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In April 1986, following an attack on American soldiers in a |
Berlin disco, President Reagan ordered the bombing of
Muammar Qaddafi's terrorist camps in Libya .
My duty was to fly over Libya, and take photographs
recording the damage our F-111's had inflicted.
Qaddafi had established a 'line of death,' a territorial
marking across the Gulf of Sidra,swearing to shoot
down any intruder, that crossed the boundary.
On the morning of April 15, I rocketed
past the line at 2,125 mph.
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jet, accompanied by a Marine Major (Walt), the aircraft's
reconnaissance systems officer (RSO). We had crossed
into Libya, and were approaching our final turn over the
bleak desert landscape, when Walt informed me, that he
was receiving missile launch signals.
I quickly increased our speed, calculating the time it
would take for the weapons, most likely SA-2 and SA-4
surface-to-air missiles, capable of Mach 5 - to reach
our altitude. I estimated, that we could beat the
rocket-powered missiles to the turn, and stayed our
course, betting our lives on the plane's performance.
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After several agonizingly long seconds, we made the turn |
and blasted toward the Mediterranean. 'You might want to
pull it back,' Walt suggested. It was then that I noticed I
still had the throttles full forward.
The plane was flying a mile every 1.6 seconds,
well above our Mach 3.2 limit.
It was the fastest we would ever fly.
I pulled the throttles to idle, just south of Sicily, but we still
overran the refueling tanker, awaiting us over Gibraltar.
the 100 years of flight, following the achievements of the Wright brothers, which we celebrate in December. Aircraft such as the Boeing 707, the F-86 Sabre Jet, and the P-51 Mustang, are among the important machines, that have flown our skies. |
But the SR-71, also known as the Blackbird, stands
alone as a significant contributor to Cold War victory,
and as the fastest plane ever, and only 93 Air Force
pilots, ever steered the 'sled,' as we called our aircraft.
After the Soviets shot down Gary Powers U-2 in 1960, Johnson began to develop an aircraft, that would fly three miles higher, and five times faster, than the spy plane, and still be capable of photographing your |
license plate.
However, flying at 2,000 mph would create intense heat on the aircraft's skin. Lockheed engineers used a titanium alloy, to construct more than 90 percent of the SR-71, creating special tools, and manufacturing procedures to hand-build each of the 40 planes. Special heat-resistant fuel, oil, and hydraulic fluids, that would function at 85,000 feet, and higher, also had to be developed.
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with a sterling record and a recommendation from my
commander, completing the weeklong interview, and
meeting Walt, my partner for the next four years.
He would ride four feet behind me, working all the
cameras, radios, and electronic jamming equipment.
I joked, that if we were ever captured, he
was the spy, and I was just the driver.
He told me to keep the pointy end forward.
We trained for a year, flying out of Beale AFB in California,
Kadena Airbase in Okinawa, and RAF Mildenhall in England.
On a typical training mission, we would take off near
Sacramento, refuel over Nevada, accelerate into Montana,
obtain a high Mach speed over Colorado, turn right over
New Mexico, speed across the Los Angeles Basin, run up
the West Coast, turn right at Seattle, then return to Beale.
Total flight time:- Two Hours and Forty Minutes.
One day, high above Arizona, we were monitoring the radio
traffic, of all the mortal airplanes below us. First, a Cessna
pilot asked the air traffic controllers to check his ground
speed. 'Ninety knots,' ATC replied. A Bonanza soon made
the same request. 'One-twenty on the ground,' was the reply.
To our surprise, a navy F-18 came over
the radio, with a ground speed check.
I knew exactly what he was doing.
Of course, he had a ground speed indicator in his
cockpit, but he wanted to let all the bug-smashers
in the valley, know what real speed was, 'Dusty 52,
we show you at 620 on the ground,' ATC responded.
The situation was too ripe.
I heard the click of Walt's mike button in the rear
seat. In his most innocent voice, Walt startled the
controller by asking for a ground speed check
from 81,000 feet,clearly above controlled airspace.
In a cool, professional voice, the controller replied,
'Aspen 20, I show you at 1,982 knots on the ground.'
We did not hear another transmission on that
frequency, all the way to the coast.
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we realized we were flying a national treasure.
When we taxied out of our revetments
for take-off, people took notice.
Traffic congregated near the airfield fences, because
everyone wanted to see, and hear the mighty SR-71.
You could not be a part of this program,
and not come to love the airplane.
Slowly, she revealed her secrets to us, as we earned her trust.
One moonless night, while flying a routine training mission
over the Pacific, I wondered what the sky would look like
from 84,000 feet, if the cockpit lighting were dark.
While heading home on a straight course, I slowly turned down
all of the lighting, reducing the glare and revealing the night sky.
Within seconds, I turned the lights back up, fearful
that the jet would know, and somehow punish me.
But my desire to see the sky, overruled
my caution, I dimmed the lighting again.
To my amazement, I saw a bright
light outside my window.
As my eyes adjusted to the view, I realized that
the brilliance was the broad expanse of the
Milky Way,now a gleaming stripe across the sky.
Where dark spaces in the sky, had usually existed,
there were now dense clusters, of sparkling stars.
Shooting Stars, flashed across
the canvas every few seconds.
It was like a fireworks display with no sound.
I knew I had to get my eyes back on the instruments,
and reluctantly, I brought my attention back inside.
To my surprise, with the cockpit lighting still
off, I could see every gauge, lit by starlight.
In the plane's mirrors, I could see the eerie shine of my gold
spacesuit, incandescently illuminated, in a celestial glow.
I stole one last glance out the window. Despite
our speed, we seemed still before the heavens,
humbled in the radiance of a much greater power.
For those few moments, I felt a part of something far more
significant, than anything we were doing in the plane.
The sharp sound of Walt's voice on the radio, brought me
back to the tasks at hand, as I prepared for our descent.
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Un-be-known to most of the country, the plane flew over North
Vietnam, Red China, North Korea, the Middle East, South Africa,
Cuba, Nicaragua, Iran, Libya, and the Falkland Islands.
On a weekly basis, the SR-71, kept watch over every
Soviet Nuclear Submarine, and Mobile Missile Site,
and all of their troop movements.
It was a key factor in winning the Cold War.
I am proud to say, I flew about 500 hours in this aircraft.
I knew her well.
She gave way to no plane, proudly dragging her Sonic
Boom through enemy backyards, with great impunity.
She defeated every missile, outran every
MiG, and always brought us home.
In the first 100 years of manned flight,
no aircraft was more remarkable.
The Blackbird had outrun nearly 4,000 missiles, not once
taking a scratch from enemy fire.
On her final flight, the Blackbird, destined for the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, sped from Los Angeles to Washington in 64 Minutes, averaging 2,145 mph, and setting
four speed records.
Mike Folker
In God We Trust
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