The Ultimate Spy Plane
The SR-71 Blackbird, now featured in the Transformers movie sequel, was faster than a rifle bullet and flew 16 miles above the earth
- By Owen Edwards
- Smithsonian magazine, July 2009, Subscribe
In the new sci-fi movie Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, an airplane on display at the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, gets a star turn. The real-life reconnaissance plane, an SR-71 Blackbird, is the basis for the character Jetfire, a souped-up superplane brought to life by the film's animators. (The Transformers franchise recounts a series of epic battles between two factions of alien robots who disguise themselves by morphing into machines.)
Of course, the actual SR-71 Blackbird had transformed manned flight long before special-effects animators saw its potential. Created as the ultimate spy plane, the SR-71, which first took to the air in December 1964, flew reconnaissance missions until 1990, capable of hurtling along at more than Mach 3, about 2,280 miles per hour—faster than a rifle bullet—at 85,000 feet, or 16 miles above the earth. It is the fastest jet-powered airplane ever built. At top speeds, the surface heat of the airframe could reach 900 degrees Fahrenheit. In their pressurized suits and breathing pure oxygen—mandated by the extreme altitude—the two-man crew looked like astronauts.
Brian Shul, one of fewer than a hundred pilots who flew the plane on recon missions from Beale Air Force base in California as well as bases in England and Japan, calls the SR-71 simply "the most remarkable airplane of the 20th century. We'll never see a plane like that again."
The Udvar-Hazy Blackbird, identified by its tail number, 61-7972, holds several records, including: New York to London in 1 hour 54 minutes 56.4 seconds. (Another Blackbird, 61-7958, set the record for average jet speed: 2,193.167 mph.) On March 6, 1990, as it made its final flight, the Smithsonian plane set another record—Los Angeles to Dulles International Airport, outside Washington, D.C., in 1 hour 4 minutes 20 seconds (barely time for a snack and a snooze). That day, a team including Air Force Lt. Col. Ed Yeilding and Lt. Col. Joseph Vida touched the plane down at Dulles for delivery to Udvar-Hazy, the National Air and Space Museum's companion facility.
I asked Shul, a former Air Force fighter pilot and Vietnam veteran who has written two books about the Blackbird—one recounting his reconnaissance for a dramatic raid on Libya in 1986—what it was like to fly such a phenomenal craft. "It wasn't like any other airplane," he told me. "It was terrifying, exciting, intense and humbling every time you flew. Each mission was designed to fly at a certain speed; you always knew the airplane had more. It was like driving to work in a double-A fuel dragster."
A team of engineers and designers at a southern California unit of Lockheed, headed by legendary aeronautical designer Clarence "Kelly" Johnson and his eventual successor, Benjamin Rich, created the SR-71. To deal with airframe heat at Mach 3 and to reduce weight, the SR-71's skin is 85 percent titanium and 15 percent carbon composites. Ironically—because the spy plane was a creature of the cold war—its titanium was purchased from the Soviet Union, although the use to which it would be put remained a closely guarded secret.
The unarmed Blackbird depended on its speed and altitude for defense and on a high degree of invisibility. The plane's distinctive flat profile, with a sharp edge, or chine, running the length of the fuselage, presented very little surface to be detected by radar. Its features anticipated the F-117A stealth fighter, developed at the same Lockheed unit. The SR-71's unusual silhouette caused workers at a U.S. base in Okinawa, Japan, to refer to the plane as the habu—a poisonous black snake indigenous to the island. Crews dubbed the plane the "sled"; SR-71 enthusiasts call themselves "Sledheads."
Achieving Mach 3 performance is expensive. The 32 Blackbirds cost an average of $34 million each. Of the billion-dollar SR-71 fleet, 12 were in accidents, but none was shot down by hostile action. Only one crew member was killed, in a mishap that occurred during a midair refueling. "We knew," says Shul of his fellow Blackbird pilots, "that we were flying a piece of history."
And history the planes have become. However advanced they were, time and technology overtook them; in 1990, as satellites appropriated their mission, operational flights ended. Today's unmanned orbital droids may represent the state of the art. But compared with the Blackbird, they are hardly art at all.
Owen Edwards is a freelance writer and author of the book Elegant Solutions
Subscribe now for more of Smithsonian's coverage on history, science and nature.
Comments (57)
+ View All Comments
No one here is talking... Canada Made the first mock up of the plane. The Russians had spies in Canada so they closed the program. The engines where Canadian built. Not american. American hand made them yes. Didn't design them. The plane was feathered out to reduce heat on the crew. Not stealth. Just look at the space shuttle and it's heat problems. They should of feathered it out...
Posted by Robert Olson on November 26,2012 | 01:56 AM
epic
Posted by tyler on September 6,2012 | 05:31 PM
Have always love this plane most beautiful ever built
Posted by Tedstull on February 10,2012 | 03:16 AM
The "push" for the SR-71 began in he late 1950's - well before the Gary Powers shoot-down. Do your homework...
Posted by bill dill on July 31,2011 | 09:34 PM
The Black Knight of the Skies......Tis good to see and wishing the Knights the best at their special round table...
“Out of Shadows and into the Light”…
Posted by Cisco Kid 2012 on December 26,2010 | 11:58 PM
There was more than expense to arrive at the demise of the SR-71A. Politics was the end result, we had a budget for the Lockheed "speedster" but the Pentagon insisted that GPS satellite technology took the place of the SR-71A, hardly, if they were in service now we would have state of the art global surveillance. The airframes were hand-built and life limited to an extent but if you consider that the components of the jet were being "heat-treated" every time it flew where is that limit? Real time intelligence relied on instantaneous information, something a lot of space craft cannot do. In order for Lockheed to get the go-ahead for the program Cesium had to be added to the fuel JP-7 to reduce infra-red signature from the afterburner plume. Numerous health problems have surfaced from this highly toxic substance injected into the fuel that Maintenance personnel were exposed to. When that information finally surfaces, it may be too late..http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lockheed-SR-71-Blackbird/279414532769
Posted by Stephen on December 26,2010 | 12:53 PM
where can I buy one of these i want to fly one so bad!!!
Posted by james on March 9,2010 | 07:08 PM
No one has even commented on the propulsion system which is what has limited aircraft improvement since the first powered flight. I worked on the J-58 engine from it first concepts thru it's retirement at Pratt-Whitney. It was a fantastic program to be associated with and Kelly Johnson was the front man that got credit for the SR, but there was a team at the Skunkworks and the Florida P&W development plant that made it happen!
Posted by flyingfish on December 20,2009 | 04:45 PM
It was a truly awesome experience each day at Kadena in 1973, watching the Habu launch itself into the heavens.
I also had the privilege of carrying the phot reconnaisance to Anderson AEB, hand cuffed to my wrist, in a non descript case.
Posted by C R Speh on December 1,2009 | 09:29 AM
There is a SK-71 outside the Virginia Air Museum, east of Richmond.
My father was a power systems engineer for GE in Waynsboro VA.
He designed the power system for the Blackbird. Something went wrong. There were mysterious phone calls in the middle of the night. ( We lived on a very remote farm in the Shenandoah Valley), car arrived, Dad left. Came back in the afternoon.
It took him 15 minutes to fix the problem in California. The plane was still there, he told the pilot to take him back to Virginia. He went to sleep.
He was wakened by a phone (radio) call from Waynsboro, " Where are you and why don't you fix the problem?"
My father said "I am over Iowa, and I have already fixed the problem, I maybe late at work today". And he went back to sleep.
This story was told to me by Tom Cabe, another EG engineer, after a Memorial Service for Fletcher Collins in Staunton Virginia. My father never talked about his work.
Posted by georg bergman on August 17,2009 | 07:45 PM
My father was Col. Patrick R. O'Malley and he was the commander of the 2762nd Logistics Squadron (Special) AFLC. The squadron was responsible for the maintenance and modifications to the SR-71, U-2/TR-1, RC-135 fleet and special C-130's(One project was fitting the C-130 for in flight refueling). Dad was the Commander from 1971 to 1980 when he retired. Yes, a very long time in the same position. My SR-71 memory is actually of the YF-12. When they retired the YF-12 to the Air Force Museum dad was given the opportunity to fly in the backseat from California (Beale or Palmdale?). Much as he would have loved to do this the Flight Surgeon would not give him clearance due to his asthma and related ailments. Col. Richard Uppstrom (Ret.), director of the AFM was the lucky backseater. My memory was being allowed to get out of Baker High School for part of the day to watch the YF-12 fly a couple circles around the museum before landing. What a sight!!! I also recall being allowed on the ramp with the crew, my dad and some family before the general public. Finally, later on when my sons were 4 and 2, I took their picture in the nozzle of the engine of the YF-12 at the Museum (Yes, I know you're not supposed to do that). Dad, with Mom, is at Arlington National Cemetery after a 37 year career. What a great place to grow up, under the landing pattern of W-PAFB, near the AFM where Dad and Col. Uppstrom helped me get my first job in Restoration and the gift shop at the Museum.
Posted by Brian O'Malley on August 9,2009 | 01:40 PM
I read with great enjoyment the article in the July "Smithsonian" about the SR-71 spy plane. As an engineer in college at the time, the little information that leaked out about it was fascinating. The push for it began after the Francis Gary Powers U-2 embarrassment. What a spectacle that was. As years went by and more and more came out about the plane many people stated mantra-like, "They designed the fastest airplane ever, Mach 3, and they used a slide rule! Not a computer!" I don't know whether that is true or not, but it was part of the aura from those 900 degree wings.
Posted by Louis Martin III on July 21,2009 | 10:50 AM
I was at Edwards AFB CA Oct '64 working on the SR71, shipped to Beale AFB, retiring in '74. For a load of info go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SR-71_Blackbird
Posted by Hank Henthorne on July 16,2009 | 05:26 PM
The hoary USAF joke goes like this:
Pilot: ATC, request clearance to 65,000 feet.
ATC: Brother, if you can get there, it's all yours.
Pilot: Roger, descending to 65,000 feet.
Could be told of the U2 as well.
Posted by Geoff Brown on July 14,2009 | 05:34 PM
+ View All Comments