As a military historian and a published author, I have a good understanding of how and why the Blackbirds were put to rest long before their time.
In 1985, General Jerry O’Malley was the Air Force Chief of Staff and was a very strong supporter of the Blackbird. It may be that he was the first Air Force pilot to fly the very first SR-71 Blackbird over enemy territory, that is, North Vietnam. General O’Malley loved the Blackbird and all the maintained, built, supported, and flew “Kelly’s Black Jet.”
On 20 APR 1985, the first Air Force officer to fly an operational mission in a SR-71 was killed in a plane crash that also killed his wife and two Other military officers.
His next in command was his Deputy Chief of Staff (AFCS), a General Larry Welch. General Welch did not have the same warm and fuzzy feelings that General O’Malley had toward the SR-71. The reason? Welch was turned down to fly the SR-71 when he was a major, he was not that good of a pilot, that was a requirement to be considered for the prestigious position of being a crew member of the worlds fastest operational aircraft.
The pain of loosing out on flying the SR-71 was bitter pill that Welch had a hard time swallowing. His first order of business once he took over and Air Force Chief of Staff was to do everything in his power to kill the program. He sent out a memo that stated, If anyone under his command said anything negative about the Blackbird’s, he was fine with that. But, if anyone, from the lowly E-1 Airman Basic to the O-10 general level, they were going to have to live with the repercussions to their careers.
So, pulling every string and favor he could, Welch effectively killed the Blackbirds. The Russians, the North Vietnamese, the Chinese and the Israelis couldn’t shoot one down using their best pilots, and a second rate general, who wasn’t good enough to take control of a plane that moves through the air at 3,400 feet per second, or two miles every three-seconds took down the entire fleet. Last operational SR-71 flew on 09 March 1990, six months prior to Saddam invading his neighbor.
To make matters worse, during the beginning of Desert Shield, Air Force contacted the Skunk Works in early September and asked what it would take to have one SR-71A reactivated and operationally ready for the up coming war in Iraq. It took Ben R. Rich, then President of the Lockheed Skunk Works about ten days to have answer.
Ben told Air Force, that he needed a gold plated authorization letter to cut through all the red tape, a blank check, access to all sensors, Air Force support and electronics, then in storage, and his pick of both operational pilots and ground crew. Once the “Go” was given, he would guarantee that the Blackbird would be fully operationally ready.
Air Force told Ben to hold that though. About a month later, they got back to Ben. They asked what it would take to have a second SR-71 ready? Ben said he already had the answer, 30 days, start to operational readiness.
It’s now late October/early November 1990. Finally after waiting over 70 days for a reply as to when could Lockheed expect the ‘Go-a-head” for reactivation of two SR-71s. He was told, and he told me in a meeting I had with him after he retired. He was told that since the program was cancelled by the total lack of support at the Air Force Chief of Staff’s office, to reinstate the Blackbirds now would make the AFCS, that be Welch, look bad.
So much for waving Old Glory and petty back stabbing by the Jack Ass that was the reason the program was killed. He should be charged with treason, found guilty, and executed, but not necessarily in that order.
Cheers….Jim Goodall, USAF (ret)
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