Kelly (19 page)

The airplane is a good workhorse, really earning its “U” designation for utility. It even has done the high-altitude weather research first announced for it—in fact, a great deal of atmospheric and earth resources surveying for NASA. For that assignment, the ER-2, for “earth resources,” is their latest model, flying higher and farther than its predecessor U-2.

The U-2C has operated on the carrier
Kittyhawk
and others
in demonstrations for the Navy. A later model, the U-2R—for “revised”—would be even better for carrier operation, although its 100-foot wingspan versus the earlier 80 feet does take up a lot of space.

SR-71 production at Lockheed’s “Skunk Works” in Burbank, Calif
.

By about 1965, the U-2s had served nearly ten years and were showing their age. We proposed to build the U-2R. The Pratt & Whitney J-57 engine had achieved a 20 percent increase in power, so we could fly with a heavier load. We had to reduce the wing loading while keeping the span as great as we could; we extended the wing to that 100-foot dimension, providing 1,000 square feet of wing area instead of 600 sq. ft. The cockpit was enlarged 45 percent, which made it more comfortable on long missions. There were other improvements to equipment and field serviceability.

The airplane operated in Southeast Asia over a period of four years with a maintenance readiness record of dispatch within 15 minutes of assigned time on 98 percent of the calls.

The availability was as good as for the big widebody airliners. And this was in snake-infested jungle areas with the absolute minimum number of maintenance personnel and equipment.

When the
Mayaguez
was captured and our communications satellite went out of commission, one U-2R stayed at altitude for a total of more than 27 hours in a three-day period acting as a communications link for our military forces.

Our B-52 pilots in the war theater preferred not to go out until the U-2 had told them who was coming at them.

The “R” can fly almost nine miles a minute above 70,000 feet and search 300 miles to the horizon. It can pick up enemy radar and communications. The plane can stay out for as long as ten hours, making it a very good early warning aircraft. Used with the Navy, it could land on a carrier to refuel when ranging far from land bases and be off again. One day, I think the Navy may want to use the U-2 for that purpose.

The latest U-2 version in Air Force service is the TR-1, for “tactical reconnaissance.” It was named on the spot by USAF Gen. David C. Jones, then Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff. “We have to get the U-2 name off the plane.” Even the military is sensitive to that “Spy Plane” image. “We’ll call it the TR-1, tactical reconnaissance one.”

The TR-1 entered service with the Air Force in 1981. Both the TR-1 and ER-2, latest U-2 versions, are 40 percent larger than the original. Wing span is 103 feet; fuselage, 63 feet long. The contract for both was a cooperative effort by the USAF and NASA. The ER-2 is equipped with interchangeable noses for varying missions. Without penetrating foreign territory, the TR-1 with highly sophisticated sensors operating from very high altitude can identify targets and threats behind enemy lines.

Development of the latest long-endurance capability, operating now in the TR-1, occupied us for many years. There are many more things we can do now that we could not do when the plane first was developed—nearly 30 years ago! There are many new technologies—silicon chips, optical fibers, various composite materials. But I don’t think anything is going to fly
higher subsonically. And that, of course, is why we went to our next project, the SR-71, to get more altitude and speed. It was under design as soon as the U-2 became operational.

“About a year after that first flight in 1956,” Bissell has said. “I came to the conclusion that we should start working on the successor to the U-2, because it was clear to me that sooner or later the U-2 would be vulnerable to interception.”

F
EBRUARY
29, 1964. PRESIDENT REVEALS SECRET AIRCRAFT:

“The United States has successfully developed an advanced experimental jet aircraft, the A-11, which has been tested in sustained flight at more than 2,000 mph and at altitudes in excess of 70,000 feet,” President Lyndon Johnson announced today.…

“The performance of the A-11 far exceeds that of any other aircraft in the world today.…

“The project was first started in 1958…. The Lockheed Aircraft Corporation at Burbank, California is the manufacturer of the aircraft. The aircraft engine, the J-58, was designed and built by the Pratt & Whitney Division, United Aircraft Corporation. The experimental fire control and air-to-air missile system for the A-11 was developed by the Hughes Aircraft Company.

“In view of the continuing importance of these developments to our national security, the detailed performance of the A-11 will remain strictly classified and all individuals associated with the program have been directed to refrain from making any further disclosure.…”

J
ULY
24, 1964. PRESIDENT ANNOUNCES NEW SPY PLANE

President Lyndon Johnson at a press conference: “I would
like to announce the successful development of a major new strategic manned aircraft system which will be employed by the Strategic Air Command. This system employs the new SR-71 aircraft and provides a long-range advanced strategic reconnaissance plane for military use capable of world-wide reconnaissance for military operations.…

“The SR-71 aircraft reconnaissance system is the most advanced in the world. The aircraft will fly at more than three times the speed of sound. It will operate at altitudes in excess of 80,000 feet. It will use the most advanced observation equipment of all times in the world … an outstanding reconnaissance capability.… The SR-71 uses the same J-58 engine as the experimental interceptor previously announced but it is substantially heavier and it has a longer range. The considerably heavier gross weight permits it to accommodate the multiple reconnaissance sensors needed by the Strategic Air Command to accomplish the strategic reconnaissance mission in a military environment.

“This billion dollar program was initiated in February 1963. The first operational aircraft will begin flight testing in early 1965, and deployment of production units to the Strategic Air Command will begin shortly thereafter.…”

D
ECEMBER
23, 1964. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT

“First flight of the U.S. Air Force SR-71, the new long-range strategic reconnaissance aircraft, took place yesterday at Palmdale, California.

“The Lockheed-built aircraft, flown by company test pilot Robert Gilliland, was in the air approximately one hour.

“… All test objectives were met.

“The aircraft will be assigned to the Strategic Air Command at Beale Air Force Base, Marysville, California, in 1965.”

Almost as soon as the U-2 was in operation, we began to plan its successor.

Efforts to improve the U-2 had yielded very little gain. A new design would be necessary. We set up our own requirements. There were none officially yet—just the need. We knew
we needed more altitude and, especially, more speed.

Vulnerability studies led us to the decision that the next airplane should operate at altitudes well over 80,000 to 85,000 feet, fly at speeds well over Mach 3, and be able to out-maneuver any SA-2 missile the Russians might develop. It had to be stable enough in flight to take a good photograph from altitudes above 90,000 feet. It had to retain the characteristics of the U-2—be able to photograph very, very small targets on the ground—while flying four to five times as fast. We wanted it to have global range—with multiple midair refuelings from the KC-135 aerial tankers. The aircraft also should present an extremely low radar cross-section—be very difficult to detect.

The decision to assign this project to Lockheed was arrived at only after consideration of several design proposals from other companies. From April 21, 1958, through September 1, 1959, I made a series of proposals for Mach 3-plus reconnaissance aircraft to Richard Bissell of the CIA and to the USAF Bissell, as chairman of the review committee, was reluctant to award the contract for its successor to the same company that had built the U-2 without a design competition.

Some of the other entries were interesting.

A Navy in-house concept proposed an inflatable rubber vehicle which could be carried to altitude by a balloon, then boosted by rocket power to a speed where its own ramjets could take over. This rapidly was demonstrated to be unfeasible. The balloon would have had to be a mile in diameter to lift the unit, which itself had a proposed wing area of one-seventh of an acre.

Convair proposed a ramjet-powered Mach 4 aircraft, which also had to be carried aloft by another vehicle and launched at supersonic speeds where the ramjet power could take over. Unfortunately, the launch vehicle was the B-58, which could not attain supersonic speed with the bird in place. Even if it could, the survivability of the piloted vehicle was in question because of probable ramjet blowout in maneuvers.

The total flight time for the Marquardt ramjet at the time was not over seven hours, obtained mainly on the ramjet test
vehicle for the Boeing Bomarc missile. This test vehicle, the X-7, had been built and operated by the Skunk Works.

On August 29, 1959, our A-12 design, the twelfth in the series, was declared the winner and Bissell gave us a limited go-ahead. We were to conduct tests on models, build a full-scale mockup, and investigate specific electronic features of the airplane over a four-month period.

On January 30, 1960, we were given a full go-ahead for design, manufacture, and test of 12 aircraft.

The code name was Oxcart, a name selected from a list of deliberately deceptive identifications. Obviously an oxcart is a slow-moving body. This CIA program led to other versions of the design for the U.S. Air Force. The next would be a long-range fighter for the Air Defense Command, first discussed with Gen. Hal Estes on March 16 and 17 of that same year. It became the YF-12A.

In January 1961, I made a proposal for a strategic reconnaissance airplane to Air Force Secretary Dr. Joseph Charyk, U-2 project officer Col. Leo Geary, and Lew Meyer, an Air Force finance officer. This encountered initial opposition in some quarters where it was seen as competition for funds for the North American B-70 program, then the object of considerable controversy. But it became the SR-71, the prime reconnaissance airplane for the Air Force today. There also would be a fourth verson—the D-21, an unmanned drone.

The aircraft that were to become the “Blackbirds” were the first to use the “Stealth” technology we developed for radar avoidance. We had tried to work it into the U-2 as a modification after the aircraft already were in operation and got nowhere. To be “stealthy,” aircraft must have certain features incorporated in design from the very beginning, not added later. “Stealth” must be designed into the airplane from the first three-view drawing to be effective. This is what we did with the Mach 3-plus aircraft.

We had achieved Mach 4 flight earlier for a few seconds with the X-17, our ramjet test vehicle—before that the X-7. The idea of attaining and staying at Mach 3.2 over long flights was
the toughest job the Skunk Works ever had and the most difficult of my career. Early in the development stage, I promised $50 to anyone who could find anything easy to do. I might as well have offered $1,000 because I still have the money.

Aircraft operating at those speeds and altitudes would require development of special fuels, structural materials, manufacturing tools and techniques, hydraulic fluid, fuel-tank sealants, paints, plastics, wiring and connecting plugs, as well as basic aircraft and engine design. Everything about the aircraft had to be invented. Everything.

In the search for a suitable fuel we considered initially such exotic candidates as liquid hydrogen, coal slurries, and boron slurries.

Design of a liquid hydrogen powered airplane actually was carried to the point approaching a production contract for a substantial number of them. The concept had seemed promising. While the airplane was very large, it was very light in weight. Powered by special engines developed by Pratt & Whitney, it would have a cruising altitude well above 100,000 feet—higher than the Blackbirds later achieved, although with less speed and range. But the further we went into development, the worse the problems we perceived.

The CL-400 was essentially a big flying vacuum bottle, with the liquid hydrogen heavily insulated to keep it at very low temperatures and as close to absolute zero as possible. The problems of transporting this fuel from a plant in the United States to wherever the airplane could be based would have been prohibitive. It would have required a whole fleet of C-124s to keep just a few liquid hydrogen planes flying. No foreign nation was likely to approve our flying in with such quantities of it nor to allow us to put a ship in their harbors and liquefy it on the site.

We had engaged the Pomeroy Company to design a hydrogen liquefaction plant that was to have been erected near our aircraft plants and the Palmdale Airport in the Mojave Desert. It would have used ten percent of the natural gas input to the city of Los Angeles in 1972 and ’73!