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low pass enroute to Mildenhall

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fklein(at)orcasonline.com
Guest

Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 11:55 am Post subject: low pass enroute to Mildenhall

Happy New Year, everybody...following a bit off topic, but perhaps of  

interest:



by Brian Shul,    Retired SR-71 Pilot via Plane and Pilot Magazine



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 field?yet;    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 cadet?s 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 moment.  Then Walt said, ?Don?t

  ever do that to me again!? And I never did.



do not archive

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grahamsingleton(at)btinte
Guest

Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 1:54 pm Post subject: low pass enroute to Mildenhall

Fred

that was nice, thanks and happy new year!

Graham



Fred Klein wrote:

 	  Quote: 	
		   



 Happy New Year, everybody...following a bit off topic, but perhaps of 

 interest:



 by Brian Shul,    Retired SR-71 Pilot via Plane and Pilot Magazine



 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?"

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Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:

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paul.the.aviator(at)gmail
Guest

Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 2:04 pm Post subject: low pass enroute to Mildenhall

Fred, 



Thanks for sharing this.  I went to a lecture by one of the SR71 pilots as KOSH last year and he he gave a fascinating insight to the mission preparation process.



Paul



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  [quote][b]

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Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:

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danny shepherd

Joined: 27 Jan 2006
Posts: 117
Location: north Wales, United Kingdom

Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 2:56 pm Post subject: low pass enroute to Mildenhall

Thanks Fred,

                    That was excellent, I'll be forwarding this on to my 

aviation buddies.

Have a great new year

Thanks Danny G-ceri



Fred Klein wrote:

 	  Quote: 	
		   



 Happy New Year, everybody...following a bit off topic, but perhaps of 

 interest:



 by Brian Shul,    Retired SR-71 Pilot via Plane and Pilot Magazine



 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 field?yet;    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 cadet?s 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 moment.  Then Walt said, ?Don?t

  ever do that to me again!? And I never did.



 do not archive

- The Matronics Europa-List Email Forum -

Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:

http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Europa-List

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