The last Habu out of Kadena…
They were the next hangar over from us, and you could always tell when they were getting ready to go or coming back. The hangar was buzzing and security was EVERYWHERE!!!
Note in this video the pilots aren’t pre-breathing and being walked directly to the bird, indicating they weren’t flying a mission enroute.
A true piece of history, and still a record holder for speed records (and still classified for actual capabilities)…
We saw one in Udvar Hazy. Impressive airplane and the museum was well worth the trip.
The A-12 Oxcart was even more impressive because it had weapons on it…
Scary to look at as a static display.
Very cool. Thank you for sharing that.
John- That it is, on BOTH counts!
LL- True, but sadly they never got built in any numbers!
WSF- Yep, and impressive as hell ‘alive’ 😀
Fargo- You’re welcome!
In eight grade I got in a spot of trouble because for a fact based faction story I had an A-12 blow a Russian spy satellite out of low earth orbit. Apparently, that was too far fetched.
Pops called and yelled at the school.
Such a cool plane.
One weekend in the late 80’s, I was at Beale AFB during our unit drill. (We were ground pounders, not A.F. The folks at Beale were kind enough to let us use some of their real estate to go play cowboys and Indians. While we were there, we got to watch a Blackbird launch. They took off the south, climbed left out over the Sierra mountains and into the clouds. By the sound, they continued the turn 180 degrees to head north, then west. The sound of their engines faded until you could just hear it, then a faint, distant boom. My guess is it was them going super-sonic over the Pacific.
SPE- 🙂 Gee, I ‘wonder’ why… LOL
RHT- Yep, the are noisy suckers, but once they get to ‘altitude’ all you hear is the sonic boom… They probably departed to Fortuna, then out over the Pacific through 1415 or 1416.
I think we’ve lost something from human spirit by replacing such magnificent machines with satellites and by removing humans from pushing the frontiers. Now we hardly venture as humans into space, and we fly drones into combat.
+1 Euripides
+2 Euripides.
I saw the Blackbird on display at Udvar-Hazy arrive.
On her last pass the pilot kicked in the afterburners.
Diamond shaped flame pulsed out of the engines.
The AF 0-6 standing next came in his shorts.
To say “impressive” is to sell her short.
Euripides/Rick/Ed- Excellent point! There aren’t any Alan Shepard’s or John Glenn’s left… IMHO
Stretch- Yep, impressive is right, even more so at night! 😀
A couple friends and I drove 175 miles up to Beale AFB for one of the last open houses before the planes were retired (1988-ish?).
One of the demos had a -71 takeoff, head out hit a tanker over Wyoming. They passed back overhead a hour later supersonic at FL710 and dumping fuel to make a visible trail. Otherwise the plane was invisible. But the audible pop-pop was not. Then he came back to make a few “high speed passes” (the announcer’s exact words). I laughed.. what’s he doing 250-270 kts? That’s about 10% of what it does at altitude!
I probably wouldn’t have made the trip on my own but friends made the trip worthwhile.
I remember when one flew in for the NAS Miramar Airshow. Everyone was expecting an arrival during the Friday afternoon show but the Blues flew and still no Blackbird. About an hour after the end, the O Club was packed. I was on the patio when it arrived doing a slow flyby. The club emptied in seconds as the word passed. It made a couple more of low burner flybys before landing and being stowed in one of the hangers.
On Monday morning, the flight line was packed. Cars were illegally parked up and down Kearny Villa Road which runs North/South east of the base. Too many cars for the CA Highway Patrol to issue tickets. Everyone waiting to see the Habu take off. They were not disappointed. Amazing how just a takeoff and a couple of low burner flybys can excite the soul.
Was in my construction trailer on the line at Edwards during NASA’ birthday when they had a flyover.
About twenty ac, all different, and one Blackbird.
Gives ya chills.
I’ve always loved those planes. Growing up (I’m a ’65 model), you heard whispers about them.
My favorite bike happens to be the CBR1100XX, the Super Blackbird. I think it’s coincidence. The Honda doesn’t have to get wound up before it ceases to leak everywhere.
There’s one on display, outside in the weather, at the “Armament Museum” at Eglin AFB.
Amazing how crude and ugly the thing is up close and personal.
Better viewed from afar.
All- Thanks for the comments, and it IS a ‘beautiful’ ugly… IMHO 🙂
We were in your hangar, I think. Right next to the TOC. Marine AV-8As, 6 month deployments, VMA-542 Det B, 77 and 78-79. We borrowed a piece of SR-71 titanium from the Habu squadron to repair one our AV-8As that landed gear up on our first arrival to Kadna in 1977. Det maintenance officer and Det pilot. Thanks for the video
Ron- Yep, that was the VP hangar. It got ‘shared’ by a lot of folks over the years! 🙂 I vaguely remember seeing Harriers there in 77 when we came through on a det.
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