SR-72: “Son of Blackbird”
Lockheed’s SR-72 could reach speeds of Mach 6 – double the speeds of the original SR-71 Blackbird.
The SR-72 aircraft will have the capability to perform high speed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and strike operations. The first flight of the SR-72 demonstrator is anticipated in 2023, while the full scale aircraft is expected to enter into service by 2030, reports Airforce Technology
The first flight of the SR-71 Blackbird out of Palmdale, Calif., wasDecember 22, 1964. Robert Gilliland, a retired test pilot for Lockheed Martin. Gilliland piloted the SR-71 out of Palmdale. Rebecca Amber, Af.mil reported:
The SR-71 was “best by far” as it underwent continual improvements. Its mission – global strategic reconnaissance, required it to travel “half way around the world in a hurry.”
“That’s the one the military kept in use under six presidents, for so long. It helped win the Cold War,” said Gilliland. “I flew the SR-71 out of Edwards for a long, long time. We had a secret hangar, we couldn’t brief anybody on anything or tell them about anything. Only one man at Edwards learned about it and he was the two-star general.”
n March of 1957 retired Lt. Col. Tony Bevacqua performed his first flight in the U-2 Dragon Lady.
“I stayed there until June when they had six U-2’s built and accepted by the Air Force and took those to Laughlin Air Force Base [Texas], and from then on, all the training was done at Laughlin,” said Bevacqua.
From 1966 to 1973, Bevacqua “upgraded” to the SR-71.
“The U-2 is a great airplane and still flying. The SR-71 was super fast and just a magnificent airplane also,” said Bevacqua. “And yes, I preferred the SR.”
Retired Col. Ken Collins had his first flight in the A-12 in February of 1963. The A-12 was the predecessor to the SR-71. After six years and 700 hours in the A-12, Collins became an SR-71 pilot, which he flew for the next six years out of Beale Air Force Base, Calif.
“The A-12 flew higher and faster and it was the first one, so it was sort of the favorite that way,” said Collins. “Just being part of [the black program] is really an honor, it is a privilege. I think that way about the airplanes, both of them, and I’m very fortunate. There’s only one or two people that flew both of them.”
“We’ve got so much of this drone stuff coming in, it’s sort of hard to talk to people about being pilots,” said Collins. “It’s necessary, they’re good systems, but I’d rather be flying the airplane.”
Retired Lt. Col. Bill Flanagan is a 1976 graduate of the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards. From 1980 to 1985, Flanagan flew in the SR-71 as a back-seater.
“It was a dream come true, flew it for five years,” said Flanagan. “I got here exactly at the right time because we were doing a lot of really new stuff to modernize the airplane, which was built in the 60s. We converted it in the 80s even though the plane looks the same, we put all new digital technology in it. It’s still, to this day, the fastest and highest flying airplane in the world.”
Flanagan remembers working with NASA as they were building the space shuttle “next door.” For several flights, the SR-71 served as a stand-in to practice tracking a high-speed target coming into Edwards.
“We could not slow down as fast as the space shuttle did, but we actually flew about four flights where NASA was tracking us, this was before SES-1,” said Flanagan. “After we slowed up and flew back to Edwards, all the NASA astronauts and their chase planes wanted to have their pictures taken next to the SR-71. They said, ‘this is the coolest looking airplane we’ve ever seen.'”
During his time in the Air Force, Flanagan flew the RF-4 Fantom, F-111, F-16, F-14, F-15, B-52, and many more. After his retirement from the Air Force, He went to work for Northrop Grumman where he flew the B-2 Stealth Bomber for 10 years and the C-135.
But, the SR-71 was by far the fastest, traveling at 35 miles a minute.
“Every other airplane I’ve ever flown cruised at a maximum of 10 miles a minute. So it was like flying something completely different than I did in all my time in the Air Force. It was so far ahead of its time, it was a dream come true. From the time I was a kid, I wanted to fly jets and the Air Force allowed me to. The test pilot school allowed me to open up everything to horizons I never would’ve dreamed possible. I owe it all to the Air Force.”