AP 118 · No. 10 Section II · Aircraft Plate 166 / 181

Plate 166 of 181 · Cold War · Strategic reconnaissance aircraft

Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird

SR-71A, painted as 61-7962, IWM Duxford’s Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird and the only Blackbird displayed outside the United States, which flew strategic reconnaissance sorties with the US Air Force’s 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing until the type was retired in 1990 and arrived at Duxford in 2001: a two-seat Mach 3 reconnaissance aircraft built largely of titanium, 107 ft long, with a long blended forebody edged by sharp chines that run into a thin delta wing, two Pratt & Whitney J58 engines in large nacelles at mid-span with conical inlet spikes, and two all-moving fins canted inward on top of the nacelles, shown standing level on its tricycle undercarriage: weathered overall black, with a red ‘17962’ above a red ‘1’ wrapped by a habu snake on the starboard fin, red rescue and ejection-seat warning stencils beside the cockpits, a red sleeve on the nose pitot and red caps on the inlet spikes, as displayed (no national insignia, as on the aircraft today; no photograph shows the outer face of the port fin, so it is left unmarked).

3D model

Turn it over

A procedural model built in Blender from published dimensions, drawings and photographs, painted as 61-7962, IWM Duxford’s Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird and the only Blackbird displayed outside the United States, which flew strategic reconnaissance sorties with the US Air Force’s 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing until the type was retired in 1990 and arrived at Duxford in 2001: a two-seat Mach 3 reconnaissance aircraft built largely of titanium, 107 ft long, with a long blended forebody edged by sharp chines that run into a thin delta wing, two Pratt & Whitney J58 engines in large nacelles at mid-span with conical inlet spikes, and two all-moving fins canted inward on top of the nacelles, shown standing level on its tricycle undercarriage: weathered overall black, with a red ‘17962’ above a red ‘1’ wrapped by a habu snake on the starboard fin, red rescue and ejection-seat warning stencils beside the cockpits, a red sleeve on the nose pitot and red caps on the inlet spikes, as displayed (no national insignia, as on the aircraft today; no photograph shows the outer face of the port fin, so it is left unmarked). Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom · download .glb (969 KB)

Data plate

Specification

First flight, number built and top speed are for the whole family (SR-71A); engine, crew and dimensions are for the SR-71A modelled here.

History

The SR-71A Blackbird

After Francis Gary Powers was shot down in his U-2 in 1960 it was plain that flying high was no longer enough. Kelly Johnson’s Skunk Works at Lockheed had already begun work for the CIA on a successor that would fly at three times the speed of sound above 80,000 ft. The single-seat A-12 first flew in April 1962. Most of its structure was titanium, bought partly from the Soviet Union through third parties, because aluminium would have softened in the heat of sustained Mach 3 flight. Sharp chines along the sides of the forebody added lift and made the aircraft harder to see on radar. Each Pratt & Whitney J58 engine sat in a nacelle with a movable spike in its inlet, and at cruising speed most of the thrust came from the inlet and the ejector nozzle rather than from the engine itself.

The US Air Force ordered a longer, heavier two-seat version for strategic reconnaissance. A reconnaissance systems officer sat behind the pilot to work its cameras, side-looking radar and electronic sensors. President Johnson announced it as the SR-71 in July 1964, and it first flew from Palmdale, California, on 22 December 1964. Thirty-two were built: 29 SR-71As, two SR-71B trainers and the hybrid SR-71C. It burnt a special low-volatility fuel, JP-7, which needed a chemical squirt of triethylborane to light, and its crews wore full pressure suits. The 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base in California began flying it in 1966.

SR-71s flew over North Vietnam, North Korea, the Middle East and the edges of the Soviet Union, from Beale and from detachments at Kadena on Okinawa and RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk. No SR-71 was ever lost to enemy action, though twelve were lost in accidents. On 1 September 1974 one flew from New York to London in 1 hour 54 minutes 56 seconds, and on 28 July 1976 SR-71s set world records for speed in a straight line (2,193 mph) and for sustained height (85,069 ft) that still stand. Satellites and cost brought retirement in 1990. Congress had three brought back into service in 1995, but they were grounded again in 1998, and NASA flew its last two until 1999.

This airframe

SR-71A 61-7962

61-7962The airframe modelled

61-7962 (Lockheed construction number 2013) is an SR-71A that served with the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing from Beale Air Force Base in California and on detachment overseas, including RAF Mildenhall. It was retired with the rest of the fleet in 1990, stored at Palmdale, and came to Duxford in 2001. It is the only SR-71 on display outside the United States and stands in the American Air Museum. The model shows it as displayed: weathered overall black with no national insignia, a red ‘17962’ above a red ‘1’ wrapped by a habu snake on the starboard fin, red rescue and ejection-seat warning stencils beside the cockpits, and red caps on the pitot and inlet spikes. No photograph shows the outer face of the port fin, so it is left unmarked.

See it at IWM Duxford

Where to see one

In the gazetteer

The gazetteer records the SR-71A Blackbird in one UK collection. The airframe modelled here is marked.

Every airframe and serial All 181 plates

Profiles and models are procedural interpretations built in Blender from published dimensions, three-view drawings and photographs of each airframe. Treat the museum aircraft as the reference.