|
|
The Lockheed Blackbird was one of the most impressive looking military aircraft ever produced, with performance to match. Capable of flying at over Mach 3 it still holds the record for being the fastest air breathing operational manned aircraft, and was only removed from service because it lost support at the top of the US Air Force at a time when alternative sources of inteligence were being developed (satellites and unmanned drones in particular). This book was written to take advantage of the author’s close relationship with people involved in the programme and of newly declassified materials to paint the most complete picture yet of the career of this impressive aircraft.
This is a huge book, but unlike some books of this size much of the space is taken up by the text (although there are hundreds of excellent photos). We get huge levels of detail on every aspect of the Blackbird programme, from the original development of the aircraft, the various models that were produced (and those that weren’t, such as the proposed fighter variant). One of the most impressive features of this part of the book is just how technically advanced the aircraft was for the time period in which it was being developed – work on the first member of the family, the A-12, began late in 1957, only ten years after the first supersonic flight. The A-12 could reach mach 3.3 and cruise at mach 3.1, a vast leap from earlier aircraft and one that involved the development of a whole range of new technology, including an entirely new and very corrosive form of jet fuel.
We get big sections on the test flight programme and the selection and training of the initial A-12 and SR-71 crews, which makes one realise how tempermental this aircraft could be. Early on it suffered from regular problems with the engines, and many of the accounts of early flights involve complicated efforts to recover from these problems. Later technological improvements reduced the impact of these and you don’t here about quite as many in later flights, but the SR-71 remained a potentially difficult aircraft to cope with even into the 1980s.
When we move onto the service record the level of detail remains impressive. We get a huge number of first hand accounts of missions from the crews who flew them, covering a good mix of routine and unusual flights. The Blackbird was such a complex aircraft that it required a very strict set of flight rules, so quite a few flights ended with the aircraft having to land early at the nearest Allied base after a technical problem emerged. We thus get to see the impact of the unexpected arrival of the Blackbird, especially at Norwegian airfields.
This is the most detailed book I’ve ever read on an individual type of aircraft, covering this fascinating topic in an impressively comprehensive way.
Chapters
1 – The Requirement
2 – Rainbow and Gusto
3 – Oxcart
4 – Area 51
5 – Progress and Politics
6 – Black Shield
7 – Tagboard and Senior Bowl
8 – Kedlock
9 – Technical
10 – From RS to SR and Beyond
11 – AFLC, Maintenance, Mishaps and Recoveries
12 – Beale Operations
13 – OL-8 Operatiuons during the Vietnam War
14 – Det 1 Operations post the Vietnam War
15 – Det 4 The Early Years
16 – Det 4 At Pace
17 – The Barents
18 – NASA
19 – Shutdown
20 – Legacy
Author: Paul F. Crickmore
Edition: Hardcover
Pages: 528
Publisher: Osprey
Year: 2023 (3rd Edition)