Warplanes of the USA: Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, and Lockheed YF-12A Blackbird

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird

(USAF Photo)

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird (modified).

The Lockheed SR-71 "Blackbird" is a retired long-range, high-altitude, Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed and manufactured by the American aerospace company Lockheed Corporation.[N 1] The SR-71 has several nicknames, including "Blackbird" and "Habu".

The SR-71 was developed as a black project from the Lockheed A-12 reconnaissance aircraft during the 1960s by Lockheed's Skunk Works division. American aerospace engineer Clarence "Kelly" Johnson was responsible for many of the aircraft's innovative concepts. The shape of the SR-71 was based on that of the Lockheed A-12, which was one of the first aircraft to be designed with a reduced radar cross-section in mind. Initially, a bomber variant of the A-12 was requested by Curtis LeMay, before the program was focused solely on reconnaissance. The SR-71 was longer and heavier than the A-12, allowing it to hold more fuel as well as a two-seat cockpit. The SR-71's existence was revealed to the public in July 1964; it entered service in the United States Air Force (USAF) in January 1966. In 1989, the USAF retired the SR-71, largely for political reasons; several were briefly reactivated during the 1990s before their second retirement in 1998. NASA was the final operator of the Blackbird, using it as a research platform; it was retired again in 1999.

Mission equipment for the plane's aerial reconnaissance role included signals intelligence sensors, side looking airborne radar, and a camera.[6] During missions, the SR-71 operated at high speeds and altitudes (Mach 3.2 and 85,000 ft; 26,000 m), allowing it to outrace or entirely avoid threats. If a surface-to-air missile launch was detected, the standard evasive action was simply to accelerate and outpace the missile. On average, each SR-71 could fly once per week due to the extended turnaround required after mission recovery. A total of 32 aircraft were built; 12 were lost in accidents with none lost to enemy action.

Since its retirement, the SR-71's role has been taken up by a combination of reconnaissance satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); a proposed UAV successor, the SR-72, is under development by Lockheed Martin, and scheduled to fly in 2025.[10] As of 2024, the SR-71 holds the world record, which it set in 1976, as the fastest airbreathing manned aircraft, previously held by the closely related Lockheed YF-12. (Wikipedia)

(NASA Photo)

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird taxi on ramp with engines powered up

(USAF Photo)

An air-to-air overhead front view of an SR-71A strategic reconnaissance aircraft. The SR-71, unofficially known as the "Blackbird," is a long-range, advanced, strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Lockheed A-12 Oxcart and YF-12A aircraft. The United States Air Force retired its fleet of SR-71s on Jan. 26, 1990, but returned them in 1995 until January 1997. Throughout its nearly 24-year career, the SR-71 remained the world's fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft. Location: Beale Air Force Base, California, USA. Evaporating fuel can be seen streaking down the fuselage and top of the wings from the aerial refueling port aft of the cockpit.

(USAF Photo)

A Boeing KC-135Q Stratotanker (59-1513) refueling an Lockheed SR-71 (61-7974). Original caption: A left side view of an SR-71 aircraft moving toward a KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft for inflight refueling. The SR-71 is from the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing.

Lockheed SR-71B Blackbird flown by the Dryden Flight Research Center as NASA 831, slices across the snow-covered southern Sierra Nevada Mountains of California after being refueled by an Air Force tanker during a 1994 flight. SR-71B was the trainer version of the SR-71. Notice the dual cockpit to allow the instructor to fly the airplane.

(NASA Photo)

Three SR-71s on Ramp The original trio of SR-71 "Blackbirds" loaned to NASA by the U.S. Air Force for high-speed, high-altitude research line the ramp at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The three former reconnaissance aircraft, two SR-71 "A" models and one "B" model, can fly more than 2200 mph and at altitudes of over 80,000 feet. This operating environment makes the aircraft excellent platforms to carry out research and experiments in aerodynamics, propulsion, structures, thermal protection materials, atmospheric studies, and sonic boom characterization. One of the "A" models was later returned the Air Force for active duty. It subsequently returned to Dryden.

(USAF Photo)

Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird from the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing near Beale Air Force Base, California

(NASA Photo)

NASA 844, an SR-71SA flown by NASA’s Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility (later, Dryden Flight Research Center), Edwards, California, cruises over the Tehachapi Mountains during a September 1992 flight. The aircraft is one of two SR-71As initially loaned to NASA by the Air Force for use as high-speed, high-altitude testbeds for research in such areas as aerodynamics, propulsion, structures, thermal protection materials, and instrumentation. Data from the SR-71 research program could aid designers of future supersonic-hypersonic aircraft and propulsion systems.

(NASA Photo)

NASA Dryden Flight Research Center’s SR-71A, tail number 844, banks away over the Sierra Nevada mountains after air refueling from a USAF tanker during a 1997 flight.

Twelve SR-71s were lost and one pilot diedin accidents during the aircraft's service career. Eleven of these accidents happened between 1966 and 1972.

Preserved Lockheed of SR-71 Blackbirds

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61-7950 SR-71A Lost, 10 January 1967.

(Author Photos)

(Frank Kovalchek Photo)

(Beta 75 Photo)
61-7951 SR-71A Pima Air & Space Museum (adjacent to Davis-Monthan Air ForceBase), Tucson, Arizona. Loaned to NASA as "YF-12C #06937".
61-7952 SR-71A Lost in Mach 3 mid-air breakup near Tucumcari, New Mexico, 25 January 1966.
61-7953 SR-71A Lost, 18 December 1969.
61-7954 SR-71A Lost, 11 April 1969.
61-7955 SR-71A Air Force Flight Test Center Museum, Edwards Air Force Base, California.

(SSgt. Bill Thompson, USAF Photo)

Lockheed SR-71B Blackbird (Serial No. 61-7956), during its 1,000th sortie near Beale Air Force Base, California.  This aircraft was one of two SR-71B trainers built.  The other one crashed in 1968.  61-7956 has been on display at Kalamazoo Aviation History Museum, Michigan, since 2007.

(Jason Zhang Photo)
61-7956 SR-71B Air Zoo, Kalamazoo, Michigan (ex-NASA831).
61-7957 SR-71B Lost, 11 January 1968.

(350z33 Photo)

(Alan Wilson Photos)

(Robert Dilley Photo)
61-7958 SR-71A Museum of Aviation, Robins Air Force Base, Warner Robins, Georgia.

(Greg Goebel Photo)

(Adrian Brooks Photo)
61-7959 SR-71A Air Force Armament Museum, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.

(Alan Wilson Photos)

(fresgo Photo)
61-7960 SR-71A Castle Air Museum at the former Castle Air Force Base, Atwater,California.

(Telomere Photo)

61-7961 SR-71A Cosmosphere, Hutchinson, Kansas.

(Alan Wilson Photo)
61-7962 SR-71A American Air Museum in Britain, Imperial War Museum Duxford, Cambridgeshire, England.

(John Stanton Photo)

(kb7ywl Photo)
61-7963 SR-71A Beale Air Force Base, Marysville, California.

(kb7ywl Photo)

Lockheed D-21 Drone.

(USAF Photo)

Lockheed SR-71 with D-21 Drone.

(SSgt. Bill Thompson, USAF Photo)

Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird (Serial No. 61-7964) from the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing near Beale Air Force Base, California, 2 Aug 1981.  This aircraft is on display in the atrium of the Strategic Air Command Museum, Ashland, Nebraska.

(Martin McGuire Photo)

(Robert Dilley Photo)

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(Kandykornhead Photo)
61-7964 SR-71A C/N 2015, Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum, Ashland, Nebraska. C/N 2015.  This SR-71 was delivered to the USAF on 27 May 1966, and has the third highest flight hours of the fleet.  It was delivered to the Strategic Air & Space Museum on 20 March 1990.
61-7965 SR-71A Lost, 25 October 1967.
61-7966 SR-71A Lost, 13 April 1967.

(Michael Barera Photo)

(Martin McGuire Photo)
61-7967 SR-71A Barksdale Air Force Base, Bossier City, Louisiana.
61-7968 SR-71A Science Museum of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
61-7969 SR-71A Lost, 10 May 1970.
61-7970 SR-71A Lost, 17 June 1970.
61-7971 SR-71A Evergreen Aviation Museum, McMinnville, Oregon.
61-7972 SR-71A Smithsonian Institution Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, WashingtonDulles International Airport, Chantilly, Virginia.
61-7973 SR-71A Blackbird Airpark, Air Force Plant 42, Palmdale, California.
61-7974 SR-71A Lost, 21 April 1989 after compressor failure caused catastrophicleft engine failure. Remains of aircraft recovered then on 24 Dec 1989 buriedat sea in the Mariana Trench.

(Dereck Bradley Photo)

(Curimedia Photo)
61-7975 SR-71A March Field Air Museum, March Air Reserve Base (former March AFB), Riverside, California.

(NMUSAF Photos)

Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird (Serial No. 61-7976), C/N 2027.  Throughout its nearly 24-year career, the SR-71 remained the world's fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft.  From 80,000 feet, it could survey 100,000 square miles of Earth's surface per hour.  On 28 July 1976, an SR-71 set two world records for its class, an absolute speed record of 2,193.167 mph and an absolute altitude record of 85,068.997 feet.  On 21 March 1968, the aircraft on display in the NMUSAF made the first operational SR-71 sortie.  During its career, this aircraft accumulated 2,981 flying hours and flew 942 total sorties (more than any other SR-71), including 257 operational missions, from Beale Air Force Base, California, Palmdale, California, Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, and RAF (Base), Mildenhall, England.  The aircraft was flown to the museum in March 1990.
61-7976 SR-71A National Museum of the United States Air Force, Wright-PattersonAir Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio.
61-7977 SR-71A Lost, 10 October 1968. Cockpit section survived and located at the Seattle Museum of Flight.
61-7978 SR-71A Nicknamed "Rapid Rabbit" and wearing a Playboy bunnyimage as tail art. (wearing a "black bunny" logo on its tail). Lost,20 July 1972.

(Camp7Chris Photo)

(Mike Freer - Touchdown Aviation Photo)
61-7979 SR-71A USAF History & Traditions Museum, 37th TH TRW/MU, Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas.
61-7980 SR-71A Armstrong Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base,California.
61-7981 SR-71C Hill Aerospace Museum, Hill Air Force Base, Ogden, Utah (formerly YF-12A 60-6934).

Lockheed YF-12A Blackbird

(USAF Photo)

The Lockheed YF-12 is an American Mach 3+ capable, high-altitude interceptor prototype, developed and manufactured by American aerospace company Lockheed Corporation. The interceptor was developed during the late 1950s and early 1960s as a potential replacement for the F-106 Delta Dart interceptor for the United States Air Force (USAF). The YF-12 was a twin-seat version of the then-secret single-seat Lockheed A-12 reconnaissance aircraft operated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); unlike the A-12, it was furnished with the Hughes AN/ASG-18 fire-control radar and could be armed with AIM-47 Falcon (GAR-9) air-to-air missiles. Its maiden flight was on 7 August 1963. Its existence was publicly revealed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on 24 February 1964; this move was to provide plausible deniability for the CIA-operated A-12 fleet, which closely resembled the prototype YF-12.

During the 1960s, the YF-12 underwent flight evaluations by the USAF, but funding to put it into operational use was not forthcoming partly due to the pressing demands of the Vietnam War and other military priorities. It set and held speed and altitude world records of over 2,000 miles per hour (3,200 km/h) and over 80,000 feet (24,000 m) (later surpassed by the closely related SR-71 Blackbird), and is the world's largest, heaviest and fastest crewed interceptor. Following its retirement by the USAF, it served as a research aircraft for NASA for a time, which used it to develop several significant improvements in control for future supersonic aircraft. (Wikipedia)

(USAF Photo)

Conceived as a triple-sonic interceptor aircraft, the YF-12 had all of the blazing performance of its more famous sister aircraft, the SR-71 Blackbird. On May 1, 1965, the YF-12 set no less than nine world absolute speed and altitude records at Edwards Air Force Base. Among these was a sustained altitude of 80,257 feet and a speed of 2,070 mph. In spite of this performance and operational potential, the aircraft never entered production.

(USAF Photo)

The so-called YF-12C on the NASA Flight Research Center ramp. Following the loss of a YF-12A in a non-fatal accident in June 1971, NASA acquired the second production SR-71A (61-7951) from the Air Force. Because the SR-71 program was shrouded in the highest secrecy, the Air Force restricted NASA to using the aircraft solely for propulsion testing with YF-12A inlets and engines. It was designated the YF-12C, and given a bogus tail number (06937). The two YF-12As in the program had actual tail numbers 06935 and 06936. The first NASA flight of the YF-12C took place on 24 May 1972. The Flight Research Center's involvement with the YF-12A, an interceptor version of the Lockheed A-12, began in 1967. Ames Research Center was interested in using wind tunnel data that had been generated at Ames under extreme secrecy. Also, the Office of Advanced Research and Technology (OART) saw the YF-12A as a means to advance high-speed technology, which would help in designing the Supersonic Transport (SST). The Air Force needed technical assistance to get the latest reconnaissance version of the A-12 family, the SR-71A, fully operational. Eventually, the Air Force offered NASA the use of two YF-12A aircraft, 60-6935 and 60-6936. A joint NASA-USAF program was mapped out in June 1969. NASA and Air Force technicians spent three months readying 935 for flight. On 11 December 1969, the flight program got underway with a successful maiden flight piloted by Col. Joe Rogers and Maj. Gary Heidelbaugh of the SR-71/F-12 Test Force. During the program, the Air Force concentrated on military applications, and NASA pursued a loads research program. NASA studies included inflight heating, skin-friction cooling, "coldwall" research (a heat transfer experiment), flowfield studies, shaker vane research, and tests in support of the Space Shuttle landing program. Ultimately, 935 became the workhorse of the program, with 146 flights between 11 December 1969 and 7 November 1979. The second YF-12A, 936, made 62 flights. It was lost in a non-fatal crash on 24 June 1971. It was replaced by the YF-12C. The Lockheed A-12 family, known as the Blackbirds, were designed by Clarence "Kelly" Johnson. They were constructed mostly of titanium to withstand aerodynamic heating. Fueled by JP-7, the Blackbirds were capable of cruising at Mach 3.2 and attaining altitudes in excess of 80,000 feet. The first version, a CIA reconnaissance aircraft that first flew in April 1962 was called the A-12. An interceptor version was developed in 1963 under the designation YF-12A. A USAF reconnaissance variant, called the SR-71, was first flown in 1964. The A-12 and SR-71 designs included leading and trailing edges made of high-temperature fiberglass-asbestos laminates. The NASA YF-12 research program was ambitious; the aircraft flew an average of once a week unless down for extended maintenance or modification. Program expenses averaged $3.1 million per year just to run the flight tests. NASA crews for the YF-12 included pilots Fitzhugh Fulton and Donald Mallick, and flight test engineers Victor Horton and Ray Young. Other NASA test pilots checked out in the YF-12A included John Manke, William Dana, Gary Krier, Einar Enevoldson, Tom McMurtry, Steve Ishmael, and Michael Swann. Only Fulton, Mallick, Ray, and Horton flew the YF-12C.

Lockheed YF-12A on display‍

(USAF Photo)

Lockheed YF-12A 60-6934 in Air Defense Command markings 1963. The only YF-12A in ADC markings, its first test flight occurred on 7 August 1963 at Groom Lake, Nevada. It was extensively tested at Edwards Air Force base. The cost of the Vietnam War, and the perceived lessened need for a Mach-3 interceptor led to the F-12 program being canceled by the end of 1967. This aircraft damaged beyond repair by fire at Edwards during a landing mishap on 14 August 1966; its rear half was salvaged and combined with the front half of a Lockheed static test airframe to create the one and only SR-71C 64-17981.

(Jorge Lascar Photo)

(Niesey74 Photo)

(Ad Meskens Photo)

(Ad Meskens Photo)

Lockheed A-12 Blackbird (Serial No. 60-6925), C/N 122.  This reconnaissance aircraft was built for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) by Lockheed's famed Skunk Works, based on the designs of Clarence "Kelly" Johnson.  The A-12 was produced from 1962 to 1964, and was in operation from 1963 until 1968.  The single-seat design, which first flew in April 1962, was the precursor to both the twin-seat U.S. Air Force YF-12 prototype interceptor and the famous SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft . The aircraft's final mission was flown in May 1968, and the program and aircraft retired in June of that year.

(Martin McGuire Photo)

Lockheed A-12 Oxcart (Serial No. 60-6930), C/N 127.  Single seat version of the SR-71 Blackbird. Southern Museum of Flight, Birmingham, Alabama.

(NMUSAF Photos)

Lockheed YF-12A Blackbird (Serial No. 60-6935).  The YF-12 was developed in the 1960s as a high-altitude, Mach 3 interceptor to defend against supersonic bombers . Based on the A-12 reconnaissance aircraft, the YF-12A became the forerunner of the highly-sophisticated SR-71 strategic reconnaissance aircraft.  The first of three YF-12s flew in August 1963.  In May 1965, the first and third YF-12s set several records, including a speed record of 2,070.101 mph and an altitude record of 80,257.65 feet.  For their speed record flight, Col. Robert L. "Fox" Stephens (pilot) and LCol. Daniel Andre (fire control officer) received the 1965 Thompson Trophy.  Though the aircraft performed well, the F-12 interceptor program ended in early 1968.  High costs, the ongoing war in Southeast Asia, and a lower priority on air defense of the US all contributed to the cancellation.  The aircraft on display in the NMUSAF was the second one built.  It was recalled from storage in 1969 for a joint USAF/NASA investigation of supersonic cruise technology.  It was flown to the museum in 1979, and it is the only remaining YF-12A in existence (the first YF-12A was damaged beyond repair after a landing mishap, and the third YF-12A was destroyed after the crew ejected to escape an inflight fire).

(Kebbins00 Photo)

Lockheed YF-12A Blackbird (Serial No. 60-6940).