The SR-71 Blackbird

The SR-71 spy plane, the most advanced member of the Blackbird family that included the A-12 and YF-12, was designed by a team of Lockheed personnel led by Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, then vice president of Lockheed’s Advanced Development Company Projects, commonly known as the “Skunk Works” and now a part of Lockheed Martin. The Blackbird completed its first flight on Dec. 22, 1964.

The SR-71 was designed to cruise at “Mach 3+,” just over three times the speed of sound or more than 2,200 miles per hour and at altitudes up to 85,000 feet.

Frags (from the Vietnam War-era term of “fragging,” or “frags” for short, to indicate a practical joke) were part of SR-71 Blackbird crew members (or Habus)’ traditions.

Oscar’s Balls—flown over 70,000 feet in a U-2

Former Blackbird pilot Richard H. Graham recalls a very special frag that took place at Kadena Air Base (AB), Okinawa, Japan, home of Sr-71 Det. 1.

He explains in his book SR-71 Revealed The Inside Story:

‘Habus once fragged the 9th SRW/Det 2, our sister U-2 detachment located at Osan, Korea. Det 2 crews and personnel were known as the “Blackcats” and wore a U-2 patch depicting a black cat. They also had a Det 2 mascot, a black male cat called, Oscar. For Oscar to be the true Det mascot they flew him on a U-2 mission in one of the empty mission bays. After the flight he became crazed and was never the same again. They decided to have Oscar castrated to see if that would calm him down. At the Det’s request, the vet saved Oscar’s testicles, where they were proudly displayed in a glass jar in Operations for all to see. The inscription on the out-side of the jar read, “Oscar’s Balls—flown over 70,000 feet in a U-2.”’

Colonel Tom Alison describes what happened next.

‘The frag of Det 2 concerning “Oscar’s Balls” occurred in early December, 1978, and JT [JT Vida was Alison’s RSO] and I were the crew involved. It was the only time we ever had to divert/land away on a GIANT SCALE mission and occurred on a night sortie over the DMZ when we had a generator failure. We only had two land aways in over 120 operational sorties and six years (speaks highly of the jet). We diverted into Osan AB, Korea, at night, and the folks at Det 2 were extremely helpful in getting us settled.

Spying the jar with “Oscar’s Balls”

‘The recovery team arrived the next morning, and the fairly routine generator replacement was accomplished, and everything looked good for an early morning departure the next day, which was a Saturday. JT and I had decided that, if at all possible, a frag was in order and had talked about what would be appropriate. The Det 2 Commander at the time was Lt. Col. Doyle Krumery. He had a large beautiful desk in his office that he was very proud of. With the help of a couple of crew chiefs, we entered the Det offices later that night and very carefully moved the prized desk into a shower stall in the PSD area. Not a scratch… we were very proud of ourselves!

‘On the way out of the Det we spied the jar with “Oscar’s Balls” prominently displayed in the operations area. It was perfect. JT put the jar in a helmet bag and stowed it in the rear cockpit early the next morning. Since it was a Saturday and no Det 2 flying was scheduled, all the U-2 people slept in and no one had gotten to the Det to discover the jar with Oscar’s balls was missing. All the way through engine start, taxi, and takeoff we expected to hear a radio call to come back immediately until the missing items were found. As it turned out, the desk in the shower caused so much of an uproar that Oscar was overlooked. I think our maintenance people even got loaded on the tanker and headed back to Kadena before the “the real frag” was discovered.

“Oscar’s Balls—flown Mach 3+ in an SR-71”

‘On our way back to Kadena, which was a “hot” flight, we decided how we were going to put the finishing touches on our frag. When we arrived back at Det 1, we got together with Chuck Weithoff the SAS/autopilot technical representative, and a good friend. He fried two chicken hearts until they were just two little black, hard things, and then we took a needle and some dark thread and wove a short strand between the fried chicken hearts.

‘It was rather easy to get another jar that was the same as the one that held the precious cargo. After filling the jar with water (I don’t know what was in the jar with “Oscar’s Balls”—we never had the courage to actually open the jar) we added the chicken hearts. It was amazing how they looked exactly like the original except they were burned black! Since the U-2 guys were so proud that they had taken “Oscar” flying in the “Dragon Lady,” we put a label on the jar that read, “Oscar’s Balls—flown Mach 3+ in an SR-71.”

U-2 pilots vow they would get even

‘We then, appearing as contrite as we could, had the jar returned to Det 2 with our profound apologies because, we said, the jar had been stored in an aircraft bay that had gotten hot on the trip back to Kadena and “Oscar’s Balls” had been fried! JT and I returned to Beale before the reaction traveled back to Det 1; however, knowing Doyle Krumery’s explosive nature, it wasn’t hard to imagine the conversation between him and the Det 1 commander, Lt. Col. Bob Cunningham.’

Alison concludes;

‘Later, the real “Oscar’s Balls” were returned to Det 2. However, the U-2 pilots vowed they would get even. Sometime later, when one of them was at Kadena they took from the Det 1 office a jar containing a Habu snake. They thought they had purloined a Det 1 prize. We had to tell them, that we had numerous jars with Habus in them and they could keep it if they wanted!’

CLICK HERE to buy Richard H. Graham’s book SR-71 Revealed The Inside Story

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin

Key takeaways In een poging om het onderzoek naar hogesnelheidsluchtvaart te bevorderen, heeft NASA contact gezocht met gepensioneerde ingenieurs van in de zeventig om te helpen bij een mogelijk SR-71 Blackbird-project. Supersonische vluchten Volgens berichten van Aviation Week zijn er formele aanstellingsvoorstellen gedaan aan Tim Conners en Mike Relja, die beiden eerder als testingenieurs voor […]

NASA to bring back to fly SR-71 Blackbird?

27 years after it was retired, one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft may soon fly again.

Several former engineers who worked on the Mach 3+ Spy Plane were contacted by NASA as the agency is looking for their help with a possible return-to-flight project.

Former US Air Force (USAF) and NASA test engineer Mike Relja was reached out by David Ash, a former US Navy and Joby test pilot, to help with the effort. Now in his late 70s, Relja was surprised when NASA contacted him about the project he told Aviation Week.

“I told the guy, ‘You know, I’m too old to be doing this. I wish you well. I’d like to see you make it. It would be interesting. But I just don’t think you can get there from here,” Relja explained.

SR-71A Tail No. 844 is the Blackbird at the centre of the effort. Since her last flight, the HABU (as the SR-71 is dubbed by her aircrews) has been sitting on display at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB), California.

Aviation Week obtained commercial satellite images that showed that the spy plane was removed from its display pole sometime before April this year. The Blackbird was moved into the hangar that was once used for the Space Shuttle by NASA employees.

A NASA spokesperson told Aviation Week that the agency recognizes “the interest in the SR-71 and its remarkable history at NASA but have no additional information to share regarding the aircraft at this time.”

A new fleet of experimental X-planes

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman spoke about NASA plans to build a new fleet of experimental X-planes at the All-In Summit in Los Angeles earlier in September where Isaacman showed an image of a new aircraft. As the image below shows, the new plane seemed to feature something in common with the Blackbird such as its tail design, engine areas and cockpit. Isaacman added that NASA would soon be flying as high and as fast as it had in the past, and then go beyond those limits.

Tail No. 844 has not flown for nearly 27 years and it would be difficult to operate since it could have water and sand inside it after spending so many years on display, Relja explained.

“I do know they’ve got people working on it. But again, without equipment, it’s beyond me what they’re doing,” he pointed out.

He also explained that even though the aircraft has two J58 engines and one spare engine under it, the J58 may not have been properly maintained or rotated for decades.

“When we were operational, if we had a spare engine, every 90 days we had to rotate the engine. Every 180 days, we had to run it to keep it as a ready spare. Now you’re talking about engines that have been sitting for 30-plus years,” Relja explained.

Problems

Moreover, in 2007 the USAF and NASA destroyed around $600 million worth of SR-71 spare parts so the supply of spare parts is another big problem. JP-7 fuel (a special type of fuel used only by the SR-71) would also be needed.

Besides these, the aircraft also needs triethylborane (TEB, a chemical used to start its engines) special engine oil and hydraulic fluids. Special carts were needed for several jobs Relja pointed out. “To get the engine out, you need a cart. You need equipment to pull the [engine] spikes, pull the [ejection] seat. All that stuff is gone.”

Nine SR-71s were flown to museums in the US and UK, hence their engines and other parts could be used for the project.

NASA SR-71s

During the 1990s two SR-71 Blackbird aircraft were used by NASA as testbeds for high-speed and high-altitude aeronautical research at Dryden. The aircraft included an SR-71A and SR-71B (the trainer version), loaned to NASA by the US Air Force.

The SR-71, the most advanced member of the Blackbird family that included the A-12 and YF-12, was designed by a team of Lockheed personnel led by Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, then vice president of Lockheed’s Advanced Development Company Projects, commonly known as the “Skunk Works” and now a part of Lockheed Martin Corp.

The Blackbird design originated in secrecy during the late 1950s with the A-12 reconnaissance aircraft that first flew in April 1962 and remained classified until 1976. President Lyndon Johnson publicly announced the existence of the YF-12A interceptor variant on Feb. 29, 1964, more than half a year after its maiden flight. The SR-71 completed its first flight on Dec. 22, 1964. More than a decade after their retirement the Blackbirds remain the world’s fastest and highest-flying production aircraft ever built.

The Blackbirds were designed to cruise at Mach 3.2, just over three times the speed of sound or more than 2,200 miles per hour and at altitudes up to 85,000 feet. The extreme operating environment in which they flew made the aircraft excellent platforms for conducting research and experiments in a variety of disciplines: aerodynamics, propulsion, structures, thermal protection materials, high-speed and high-temperature instrumentation, atmospheric studies, and sonic boom characterization.

SR-71 activities at Dryden were part of NASA’s overall high-speed aeronautical research program and involved other NASA research Centers, other government agencies, universities, and commercial firms.

Tail No. 844 made the final flight of an SR-71 Blackbird on Oct. 9, 1999.

Photo credit: NASA

NASA quietly removed the SR-71 #844 from static display at the Armstrong Flight Research Center, where it sat since the type’s last flight in 1999, just as NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman is promising a new generation of high-speed X-planes.

An SR-71 Blackbird has disappeared from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, California. The aircraft, NASA tail number 844, had been sitting on display outside the Armstrong facility for years since the last flight on Oct. 9, 1999.

Aviation Week and The War Zone were the first to report about the disappearance. According to Aviation Week’s Defense Editor Steve Trimble, commercial satellite imagery indicates that the Blackbird was no longer at its usual location since at least May 17, 2026.

Aviation Week subsequently reported that the aircraft was moved into a hangar earlier this year for an inspection. Sources familiar with the matter indicated that NASA had been exploring whether the SR-71 could potentially return to flight, although the agency said they have no additional information to share regarding the aircraft when contacted by The War Zone.

However, the timing is particularly intriguing. In fact, only few days before, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman presented an image of a mysterious high-speed aircraft during the All-In Summit in Los Angeles. The slide, titled “Rebuilding our X-plane portfolio,” showed an aircraft emerging from clouds whose silhouette immediately recalled the iconic Blackbird.

Asked whether the aircraft shown was an SR-71, Isaacman cryptically replied: “You sure that’s a Blackbird?” He did not clarify what the aircraft actually was. Instead, he said that NASA was “getting back in the business of flying high and fast again.”

However, information reported by Aviation Week in its ‘Check Six’ podcast suggests that there may be more behind the movement of SR-71 #844 than a routine change in display location.

The SR-71 that disappeared

The SR-71 #844 is not any Blackbird, as it was the final SR-71 to be produced and the last one to fly. The aircraft started its career with the U.S. Air Force, which assigned it the serial number 64-17980.

In 1990, this SR-71 was loaned to NASA by the U.S. Air Force. Throughout the 1990s, it was one of the Blackbirds operated by NASA as a high-speed and high-altitude research platform.

NASA’s final SR-71 flight took place on Oct. 9, 1999. Following the end of its flying career, 844 remained at what was then Dryden Flight Research Center, now Armstrong, where it eventually became part of the facility’s outdoor display.

Aviation Week Defense Editor Steve Trimble reported that sources indicated that 844 had been moved into a hangar for an inspection. Obviously, that alone would not establish that NASA is preparing the Blackbird to fly again as static display aircraft can require inspection, maintenance and preservation work after years in the open.

However, there is a significant detail which might change the story. In fact, according to Trimble’s reporting, NASA also contacted former members of the SR-71 program to determine whether they would be interested to participate in a potential return-to-flight effort.

That information has not been confirmed by NASA. If the reporting is accurate, any such effort has evidently not been publicly acknowledged; Trimble noted that he could find no identifiable funding line associated with it in available budget documents.

If NASA really were considering returning an SR-71 to flight, #844 has several characteristics that would make it an obvious candidate. As mentioned earlier, it was the last SR-71 built and also the last one to fly, and the Mojave Desert – where the Armstrong Flight Research Center is located – offers an environment which is highly favorable for long-term preservation.

Additionally, #844 benefited from upgrades introduced late in the Blackbird’s operational career, including the Digital Automatic Flight and Inlet Control System (DAFICS), which integrated flight and inlet controls and made the violent inlet ‘unstarts’ that had characterized earlier SR-71 operations increasingly rare.

Going higher and faster

The timing of the aircraft’s disappearance becomes even more interesting when considered alongside Isaacman’s recent comments. As we recently reported here at The Aviationist, during his September 2026 All-In Summit presentation, the NASA administrator described the agency’s intention to rebuild its X-plane portfolio.

The X-59 QueSST, currently NASA’s most visible experimental aircraft program, is focused on demonstrating quieter supersonic flight. Isaacman made clear that he sees the aircraft as only the beginning of a broader effort.

At EAA AirVenture in July, Isaacman had already spoken about the SR-71 in the context of NASA’s historical X-plane portfolio. When asked about plans for a new crewed hypersonic aircraft or an SR-71 successor, Isaacman said the area was of significant developmental interest.

At another AirVenture panel, Isaacman was asked which aircraft he would like to fly but had never flown. His immediate answer was the SR-71 Blackbird. This led the moderator to ask whether he had the authority to bring one back, with Isaacman replying: “That’s classified.”

Obviously, none of those comments constitutes confirmation that NASA is restoring the SR-71 to fly again. However, they provide an intriguing backdrop to what is otherwise an unexplained move.

Why would NASA want an SR-71 again?

What makes the SR-71 interesting enough to NASA for a potential return to flight is its flight envelope. In fact, the SR-71 was designed to cruise at around Mach 3.2 and at altitudes approaching 85,000 feet.

Its ability to operate at extreme speed and altitude made it an unusually useful research platform, and NASA used its Blackbirds for work involving aerodynamics, propulsion, structures, thermal protection materials, high-speed instrumentation, atmospheric research and sonic booms. None of the aircraft currently used by NASA can reproduce this combination of capabilities.

NASA operated SR-71s during the 1990s specifically because their performance opened research opportunities unavailable to conventional aircraft. Considering the ongoing research in the hypersonic flight regime, the Blackbird could potentially provide a unique bridge between conventional supersonic flight testing and the much more challenging regimes associated with hypersonic speeds.

The SR-71 could also conceivably serve as an airborne test or launch platform for experimental high-speed vehicles. There is historical precedent within the Blackbird family: the M-21, a modified A-12, was developed to air-launch the D-21 high-speed reconnaissance drone. Any comparable use of an SR-71 today, however, would require an entirely new integration effort.

However, NASA may not necessarily want an original SR-71 to become a conventional flying aircraft again. Instead, the agency could use the aircraft as a technological and aerodynamic reference for a new X-plane.

Isaacman’s comments suggest that NASA is interested in radical airframe and propulsion designs rather than simply incremental improvements to existing systems. A new aircraft could retain some of the fundamental aerodynamic principles that made the Blackbird successful while taking advantage of six decades of advances in materials, manufacturing, avionics, flight controls and propulsion.

Bringing an SR-71 back would be an enormous undertaking

Returning an SR-71 to flight status is easier said than done. Because of its extreme operating environment and unique characteristics, the maintenance of the Blackbird required a substantial effort, with a dedicated support infrastructure that however disappeared after the fleet’s retirement.

The Pratt & Whitney J58 engines were designed around the aircraft’s unique operating requirements and used JP-7 fuel, a fuel with a high flash point and high thermal stability specifically produced for the SR-71. The last stocks of JP-7, which is no longer in regular production, were burned in 2002, although ten years later an unspecified quantity of JP-7 was produced again for the X-51 Waverider unmanned ramjet-powered hypersonic demonstrator.

Aviation Week also noted the economic challenge to return the SR-71 to flight. About two years after the final flight, the possibility of reactivating an SR-71 for intelligence missions was examined, with estimates reportedly reaching $40–45 million. Almost 27 after the final flight, the challenge would be considerably greater.

Could the SR-71 follow the F-117’s example?

While it remains unclear whether an SR-71 will ever return to flight, there is already a remarkable precedent for a supposedly retired aircraft continuing to play an important role years after leaving operational service: the F-117 Nighthawk.

The F-117 was officially retired in 2008, with the remaining aircraft transferred to the Tonopah Test Range in Nevada. Following retirement, the remaining aircraft were placed in Type 1000 recallable storage at Tonopah, preserving them in a condition that initially allowed for possible return to service. That requirement was eventually repealed in 2016, allowing the Air Force to begin divesting portions of the fleet.

Yet retirement did not mean the end of the Nighthawk’s flying career. Nearly two decades later, F-117s continue to fly regularly, supporting training as low-observable adversary aircraft and cruise-missile surrogates, while also being used for research, development, test and evaluation activities that may include support for next-generation programs. The Air Force has even taken steps to keep the type viable for years to come, including work associated with aerial refueling certification with the KC-46A.

In that respect, the F-117 offers an interesting parallel to what could potentially happen with the Blackbird.

Both aircraft emerged from extraordinarily advanced engineering programs and possess characteristics that remained relevant, or potentially useful, decades after they were designed. An SR-71 returning to the air would therefore not necessarily imply a return to its former reconnaissance mission. Like the F-117, it could instead serve as a unique test, research or development asset, exploiting capabilities that remain difficult to reproduce even decades after the aircraft was designed. A testament to another design that was remarkably far ahead of its time.

 

© NASA/Lori Losey