Ferrari Mailing List: Re: For Clyde -- SR71 Story

[LarryT (l02turner]

Thanks Hunter!  Awesome story!

LarryT

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From: "Hunter N. Schultz" <hns [at] biosafepanama.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 20, 2009 7:30 PM
To: "Larry Turner" <l02turner [at] comcast.net>
Cc: "The FerrariList" <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com>
Subject: [Ferrari] For Clyde -- SR71 Story

> *By Brian Shul, Retired SR-71 Pilot via Plane and Pilot Magazine*
>
>
> As a former SR-71 pilot, and a professional keynote speaker, the
> question I'm most often asked is "How fast would that SR-71 fly?" I can
> be assured of hearing that question several times at any event I attend.
> It's an interesting question, given the aircraft's proclivity for speed,
> but there really isn't one number to give, as the jet would always give
> you a little more speed if you wanted it to. It was common to see 35
> miles a minute. Because we flew a programmed Mach number on most
> missions, and never wanted to harm the plane in any way, we never let it
> run out to any limits of temperature or speed. Thus, each SR-71 pilot
> had his own individual "high" speed that he saw at some point on some
> mission. I saw mine over Libya when Khadafy fired two missiles my way,
> and max power was in order. Let's just say that the plane truly loved
> speed and effortlessly took us to Mach numbers we hadn't previously seen.
>
> So it was with great surprise, when at the end of one of my
> presentations, someone asked, "what was the slowest you ever flew the
> Blackbird?" This was a first. After giving it some thought, I was
> reminded of a story that I had never shared before, and relayed the
> following.
>
> I was flying the SR-71 out of RAF Mildenhall, England, with my
> back-seater, Walt Watson; we were returning from a mission over Europe
> and the Iron Curtain when we received a radio transmission from home
> base. As we scooted across Denmark in three minutes, we learned that a
> small RAF base in the English countryside had requested an SR-71
> fly-past. The air cadet commander there was a former Blackbird pilot,
> and thought it would be a motivating moment for the young lads to see
> the mighty SR-71 perform a low approach. No problem, we were happy to do
> it. After a quick aerial refueling over the North Sea, we proceeded to
> find the small airfield.
>
> Walter had a myriad of sophisticated navigation equipment in the back
> seat, and began to vector me toward the field. Descending to subsonic
> speeds, we found ourselves over a densely wooded area in a slight haze.
> Like most former WWII British airfields, the one we were looking for had
> a small tower and little surrounding infrastructure. Walter told me we
> were close and that I should be able to see the field, but I saw
> nothing. Nothing but trees as far as I could see in the haze. We got a
> little lower, and I pulled the throttles back from 325 knots we were at.
> With the gear up, anything under 275 was just uncomfortable. Walt said
> we were practically over the field---yet; there was nothing in my
> windscreen. I banked the jet and started a gentle circling maneuver in
> hopes of picking up anything that looked like a field. Meanwhile, below,
> the cadet commander had taken the cadets up on the catwalk of the tower
> in order to get a prime view of the fly-past. It was a quiet, still day
> with no wind and partial gray overcast. Walter continued to give me
> indications that the field should be below us but in the overcast and
> haze, I couldn't see it. The longer we continued to peer out the window
> and circle, the slower we got. With our power back, the awaiting cadets
> heard nothing. I must have had good instructors in my flying career, as
> something told me I better cross-check the gauges. As I noticed the
> airspeed indicator slide below 160 knots, my heart stopped and my
> adrenalin-filled left hand pushed two throttles full forward. At this
> point we weren't really flying, but were falling in a slight bank. Just
> at the moment that both afterburners lit with a thunderous roar of flame
> (and what a joyous feeling that was) the aircraft fell into full view of
> the shocked observers on the tower. Shattering the still quiet of that
> morning, they now had 107 feet of fire-breathing titanium in their face
> as the plane leveled and accelerated, in full burner, on the tower side
> of the infield, closer than expected, maintaining what could only be
> described as some sort of ultimate knife-edge pass.
>
> Quickly reaching the field boundary, we proceeded back to Mildenhall
> without incident. We didn't say a word for those next 14 minutes. After
> landing, our commander greeted us, and we were both certain he was
> reaching for our wings. Instead, he heartily shook our hands and said
> the commander had told him it was the greatest SR-71 fly-past he had
> ever seen, especially how we had surprised them with such a precise
> maneuver that could only be described as breathtaking. He said that some
> of the cadet's hats were blown off and the sight of the plan form of the
> plane in full afterburner dropping right in front of them was
> unbelievable. Walt and I both understood the concept of "breathtaking"
> very well that morning, and sheepishly replied that they were just
> excited to see our low approach.
>
> As we retired to the equipment room to change from space suits to flight
> suits, we just sat there-we hadn't spoken a word since "the pass."
> Finally, Walter looked at me and said, "One hundred fifty-six knots.
> What did you see?" Trying to find my voice, I stammered, "One hundred
> fifty-two." We sat in silence for a moment. Then Walt said, "Don't ever
> do that to me again!" And I never did.
>
> A year later, Walter and I were having lunch in the Mildenhall Officer's
> club, and overheard an officer talking to some cadets about an SR-71
> fly-past that he had seen one day. Of course, by now the story included
> kids falling off the tower and screaming as the heat of the jet singed
> their eyebrows. Noticing our HABU patches, as we stood there with lunch
> trays in our hands, he asked us to verify to the cadets that such a
> thing had occurred. Walt just shook his head and said, "It was probably
> just a routine low approach; they're pretty impressive in that plane."
> Impressive indeed.
>
> Little did I realize after relaying this experience to my audience that
> day that it would become one of the most popular and most requested
> stories. It's ironic that people are interested in how slow the world's
> fastest jet can fly. Regardless of your speed, however, it's always a
> good idea to keep that cross-check up...and keep your Mach up, too.
>
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