The Unstoppable Blackbird: Inside The Legendary Lockheed SR-71

Video from the channel DroneScapes about Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 1:02:07. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

A piece of a bit over an hour about the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird and its predecessor, the A-12. It combines crew testimonies, period footage from the USAF, Strategic Air Command and Lockheed, and a newsreel filmed in Kadena. It ends with a generic montage about aviation.

The story begins with the A-12. This aircraft emerged from the Suntan and Gusto studies and was developed under the code name Oxcart. Its official first flight was on April 30, with Lou Schalk at the controls for 59 minutes. On May 4 it exceeded Mach 1.1, and in November 1963 it reached Mach 3.2 at 78,000 feet. Fifteen A-12s and three YF-12As were built, and the last flight of an A-12 was on June 21, 1968. On the political side, the video mentions the meeting Lyndon Johnson held on Oxcart on November 29, 1963, and the public announcement of the "A-11" in February 1964. The SR-71 was unveiled on July 24, 1964, and first flew on December 22, piloted by Bob Gilliland. On January 25, 1966, an accident cost a crew member's life, while Weaver survived. The aircraft entered service at Beale with the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, which also had a two-seat SR-71B.

The SR-71 was 93% titanium in its structure. It used J58 engines, JP-7 fuel, astro-inertial navigation and interchangeable noses, and its crews flew in S1030 pressure suits. According to the testimonies, at 85,000 feet one could see 350 miles in any direction, and takeoff reached 117 decibels. The nose camera photographed a 72-mile-wide swath and could cover 100,000 square miles in 64 minutes. The aircraft flew about 600 missions over Vietnam between 1968 and 1973. In May 1972, three SR-71s took off from Okinawa and overflew Hanoi at the same time. In the late 1970s there were missions that crossed SA-5 missile rings. Six presidents made use of the aircraft. In 1976 it set several FAI records. On another flight it covered the London-to-Los-Angeles route in 3h 47m 39s. The USAF suspended its operations on October 1, 1989, and officially retired it on November 22 of that year.