SR-71

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).

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).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

Brian Shul (also a SR-71 pilot) has written some good material on the
SR-71, and he also happens to be a good photographer, so he has a lot
of one-of-a-kind shots of the SR-71 and flights at cruise. His book
_Sled Driver_ is excellent, well written and visually stunning.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

"Jim Macklin" wrote in message
news
If you do some simple algebra, the SR-71 is much faster than
the published data.

SNIP

You mean the Goobermint hasn't told us all the dirt on the true performance
of the SR-71? I'm shocked. Nnnnoooooot.

------------------------------------------------
DW

On 6-Nov-2006, "Jim Macklin" wrote:

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

You'd be wrong. Mary Shafer, formally NASA's SR-71 Flying Qualities Lead
Engineer at Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA, posted a reply to
"Yeff" back on February 23, 1999 on rec.aviation.military:
"Yeff" wrote:
The story I always heard was that if any plane ever beat
the Blackbirds speed record we'd just take a bird up and
move the throttles forward a bit more and take it back.
Sooth or myth? Has an SR-71 ever flown at max speed?
(hoping against hope that Mary imparts more wisdom...)

Yes. But it required permission of the Commander on a per-flight
basis. The SR-71's usual limit is Mach 3.2, but flight at Mach 3.3
was allowed, and flown, with prior permission. There's no evidence
that anyone has ever flown faster than Mach 3.3 (although it's
possible that someone may have briefly dashed above 3.3, not cruised,
but it's not documented).
The cruise speed on the SR-71 is limited by CIT, compressor inlet
temperature. The limit is 427 degC, per the Dash-1. Since the SR-71
is designed to fly Mach 3.2 (standard atmosphere), this temperature is
reached at Mach 3.3, offering a fairly standard margin of safety. If
operational conditions require going Mach 3.3 it's possible. Rather
than flying Mach number, we fly CIT, cruising just a bit below the
limit. This usually works out to Mach 3.23 but that's because the
real atmosphere isn't the same as the standard atmosphere. Everything
about the airplane is designed for Mach 3.2, including the inlet spike
operation, etc. I've always assumed that the extra 0.1 Mach was a
bonus, discovered in flight test, because the calculations were on the
conservative side.
If you'll check in Deja News, you'll find that Lednicer worked it out
that the absolute airframe maximum is around Mach 3.5, because you get
the bow shock impinging on the wing above that. Unfortunately, this
can't be tested because the CIT limit is reached first.
--
Mary Shafer NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA
SR-71 Flying Qualities Lead Engineer Of course I don't speak for NASA

wrote in message
...

On 6-Nov-2006, "Jim Macklin"
wrote:

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

You'd be wrong. Mary Shafer, formally NASA's SR-71 Flying Qualities Lead
Engineer at Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA, posted a reply to
"Yeff" back on February 23, 1999 on rec.aviation.military:
"Yeff" wrote:
The story I always heard was that if any plane ever beat
the Blackbirds speed record we'd just take a bird up and
move the throttles forward a bit more and take it back.
Sooth or myth? Has an SR-71 ever flown at max speed?
(hoping against hope that Mary imparts more wisdom...)

Yes. But it required permission of the Commander on a per-flight
basis. The SR-71's usual limit is Mach 3.2, but flight at Mach 3.3
was allowed, and flown, with prior permission. There's no evidence
that anyone has ever flown faster than Mach 3.3 (although it's
possible that someone may have briefly dashed above 3.3, not cruised,
but it's not documented).
The cruise speed on the SR-71 is limited by CIT, compressor inlet
temperature. The limit is 427 degC, per the Dash-1. Since the SR-71
is designed to fly Mach 3.2 (standard atmosphere), this temperature is
reached at Mach 3.3, offering a fairly standard margin of safety. If
operational conditions require going Mach 3.3 it's possible. Rather
than flying Mach number, we fly CIT, cruising just a bit below the
limit. This usually works out to Mach 3.23 but that's because the
real atmosphere isn't the same as the standard atmosphere. Everything
about the airplane is designed for Mach 3.2, including the inlet spike
operation, etc. I've always assumed that the extra 0.1 Mach was a
bonus, discovered in flight test, because the calculations were on the
conservative side.
If you'll check in Deja News, you'll find that Lednicer worked it out
that the absolute airframe maximum is around Mach 3.5, because you get
the bow shock impinging on the wing above that. Unfortunately, this
can't be tested because the CIT limit is reached first.
--
Mary Shafer NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA
SR-71 Flying Qualities Lead Engineer Of course I don't speak for NASA


What a cool plane. I seen one in person at the Dayton Air Museum, it was
smaller than I thought. But they had the Valkyrie there to and that thing is
HUGE!

---------------------------------------------------
DW

Looking at the data as presented and assuming 500 mph for the average speed
in non-supersonic flight, I get:

4 hours(approx) @ 500 mph = 2000 miles.

Leaving 10,200 miles for the 6:41 of supersonic flight, which is a
"supersonic" average of just over 1,500 mph.

The overall average speed for the 12k miles was 1125 mph or thereabouts.

KB




"Jim Macklin" wrote in message
news
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).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

"Jim Macklin" wrote in message
news
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.


Much of the SR71 POH is available on-line at:
http://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/manual/

Section 5-8 (Flight Envelop Limits) is a good read. The whole POH is very
interesting.

John Severyn
KLVK

Jim Macklin wrote:
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.


snip *really* long & cool Blackbird story

Jim, you GOTTA start editing out yer replies. My monitor isn't big
enough... : )

John

What made this interesting was the first hand account of mission.

John
````````````````````````````````


On Mon, 6 Nov 2006 19:01:30 -0800, "J. Severyn"
wrote:


"Jim Macklin" wrote in message
news
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.


Much of the SR71 POH is available on-line at:
http://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/manual/

Section 5-8 (Flight Envelop Limits) is a good read. The whole POH is very
interesting.

John Severyn
KLVK