Message posted by Scot Tway on February 12, 2010 at 21:52:11 PST:
From my Brother, USAF Ret. (F4, A10 etc.) Brian was my Instructor Pilot in my upgrade into the A-10 in 1978. > Subject: "what was the slowest you ever flew the Blackbird?"
> To:
> Date: Monday, December 21, 2009, 1:15 PM
>
>
> As a former SR-71 pilot, and a
> professional keynote speaker...
> Brian Shul, Retired SR-71
> Pilot via Plane and Pilot Magazine | Brian Shul, Retired SR-71 Pilot
>
> 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 fieldyet; 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 cadets' 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 momentaltsaid,D'nât ever do that
> to me again!â 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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