SR71 Blackbird

Aviation art prints of the Lockheed SR71. The Lockheed SR71 can travel at three times the speed of sound. Known as the Blackbird the Sr71 is shown in these superb aviation art prints by Philip West and Keith Woodcock available form aviation art prints a division of Cranston Fine Arts

Construction of the first SR-71 Blackbird (61-7950) was completed by Lockheed at its Burbank California Skunk Works in October of 1964. The aircraft was then broken down for shipment to Palmdale, California where it was reassembled. Kelly Johnson, the famous aircraft designer for Lockheed, had oversight responsibility for this project, and Kelly gave specific instructions to Robert Gilliland, the pilot chosen for the first flight of the Blackbird. The first flight was originally scheduled for December 21, 1964. Bad weather had caused a one-day postponement. During the first flight only Gilliland would be on board, and a trio of F-104 fighters would fly chase. Following take off Gilliland performed a number of stability and handling checks. He then took the Blackbird up to 30,000 feet and easily went supersonic (hitting Mach 1.2) before some caution lights came on. Determining that he faced no serious problems Gilliland accelerated to Mach 1.5 and climbed to 50,000 feet. Returning to Palmdale he made a subsonic flyby before lining up for his landing. Gillilands first flight is commemorated in Stan Stokes painting. The first six SR-71s produced were assigned to flight-testing at Edwards AFB. The first successful aerial refueling of a Blackbird occurred on April 25, 1965, and two pilot training aircraft (designated SR-71B) were delivered in 1965. A set back to the program occurred in January 1966 when an SR-71 was lost over New Mexico and a year later the original Blackbird (61-7950) was destroyed when the craft caught fire during braking tests at Edwards. Overall ten Blackbirds were lost during the first six years of the program. A total of thirty-two SR-71A aircraft were produced. In March of 1990 an SR-71 was flown from California to Washington before being retired to the Smithsonians Air and Space Museum. This flight was interesting because it set a coast-to-coast speed record of 68 minutes. The aircraft took off from Southern California and flew north to rendezvous with a tanker near San Francisco. The craft then flew south while refueling. It passed over its official starting point for the trip near Ventura. Accelerating to Mach 2.5 the Blackbird reached Kansas City in 39 minutes. Climbing to 85,000 feet the aircraft reached a top speed of Mach 3.2 as it passed the official finish line near Baltimore. After slowing to subsonic speeds the bird needed another shot of fuel prior to making its final approach into Dulles Airport. This truly amazing aircraft had once again demonstrated its capabilities more than two decades after its first flight.

The Blackbirds origins, amazingly, date back to the 1950s. At that time the U.S. government was very concerned about nuclear developments in the Soviet Union, and a high altitude reconnaissance aircraft was needed to overfly the Soviet Union. The Lockheed Corporation responded by developing the U-2, which was akin to a high powered glider. The U-2 was based on cost effective adaptations of currently available technologies, and was very effective initially, but as surface-to-air missile capability improved, the U-2 became vulnerable. What was needed was a long-range, very fast, very high altitude aircraft, capable of outrunning Soviet surface-to-air missiles. Mr. Kelly Johnson, Lockheeds project engineer who oversaw the famous skunkworks, presented a proposal to the U.S. government in 1959 regarding the development of a state-of-the-art ultra high speed and ultra high altitude aircraft. The plane, initially designated the A-12, first appeared as the YF-12 interceptor, but the government decided not to fund the YF-12. The design, however, became the SR-71, and the first production Blackbird took to the skies in 1964. The aircraft incorporated many design features never utilized on any aircraft up to that time. For example, at cruising speed the Blackbirds skin would reach nearly 1000 degrees, so the aircraft had to be constructed primarily from a titanium alloy. The SR-71 gets so hot, in fact, that the plane is one foot longer at cruising speed than it is on the ground. For twenty-six years this secretive aircraft held many of the worlds records for both speed and altitude. It is believed that about thirty two Blackbirds were produced, and about twenty of these were still in service with the Air Force in 1990. With the development of more capable satellites, and the high cost of maintaining the Blackbird fleet, the Air Force suspended Blackbird operations in 1990. On the final Air Force flight of a Blackbird, from California to Washington, D.C., this incredible aircraft once again set a speed record in making the trip in only sixty-eight minutes. Mr. Stokes has depicted in his painting a SR-71 Blackbird flying at 80,000 feet and at Mach 3.1 over the west coast of the United States. The plane as depicted is piloted by Col. Robert Powell, who is believed to have logged over 1.0 million miles in his 1,020 hours of flight time. Becoming a Blackbird pilot was about as difficult as becoming an astronaut, and Col. Powell personifies the talented and dedicated pioneers, who much like the Blackbird, were way ahead of their time.

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