Design work on the A-12 prototype began already in the 1960s under the leadership of the brilliant designer Clarence "Kelly" Johnson.
When the United States was developing the Blackbird aircraft in strict secrecy, the Russians had no idea that the titanium needed to make the airframe was being purchased in Russia through the CIA.
Everything about the development and construction of the prototype was subject to the strictest secrecy so that the advanced technologies did not get into the hands of the then Soviet Union.
However, despite all the secrecy, the comrades in Moscow suspected that the US was working on a new modern reconnaissance aircraft. One photo from space sparked this suspicion.
When the already completed prototype was being tested for radar reflectivity, Skunk Works employees placed the aircraft on a 15 m high pole so that the machine could be targeted and tested by radars. Because a Russian spy satellite regularly flew over the Burbank base in California, the plane was always dismantled from the pole in time and hidden in the hangar. So the Russian satellite photographed only that column, but with one small detail. Radar testing took several weeks, with the aircraft casting a shadow during the day and the California sun gradually burning the outline of the Blackbird into the grass. When the photos reached the commanders of Russian espionage, the discovery caused real consternation behind the walls of the Kremlin. As far back as 1967, the Soviets, in one of their espionage theories, believed that the technology for the development of the aircraft had been provided to the United States by an extraterrestrial civilization.
The first flight took place on January 25, 1962.
The aircraft was designed to be able to operate at an altitude of 25 km completely out of range of any anti-aircraft defenses. The titanium construction was able to withstand temperatures of up to 300 °C and allowed a safe speed of up to 3,529 km/h. If the machine was threatened by a launched anti-aircraft missile at a lower altitude, it was enough to simply pull the throttle and the Blackbird rocket flew away.
But not everything was perfect. The aircraft heated up due to air friction at high speeds, and thermal expansion lengthened the machine by up to 100 mm. Expansion joints were therefore created on the wings to compensate for this expansion. Therefore, the fuel tanks did not leak at normal temperatures, and fuel constantly leaked from the plane until the fuselage warmed up. This feature greatly shortened the radius of action.
The original type number of the Blackbird was RS-71, but US President Johnson mistook the designation for SR-71 in a speech to the public, and the aircraft was left with that.
The Blackbird set several world records during its active service. In 1976 he reached a height of 25,929 meters, during the following flight a speed of 3.29 Ma, and in 1974 he traveled the distance between New York and London in 1 hour and 55 minutes.
A total of 32 units were produced. 12 units were destroyed during testing or as a result of accidents, but none were shot down.
The last specimen was retired by the US Air Force on October 30, 1998.
Technical parameters:
dimensions: wingspan 16,94 m, length 32,74 m, height 5,64 m
empty weight 30 600 kg
maximum take-off weight 78 000 kg
power unit 2x Pratt & Whitney J58-1 jet engine each with thrust 144 kN
maximum speed 3 995 km/h
maximum flight level 25 900 m
volume of fuel tanks 12,219 l
range 4800 km
climb rate 60 m/s
main armament electronic warfare system, infrared sensors, high resolution scanning cameras
crew 2
Designer Kelly Johnson about the SR-71:
"Creating the SR-71 was like building something from another world. We had to design an aircraft that not only flew faster than anything else, but could also evade radar and enemy defenses. It was a challenge, but exactly the kind of challenges we loved. It was a celebration of engineering and science. "
