History of SR71Blackbird Losses

WVI ^

[amakua]

Lots of SR71 aircraft pictures with brief discriptions of various accidents that occured over the life span of the aircraft.

[amakua]

Loss #16 61-17969 (SR-71A) Lost on 10 May 1970 during an operational mission from Kadena, Okinawa against North Vietnam. Shortly after air-refueling, the pilot, Major William E. Lawson initiated a normal full power climb. Stretching before him was a solid bank of cloud containing heavy thunderstorm activity which reached above 45,000'. Heavy with fuel, the aircraft was unable to maintain a high rate of climb and as it entered turbulence both engines flamed out. The RPM dropped to a level too low for restarting the engines. Pilot and RSO, Major Gilbert Martinez ejected safely after the aircraft stalled. The crew were rescued near U Tapao, Thailand. The plane crashed near Korat RTAFB, Thailand.

(pictures and commentary) http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/loss_4.htm

[amakua]

Let me try this again.

Lots of pictures and commentaries at:

http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/loss_4.htm

[Paddlefish]

OMG. I didn't realize that any of these went down. I'm feeling a little shocked right now.

[kipita]

I worked with NASA at Edwards on environmental projects involving the SR 71. Simply nasty!

[llevrok]

Amazing plane when you consider the flight and manufacturing sophistication in the late 60's vs today

[Larry Lucido]

Ping?

[outofstyle]

I didn't realize that any of these went down. I'm feeling a little shocked right now.

20 out out 50! I had a high school buddy that flew one. I never realized how risky that must have been.

[operation clinton cleanup]

Cool picture giving you the scale of an SR-71.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Bump for reference.

[pepperdog]

There were 50? I thought they were far more "rare".

[null and void]

What? Ya got sumpin' against unsymmetricmonomethylhydrazine?

[ColdSteelTalon]

Amazing plane when you consider the flight and manufacturing sophistication in the late 60's vs today

Yep and to think they guys that designed that plane were probably still using slide rule calculators.

[BallyBill]

I have my very own SR-71. It is sitting on the bookshelf right behind me. An Estes model rocket version I built that I like so much I never had the nerve to launch it.

[oceanview]

ping

[eyespysomething]

I took this pic at the Museum of Aviation at Robins AFB.

[DocRock]

Here is a video of a SR-71 and M/D-21 getting together at altitude and high speed. The Blackbird looks like it just folds in half at about 45 seconds into the video. WARNING: The server is very slow. Video Link

[kipita]

JP-7!

[oceanview]

loss #12 is interesting.

[puppypusher]

The SR-71 was a fantastic aircraft and years ahead of its time.Its just too bad that it proved to be too expensive to keep flying.

[JoeGar]

In 1969, I was being checked by the main gate guard at Kadena when an SR-71 passed overhead. I asked the gate guard, "Hey, is that airplane an SR-71?". He looked up and then looked back at me and replied, "What airplane?"