Found a video of one taking off from Kadena at night with full afterburners. Just Wow! (for some reason, it says it's not the real plane taking off but is the real sound?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnDRUru9KZU
Interesting info. during that time period about the # of missles fired at it. Also different problems with it that had to be worked out.
On 18 March #978 was to fly the first scheduled Operational Mission but diverted into Ching Chuan Kang (CCK), Taiwan due to adverse weather. #978 returned to Det 1 on 23 March, 1968.
On 19 March #976 was next scheduled but did not fly that day.
On 21 March 1968, USAF SR-71 #974 flew the First Operational sortie over Vietnam, piloted by Jerry O'Malley and RSO Ed Paine. Upon return to Kadena Jerry O'Malley found the base fogged in and diverted to CCK. This first mission revealed enemy emplacements around Khe Sanh, Vietnam that had previously been undetected. The battle of Khe Sanh ended two weeks after this sortie was flown.
The second flight with aircraft #976, was also flown by the same crew on 10 April 1968. Upon descent from 80,000 feet, both engines flamed out. Colonel O'Malley succeeded in restarting both engines at around 20,000 feet. After refueling, the flight continued on to a normal landing at Kadena. This flight led to the Blackbird's nickname the "Lead Sled".
One week later, Pilot Buddy Brown and RSO Dave Jensen flew the third Operational sortie into North Vietnam. Upon descent from altitude, the left generator was lost and both engines flamed out. A restart of both engines was accomplished and the aircraft landed at Takhli RTAFB, Thailand. Maintenance crews from Kadena flew in and performed the repairs. The aircraft returned uneventful to Kadena AB.
The fourth flight was also flown by Habu's Brown/Jensen. Again as they descended from altitude, they experienced a generator failure with a double engine flame out. Engine restart was successfully accomplished and the aircraft again landed at Takhli.
On 19 April 1968 #974 was piloted by Jim Watkins and RSO Dave Dempster for the fifth operational mission. Descending from altitude they experienced a double engine unstart and flameout. Jim Watkins finally solved the flameout problems by holding the RPM's a couple hundred higher than check-list as he brought it out of afterburner. (Editor's Note: MSgt Ronald J. De Lozier, at that time was Assistant Crew Chief on #974. He states that the problem was related to fuel control scheduling. These flameouts occurred due to unusual outside air temperatures that was not the norm for this part of the world. A reschedule of the fuel controls solved the problem.)
On 25 May 1968 #978 was piloted by Don Walbrecht and RSO Phil Loignon launching out of Kadena for their first Combat Flight over Vietnam. The flight was not without incident but returned to Kadena uneventful. They subsequently flew a total of eight operational sorties from Kadena.
On 26 July 1968 #976 was piloted by Major's Tony Bevacqua and RSO Jerry Crew in an operational mission over Hanoi, North Vietnam. [b:3fa4a8a2b4]This flight was the first time that a SAM had locked on and fired upon a Blackbird. The crew knew they had been fired upon by two missiles and after flying a return track over the [/b:3fa4a8a2b4]same area, no additional SAM's were fired. Landing was uneventful at Kadena. The Terrain tracking camera recorded the SA-2's launches and later evaluation revealed the nearest missile exploded about one mile behind and away from #976.
Throughout the Det 1's operational missions, Surface to Air Missiles were fired at the Blackbirds in an attempt to bring down one of the Reconnaissance Planes. [b:3fa4a8a2b4]At times, SAM's were fired in salvos but as "Kelly" Johnson stated: "Over 1,000 missiles has been fired at the Blackbird without a loss of Plane or Crew". [/b:3fa4a8a2b4]Superior DEF electronics and Habu Crew skills certainly contributed to the success and accomplishment of the Operational Sorties.
During the 22 years that Kadena Det 1 operations were in effect, Operational missions were flown to Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, North Korea, airspace off the USSR and China. In addition, four 11 hour flights to the Persian Gulf occurred during the Iran-Iraq War in 1987 and 1988. A total of 2,410 SR-71 missions were flown from first deployment in 1968 to Detachment 1 closure in 1990.
Real clips of take off/passes [/url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N31eEXjNAUU
I wonder what it would be like to have two of NASA's most powerful rockets strapped to my behind and then set off toward space....must be what it would be like on take off.
