SR-71 Blackbird: The Great and Powerful

Video from the channel SkyShips about Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 29:38. Video type: Documentary.

Russian-language documentary devoted to the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, presented as the fourth member and the culmination of the "Archangel" family, alongside the A-12, the YF-12 interceptor, and the M-21 drone carrier. It reviews its origins, its technical differences from the A-12, its operational service, its records, and its retirement.

According to the video, the United States Air Force, initially skeptical of the CIA's program, ended up contracting with Lockheed at the end of 1962 for a series of reconnaissance aircraft. The designation R-71 became SR-71 when President Lyndon Johnson presented the aircraft in 1964. The first flight took place on December 22, 1964, in Palmdale, California, and in 1966 the first operational example arrived at the 4200th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, at Beale Air Force Base. From 1968 it operated from Okinawa over Vietnam, where it earned the nickname "Habu," and in Europe from Mildenhall (England). After losing an SR-71B in 1968, the single SR-71C was assembled using the rear section of a damaged YF-12. The cost of operating it compared to satellites and the modernized U-2 led to the program's closure; it was partially reactivated in 1994, permanently retired in 1998, and the surviving aircraft went to museums in 1999.

The SR-71 was considerably heavier than the A-12, up to about 78 tonnes, and 1.8 m longer. It took off with partial fuel loads and refueled in flight from KC-135Qs; its range was around 5,200 km. Its J58 engines went from 145 kN with afterburner in the early versions to 151 kN. It added a second cockpit for the reconnaissance systems officer, an interchangeable modular nose, and an astro-inertial navigation system nicknamed R2-D2. 32 examples were built (31 plus the SR-71C), at 34 million dollars each in the late 1960s. 12 aircraft were lost in accidents and none in combat. Among its records are the New York-to-London flight in 1h 55min and the 3,529 km/h reached in 1976.