. . 
- I first learned about the Lockheed SR-71 while stationed at Minot, AFB in the sixties.
- I was an F-106A MA-1 technician and at times the squadron artist in the 5th Fighter Interceptor Squadron.
- We in the MA-1 section wondered what kind of radar and weapons system it had. Little did we
know that it was a ruse. It was designed for strategic reconnaissance.- U-2 Crow flight operated out of Minot then and we thought it was the cats meow.
It had the same engine as the F-106, the J-75, less the afterburner. It demonstrated at 8:30 sharp
daily it's climb prowess. Little did we understand that the SR-71's unique qualities, capabilities
and power demonstrated in it's daily operations were far beyond the U-2's performance envelope.- The Lockheed SR-71 is a two crew member iteration of the YF12-A, CIA A-12, an advanced, long-range,
- Mach 3 strategic reconnaissance aircraft. The SR-71 was unofficially named the Blackbird, and called the
- Habu by its crews. Clarence "Kelly" Johnson was responsible for many of the design's advanced concepts.
- A defensive feature of the aircraft was its high speed and operating altitude, whereby, if a surface-to-air missile
- launch were detected, standard evasive action was simply to accelerate. The SR-71 line was in service from
- 1964 to 1998, with 12 of the 32 aircraft being destroyed in accidents, though none were lost to enemy action.
- The Lockheed "Kelly" Johnson team did it's thing in the Skunk Works by designing another great
aircraft far ahead of it's time using new fabrication technologies and Russian mined titanium.- The SR-71 shares a heritage with the P-38, P-80, U-2, F-104, the Constellation, Tri Star and countless
- other aircraft that have set records and proved invaluable in the expansion of aircraft capabilities and
- communications world wide.
- The SR-71 Black Bird an all American design. It is a historical mark of genius in the day of slide rule
- technology. It is a genuine pencil and paper design.
- "American Beauty", 61-7964 is shown outbound from Beal, AFB, while a Flying Tiger
DC-8F freighter cruising at altitude, heads west to Asia. The contrails show it is summer.
Phone 803-266-3199
- _______________________________________________________________________
All Images and Artflight.us /Artflight.com, Copyright by Raymond-Paul Moats, 1997-2004. All Rights Reserved
