20 miles down track in lousy
weather with
| only one half-mile and 1000 feet separation before a small
break in
| the clouds permitted hookup. When we made contact and
started
| transferring fuel I had less than 15 minutes of fuel
remaining and was
| 75 miles from the closest straight in emergency-landing
runway on
| Crete.
|
| We completed a fifth 70,000lb air refueling near the
Azores before the
| leisurely Mach 3 flight across the mid Atlantic with a
landing at
| Seymour Johnson AFB North Carolina. We were met by 9th SRW
download
| crews who had the photo and electronic intelligence
equipment
| downloaded and on a dedicated AF courier flight to
Washington DC and
| the National Photo Interpretation Center within twenty
minutes. The
| flight covered 12,181 miles in 10 hours 49 minutes and
included 6
| hours 41 minutes of supersonic time and 5 air refuelings.
After
| landing, I remember wondering what Charles Lindberg would
have thought
| about the advancement of aviation technology in less than
50 years.
| The 9th SRW was tasked to fly nine missions of this type
and completed
| them all successfully.
|
| The missions were not declassified until the early 1990's
when the
| SR-71 program was closed as a result of the end of the
Cold War. The
| airplanes are all in museums now, with tail number 964,
the one I flew
| that day, as the centerpiece at the Strategic Air and
Space museum
| near Omaha, Nebraska.
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| (This article originally appeared in the McClellan
Aviation Museum
| Foundations newsletter 'CONTACT' and appears again here
with
| permission of Colonel Jim Wilson, USAF (retired), former
Blackbird
| pilot and now a member of the Board of Directors of that
Museum. The
| photograph of his aircraft appears courtesy of
Lockheed-Martin
| Aircraft).
|
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