Editing Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird (section)

===Main era===
The first flight of an SR-71 took place on 22 December 1964, at USAF [[Plant 42]] in [[Palmdale, California]], piloted by Bob Gilliland.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kesq.com/news/first-man-to-fly-the-world-s-fastest-aircraft-dies-in-rancho-mirage/1092463937 |title=First man to fly the world's fastest aircraft dies in Rancho Mirage |first=Jesus |last=Reyes |date=6 July 2019 |website=KESQ |access-date=6 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706041642/https://www.kesq.com/news/first-man-to-fly-the-world-s-fastest-aircraft-dies-in-rancho-mirage/1092463937 |archive-date=6 July 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Crickmore|1997|pp=56-58}}.</ref> The SR-71 reached a top speed of Mach 3.4 during flight testing,<ref>{{cite web |last= Graham |first=Richard |title=SR-71 Pilot Interview Richard Graham, Veteran Tales interview at Frontiers of Flight Museum (at 1:02:55) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeBu6mRDaro#t=3775 |work=YouTube |date=6 August 2013 |publisher=Erik Johnston |access-date=29 August 2013 |ref=none}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Col. Richard Graham (USAF, Ret.) |url=http://www.habu.org/graham/graham-bio.html |publisher=The Online Blackbird Museum |website=Habu.org |access-date=16 January 2016}}</ref> with pilot Major [[Brian Shul]] reporting a speed in excess of Mach 3.5 on an operational sortie while evading a missile over Libya.<ref name="Shul M3.5">{{cite book |last=Shul |first=Brian |title=The Untouchables |year=1994 |publisher=Mach One |isbn=0929823125 |page=173}}</ref> The first SR-71 to enter service was delivered to the [[9th Reconnaissance Wing#Beale Air Force Base|4200th (later, 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing]] at [[Beale Air Force Base]], California, in January 1966.<ref>{{harvp|Crickmore|1997|p=59}}</ref>

SR-71s first arrived at the 9th SRW's Operating Location (OL-8) at [[Kadena Air Base]], Okinawa, Japan on 8 March 1968.<ref name="auto1">{{harvp|Crickmore|1997|pp=62-64}}</ref> These deployments were code-named "Glowing Heat", while the program as a whole was code-named "Senior Crown". Reconnaissance missions over North Vietnam were code-named "Black Shield" and then renamed "Giant Scale" in late 1968.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP79B01709A001900060005-2.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170123150906/https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP79B01709A001900060005-2.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 January 2017|title=Memorandum for the Chairman, Sanitization and Decontrol Working Group Black Shield Photography|publisher=Central Intelligence Agency|date=19 November 1968|access-date=16 July 2020}}</ref> On 21 March 1968, Major (later General) [[Jerome F. O'Malley]] and Major Edward D. Payne flew the first operational SR-71 [[sortie]] in SR-71 serial number {{USAF serial|61|7976}} from Kadena AFB, Okinawa.<ref name="auto1"/> During its career, this aircraft (976) accumulated 2,981 flying hours and flew 942 total sorties (more than any other SR-71), including 257 operational missions, from Beale AFB; Palmdale, California; Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan; and [[RAF Mildenhall]], UK. The aircraft was flown to the [[National Museum of the United States Air Force]] near [[Dayton, Ohio]] in March 1990.

The USAF could fly each SR-71, on average, once per week, because of the extended turnaround required after mission recovery. Very often an aircraft would return with rivets missing, delaminated panels or other broken parts such as inlets requiring repair or replacement. There were cases of the aircraft not being ready to fly again for a month due to the repairs needed. Rob Vermeland, [[Lockheed Martin]]'s manager of Advanced Development Program, said in an interview in 2015 that high-tempo operations were not realistic for the SR-71. "If we had one sitting in the hangar here and the crew chief was told there was a mission planned right now, then 19 hours later it would be safely ready to take off."<ref>Norros, Guy, "Hyper ops", ''Aviation Week & Space Technology'', 20 July – 2 August 2015, p. 28.</ref>

From the beginning of the Blackbird's reconnaissance missions over North Vietnam and Laos in 1968, the SR-71s averaged approximately one [[sortie]] a week for nearly two years. By 1970, the SR-71s were averaging two sorties per week, and by 1972, they were flying nearly one sortie every day. Two SR-71s were lost during these missions, one in 1970 and the second aircraft in 1972, both due to mechanical malfunctions.<ref>Hobson p. 269.</ref><ref>Donald 2003, p. 167.</ref> Over the course of its reconnaissance missions during the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese fired approximately 800 SAMs at SR-71s, none of which managed to score a hit.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://breakingdefense.com/2015/09/bye-bye-u-2-cia-legend-allen-predicts-end-of-manned-reconnaissance/ |title=Bye Bye U-2: CIA Legend Allen Predicts End Of Manned Reconnaissance |first=Richard |last=Little |work=Breaking Defense |date=22 September 2015 |access-date=29 May 2017}}</ref> Pilots did report that missiles launched without radar guidance and no launch detection, had passed as close as {{convert|150|yd}} from the aircraft.<ref>Quote from Reg Blackwell, SR-71 pilot, interviewed for "Battle Stations" episode "SR-71 Blackbird Stealth Plane", first aired on History Channel 15 December 2002.</ref>

[[File:Early project logo Habu SR-71.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.7|Early project [[Protobothrops flavoviridis|Habu]] logo]]
While deployed at Okinawa, the SR-71s and their aircrew members gained the nickname [[Trimeresurus flavoviridis|Habu]] (as did the A-12s preceding them) after a [[Viperidae|pit viper]] indigenous to Japan, which the Okinawans thought the plane resembled.<ref name="auto2"/>

Operational highlights for the entire Blackbird family (YF-12, A-12, and SR-71) as of about 1990 included:<ref name="harvp|Graham|1996">{{harvp|Graham|1996}}</ref>
*3,551 mission sorties flown
*17,300 total sorties flown
*11,008 mission flight hours
*53,490 total flight hours
*2,752 hours Mach 3 time (missions)
*11,675 hours Mach 3 time (total)

Only one crew member, Jim Zwayer, a Lockheed flight-test reconnaissance and navigation systems specialist, was killed in a flight accident.<ref name=weaver/> The rest of the crew members ejected safely or evacuated their aircraft on the ground.

An SR-71 was used domestically in 1971 to assist the FBI in their manhunt for the skyjacker [[D.B. Cooper]]. The Blackbird was to retrace and photograph the flightpath of the hijacked 727 from Seattle to Reno and attempt to locate any of the items that Cooper was known to have parachuted with from the aircraft.<ref>{{cite report |date= 6 December 1971|title= SR 71 Flight |url= https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-60/view |publisher= Federal Bureau of Investigation |page= 340 |quote="Beale Air Force Base, California, had offered, free of charge to the Bureau, use of an SR-71 aircraft to photograph terrain over which the hijacked airplane had flown on its trip to Reno"}}</ref> Five flights were attempted but on each occasion no photographs of the flight path were obtained due to low visibility.<ref>{{cite report |date= 6 December 1971 |title= SR 71 Flight |url= https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper%20/d.b.-cooper-part-60/view |publisher= Federal Bureau of Investigation |page= 340 |quote="photographic over-flights using SR-71 aircraft were conducted on five separate occasions with no photographs obtained due to limited visibility from very high altitude."}}</ref>

==== European flights{{Anchor|European flights|Baltic Express}} ====
European operations were flown from RAF Mildenhall, England, with two weekly routes. One was along the [[Coastline of Norway|Norwegian west coast]] and up the [[Kola Peninsula]], monitoring several large naval bases belonging to the Soviet Navy's [[Northern Fleet]]. Over the years, there were several emergency landings in Norway, four in Bodø and two of them in 1981, flying from Beale, in 1985. Rescue parties were sent in to repair the planes before leaving. On one occasion, one complete wing with engine was replaced as the easiest way to get the plane airborne again.<ref name="SpionflyNO">{{cite news |last1=Bonafede |first1=Håkon |date=22 April 2012 |title=SPIONFLY, DEN KALDE KRIGEN – Spionfly landet i Bodø |trans-title=Spy plane, The Cold War – Spy plane landed in Bodø |url=http://www.side3.no/spionfly-landet-i-bod/3380954.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140404143706/http://www.side3.no/spionfly-landet-i-bod/3380954.html |archive-date=4 April 2014 |access-date=11 September 2017 |work=[[Vi Menn]] |location=Norway |language=NB |via=[[:nb:Side3]] |quote=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/bodo.html |title=SR-71 Bodo Norway Operations |first=Leland |last=Haynes |access-date=7 October 2017}}</ref>

[[File:Baltic Sea map.png|The Baltic Express route entered through [[Denmark]] and the narrow corridor between Sweden and [[East Germany]].|thumb|right|upright=1]]
The other route was known as the ''Baltic Express'', which started from Mildenhall and went through [[Jutland]] and the [[Danish straits]] before going out over the [[Baltic Sea]].<ref name=Skuddhold /> At the time, the [[USSR]] controlled the airspace from the [[Deutsche Demokratische Republik|DDR]] to the [[Gulf of Finland]], with [[Finnish neutrality|Finland]] and [[Swedish neutrality#The Cold War|Sweden pursuing neutrality]] in the Cold War. This meant that [[NATO]] aircraft entering the Baltic Sea had to fly through a narrow corridor of international airspace between [[Skåne County|Scania]] and [[Western Pomerania]], which was monitored by both the [[Swedish Air Force|Swedish]] and [[Soviet Air Forces]]. Starting a counter-clockwise 30-minute loop, the Blackbirds would then [[reconnoiter]] along the Soviet Union's coastal border, before slowing down to Mach 2.54 to make a left turn south of [[Åland]], and then follow the Swedish coast back towards Denmark. If the SR-71s attempted the turn at Mach 3, they could end up violating Swedish airspace, and the Swedes would [[Ground-controlled interception|direct]] [[Saab 37 Viggen|Viggens]] to intercept the offending aircraft.<ref name=Skuddhold /><ref name=AGCViggen />

The combination of a monitored entry point and a fixed route allowed the Swedes and the Soviets a chance to [[Scrambling (military)|scramble]] interceptors.<ref name=Skuddhold /> Swedish radar stations would observe the [[15th Air Army#After 1945|15th Air Army]] dispatch [[Su-15]]s from [[Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic|Latvia]], and [[MiG-21]]s and [[MiG-23]]s from [[Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic|Estonia]], although only the Sukhois would have even a slim chance of successfully intercepting the American aircraft.<ref name=AGCViggen /> The greater Soviet threat came from the MiG-25s [[16th Guards Fighter Aviation Division|stationed]] at [[Eberswalde#Transport|Finow-Eberswalde]] in the DDR. The Swedes noted that the Soviets usually would send a single [[MiG-25|MiG-25 "Foxbat"]] from Finow to intercept the SR-71 on their way back out of the Baltic Sea. With the Blackbird flying at {{convert|22|km|ft|order=flip|abbr=on}}, the Foxbat would regularly close to an altitude of {{convert|19|km|ft|order=flip|abbr=on}}, precisely {{convert|3|km|mi|order=flip|abbr=on}} behind the SR-71, before disengaging. The Swedes interpreted this regularity as a sign that the MiG-25 had successfully simulated a shoot-down.<ref name=Skuddhold /><ref name=AGCViggen >{{cite news |last1=Leone |first1=Dario |title=VIGGEN Vs BLACKBIRD: HOW SWEDISH AIR FORCE JA-37 FIGHTER PILOTS WERE ABLE TO ACHIEVE RADAR LOCK ON THE LEGENDARY SR-71 MACH 3 SPY PLANE |work=The Aviation Geek Club |date=9 January 2018 |access-date=9 October 2023 |archive-date=10 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110152553/https://theaviationgeekclub.com/viggen-vs-blackbird-swedish-air-force-ja-37-fighter-pilots-able-achieve-radar-lock-legendary-sr-71-mach-3-spy-plane/ |url=https://theaviationgeekclub.com/viggen-vs-blackbird-swedish-air-force-ja-37-fighter-pilots-able-achieve-radar-lock-legendary-sr-71-mach-3-spy-plane/ |url-status=live |quote=Almost every time the SR-71 was about to leave the Baltic, a lone MiG-25 Foxbat belonging to the 787th IAP at Finow-Eberwalde in [East Germany] was scrambled. […] Arriving at its exit point, the “Baltic Express” was flying at about 22km and the lone MiG would reach about 19km in a left turn before rolling out and always completing its stern attack 3km behind its target. We were always impressed by this precision; it was always 22km and 3 km behind the SR-71. [this would seem to suggest that these were the parameters necessary for its weapons system to effect a successful intercept if the order to fire was ever given.]}}</ref><ref name=rbth2012>{{cite news |last1= Simha |first1= Rakesh Krishnan |title= Foxhound vs Blackbird: How the MiGs reclaimed the skies |work= [[Russia Beyond the Headlines]] |publisher= [[Rossiyskaya Gazeta]] |date=3 September 2012 |access-date=30 May 2015 |archive-date=9 August 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190809232332/https://www.rbth.com/articles/2012/09/03/foxhound_vs_blackbird_how_the_migs_reclaimed_the_skies_17363 |url= https://www.rbth.com/articles/2012/09/03/foxhound_vs_blackbird_how_the_migs_reclaimed_the_skies_17363 |url-status= live |quote=Swedish air defense [...] radar screens [...] could see the much older but faster MiG-25 screaming in towards the Blackbird. Shortly after the MiG-31s had harried the SR-71 in the Arctic area, a lone MiG-25 Foxbat stationed at Finow-Eberswalde in the former GDR would intercept it over the Baltic. The Swedes observed the SR-71 would always fly at 72,000 ft and the MiG-25 would reach 63,000 ft before completing its stern attack 2.9 km behind the Blackbird. “We were always impressed by this precision, it was always 63,000 ft and 2.9 km behind the SR-71," a retired Swedish Air Force flight controller told Crickmore.}}<!--page 2 only clickable, not linkable or archivable--></ref>

The Swedes themselves would typically assert their neutrality by dispatching Saab 37 Viggens from [[Scania Wing|Ängelholm]], [[Bråvalla Wing|Norrköping]] or [[Blekinge Wing|Ronneby]]. Limited by a top speed of Mach&nbsp;2.1 and a [[Ceiling (aeronautics)|service ceiling]] of {{cvt|18|km|ft|order=flip}}, the Viggen pilots would line up for a frontal attack, and rely on their [[state-of-the-art]] [[avionics]] to climb at the right time and attain a [[missile lock]] on the SR-71.<ref name=Skuddhold /><ref name=AGCViggen /> Precise timing and target illumination would be maintained with target location data supplied to the Viggen's [[fire-control computer]] from [[Fire-control radar|ground-based radars]],<ref name=FlyghistoriskRevy>{{cite book |editor-last1=Edlund |editor-first1=Ulf |editor-last2=Kampf |editor-first2=Hans |year=2009 |title=System 37 Viggen |series=Flyghistorisk Revy |volume=Specialnr 2009 |url= |language=SV |location=[[Stockholm]] |publisher=[[:sv:Svensk Flyghistorisk Förening|Svensk Flyghistorisk Förening]] |issn=0345-3413}}</ref> with the most common site for the [[Missile lock-on|lock-on]] being the thin stretch of international airspace between [[Öland]] and [[Gotland]].<ref name=Mach14 >{{cite magazine |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Mach 14 |url= |magazine=Mach |language=SV |location=Sweden |publisher= |year=1983 |volume=4 |issue=3 |page=5 |issn=0280-8498}}</ref><ref name=Mach25 >{{cite magazine |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Mach 25 |url= |magazine=Mach |language=SV |location=Sweden |publisher= |year=1986 |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=28–29 |issn=0280-8498}}</ref><ref>Darwal 2004, pp. 151–156.</ref> Out of 322 recorded Baltic Express sorties between 1977 and 1988, the Swedish Air Force claims that they succeeded in attaining missile lock on the SR-71 in 51 of them.<ref name=Skuddhold>{{cite news |last1=Bonafede |first1=Håkon |title=På skuddhold av SR-71 Blackbird |trans-title=At weapons range of the SR-71 |work=[[Vi Menn]] |date=10 May 2018 |access-date=12 May 2018 |archive-date=10 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180510102459/http://www.side3.no/historie/pa-skuddhold-av-sr-71-blackbird/3423484769.html |url=http://www.side3.no/historie/pa-skuddhold-av-sr-71-blackbird/3423484769.html |url-status=dead |language=NB |location=Norway |via=[[:nb:Side3]] |quote=To vanlige "melkeruter" ble fløyet ukentlig [...] Den andre som ble kalt for "Baltic Express" dekket marinebasene og militærinstallasjonene til DDR og de baltiske landene. På grunn av det trange farvannet, bød ruten på utfordringer med å holde seg utenfor territorialgrensene, og flygerne fulgte nesten alltid den samme identiske ruten. [...] SR-71 kom alltid inn over radiofyret "Codan" 80 km sør for København på kurs rett østover.|trans-quote=Two common "[[milk run]]s" were flown weekly [...] The second, which was called [the] "Baltic Express" covered the Navy bases and military installations of the DDR and the Baltic countries. Because of the cramped waters, the route presented challenges as to keeping outside the territorial borders, and the pilots almost always followed the same identical route. [...] SR-71 always came in over the radio beacon "Codan" 80 km south of Copenhagen[,] heading east.}}</ref><ref name="NTSEFlygplan">{{cite news |author=<!-- Not stated --> |date=2 May 2017 |title=TV: Kärnvapensäkra bunkern styrde flygplanen |trans-title=TV: Aircraft controlled from nuclear weapon secured bunker |url=http://www.nt.se/nyheter/ostergotland/tv-karnvapensakra-bunkern-styrde-flygplanen-om4626725.aspx |url-status= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170502185029/http://www.nt.se/nyheter/ostergotland/tv-karnvapensakra-bunkern-styrde-flygplanen-om4626725.aspx |archive-date=2 May 2017 |access-date=7 October 2017 |work=Kundservice |location=Sweden |language=SV |via= |quote=Look at time 5:57.}}</ref> However, with a combined closing speed of Mach 5, the Swedes were reliant on the Blackbird not changing course.<ref name=Skuddhold /><ref name=AGCViggen />

[[File:2018-11-28, Swedish Air Force pilots receive USAF Air Medal (45203706835).jpg|Swedish [[Saab 37 Viggen|Viggen]]-pilots being presented with the [[Air Medal|US Air Medal]] in 2018.|thumb|right|upright=1]]
On 29 June 1987, an SR-71{{refn|AF serial number 61-7964<ref name=Skuddhold />|group=N}} was on a mission around the Baltic Sea to spy on Soviet postings when one of the engines exploded. The aircraft, which was at {{cvt|20|km|ft|order=flip}} altitude, quickly lost altitude and turned 180° to the left and turned over Gotland to search for the Swedish coast. Thus, Swedish airspace was violated, whereupon two unarmed<ref>{{Cite AV media |title=When the Swedish Air Force Saab 37 Viggen Saved the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird |via=YouTube |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5Z2Bb-wnls&t=455s |first=Kelly |last=OConnor |publisher=100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs |access-date=15 December 2022}}</ref> Saab JA 37 Viggens on an exercise at the height of [[Västervik]] were ordered there. The mission was to do an incident preparedness check and identify an aircraft of high interest. It was found that the plane was in obvious distress and a decision was made that the Swedish Air Force would escort the plane out of the Baltic Sea. A second round of armed JA-37s from Ängelholm replaced the first pair and completed the escort to Danish airspace.<ref name=Skuddhold /><ref name=AGCViggen /><ref name=AFMil181129 /> The event had been classified for over 30 years, and when the report was unsealed, data from the [[National Security Agency|NSA]] showed that multiple MiG-25s with the order to shoot down the SR-71 or force it to land, had started right after the engine failure. A MiG-25 had locked a missile on the damaged SR-71, but as the aircraft was under escort, no missiles were fired. On 28 November 2018, the four Swedish pilots involved were awarded medals from the USAF.<ref name=AFMil181129 >{{cite web |last1=Fratini |first1=Korey |title=AF.mil: Swedish pilots presented with US Air Medal |publisher=[[US Air Force]] |date=29 November 2018 |access-date=7 May 2023 |archive-date=8 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230508075739/https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1700869/swedish-pilots-presented-with-us-air-medal/ |url=https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1700869/swedish-pilots-presented-with-us-air-medal/ |url-status=live |language=EN |location=[[Stockholm]] |via= |quote=The U.S. was flying regular SR-71 aircraft reconnaissance missions in international waters over the Baltic Sea known as “Baltic Express” missions. But on June 29, 1987, during one of those missions, an SR-71 piloted by retired Lt. Cols. Duane Noll and Tom Veltri, experienced an inflight emergency. [...] presented the Air Medals to Swedish air force Col. Lars-Eric Blad, Maj. Roger Moller, Maj. Krister Sjoberg and Lt. Bo Ignell.}}</ref>