The world's fastest fighter plane, SR-71 Blackbird, is now gathering dust in a museum. The biggest specialty of this fighter plane was its speed, due to which even the enemy's anti-aircraft missile could not catch it in the air.
The world's fastest flying fighter plane, SR-71 Blackbird, is now gathering dust in the museum. The biggest feature of this fighter plane was its speed, due to which even the enemy's anti-aircraft missile could not catch it in the air. This plane was made by American weapon manufacturer Lockheed Martin. The top speed of this plane is 3529 kilometers per hour. Which could cover a distance of 5400 kilometers in one go. However, due to the low budget of the US Air Force and the expensive maintenance of this plane, it had to be retired prematurely. This plane could fly up to a height of 85000 feet from the earth. In today's time, there are very few fighter planes that can touch this height. During its three decades of service, there was never an occasion when it was hit by a missile despite entering enemy territory during an intelligence mission.
Blackbird has destroyed 4000 missiles
According to a report published in Airman Magazine in 2017, at least 4000 missiles were fired on the Blackbird aircraft by enemies during its service. However, no missile could match the speed of this aircraft. This is the only aircraft in the history of the US Air Force that has not been a victim of an accident even once during its 30 years of service. The figure of 4000 missiles is also given in another report by We Are the Mighty. Blackbird's most famous pilot Brian Shull has also mentioned these missile attacks. Shull said that this aircraft has served during the tenure of 6 US presidents. This included Presidents Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush.
However, the project to build this aircraft was started during the tenure of Dwight Eisenhower and its first flight was conducted during the Kennedy administration. Whereas, the last flight took place during Bill Clinton's presidency.
History was created by flying at a speed of 3529 kilometers per hour
This fighter plane had reached a speed of 3529 kilometers per hour in 1976, which is a record in history till date. On 1 September 1974, this plane covered a distance of 5,645 miles from New York to London in one hour 54 minutes and 56.4 seconds. During the ongoing Cold War with Russia, America used this fighter plane a lot. Its purpose was to instill fear in the mind of Russia. America never used this plane during any war. Due to which it could not be proved whether this plane would prove useful during war or not.
It is said that around 1990, even before the collapse of the Soviet Union, this plane was retired from service by the US Air Force. Then the Air Force had said that its operational cost is very high and we do not have enough budget to fly it continuously.Apart from the US Air Force, NASA also used it
According to the report, even after officially retiring it, the US Air Force operated three such aircraft between 1995 and 1998 at the behest of the US Congress. Later, the Air Force handed over one of these aircraft to the US space agency NASA. NASA used these aircraft in many research missions till 1999. After which they were removed from service forever. In 1990, when the US Air Force decided to remove this aircraft from service, they started feeling that Russia also had many such aircraft which could compete with this speed. In such a situation, questions started being raised on the utility of this aircraft. On the other hand, the Soviet Union also became too busy in its internal affairs, due to which its tension with America also started reducing gradually. After which the US Congress raised tough questions about the cost of this aircraft.
The cost of the flight was $200,000 per hour
In front of the US Congress, the then Chief of Staff of the US Air Force, General Larry D Welch, had said that it is difficult for this aircraft to escape from the increasing power of satellites and the Soviet Union's SAM-5 missile. This missile of the Soviet Union flew at a very high speed, which was capable of hitting any target from ground to air in a moment. The Air Force Chief had then said that we need to retire this aircraft immediately, so that the Air Force funds can be saved. At that time, Edward C. Eldridge Jr., Secretary of the US Air Force in the Ronald Reagan administration, estimated that two tactical flight wings could be operated with the money used to operate the SR-71 fleet. A tactical flight wing consists of 4 squadrons equipped with 9 fighter planes each. It was told that at that time the cost of operating the SR-71 fleet was $2 lakh per hour.
This aircraft joined the US Air Force in 1966
Lockheed Martin developed the SR-71 Blackbird from the A-12 reconnaissance aircraft. Its first flight was conducted on 22 December 1964. US Air Force engineer Clarence Kelly Johnson is considered the originator of the concept of this aircraft. This aircraft was included in operation in the year 1966.