That Time An SR-71 Made An Emergency Landing In Norway After Spying On The Soviets
http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/that-time-an-sr-71-made-an-emergency-landing-in-norway-1765436508Lt. Col. BC Thomas
Thursday 2:26pmFiled to: Blackbirds
BC Thomas and Jay Reid with Norwegian Newspapers, Bodø, Norway, August 15, 1981- Image courtesy of BC Thomas
On August 13, 1981, Jay Reid and I made the first SR-71 landing in Continental Europe. It was virtually unannounced—and not particularly welcomed.
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(At the height of the Cold War, SR-71 Blackbird pilot BC Thomas, who became the highest time SR-71 Blackbird pilot ever, and his Reconnaissance Systems Officer Jay Reid were tasked with a very urgent mission to spy on the Soviet Russia’s massive naval base at Murmansk. The sortie started off as planned but ended up as anything but usual, and they found themselves in a very precarious situation. This is Thomas’ story in his own words. —TR)
THE MISSION
Before establishing a continuous SR-71 presence in Europe in 1982 (at RAF Mildenhall, England), the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, the responsible headquarters for all SR-71 operational flights, was sometimes tasked to fly a particularly important higher-headquarters mission from Beale AFB in California to the Soviet Union and back.
The purpose was to photograph (with either film or radar), and collect electronic data in and around the Soviet Naval facility at Murmansk, located on the Kola Peninsula in the Barents Sea above the Arctic Circle, in the extreme northwest portion of the Soviet Union, north of Norway and east of Finland.
We required information about their air-defense electronic warfare capabilities and specifically, their antiaircraft surface-to-air (SAM) missile systems. Murmansk was a strategic nuclear submarine base and maintenance facility, and since knowing the disposition of all nuclear threats was vital for the security of the United States, Murmansk was one of our most significant reconnaissance objectives.
My Reconnaissance Systems Officer (RSO), Jay Reid, and I were assigned this mission scheduled for Wednesday, August 12, 1981 in SR-71 aircraft #964.
That Time An SR-71 Made An Emergency Landing In Norway After Spying On The Soviets
BC Thomas and Jay Reid, Beale AFB, CA, 1981. Photo courtesy of BC Thomas
THE FLIGHT
We reported for the flight at 7:00 p.m., checked weather and last-minute changes to the mission requirements, updated the intelligence briefing, met with the mobile crew and SR-71 crew chief, ate a meal of steak and eggs, donned our space suits, conducted an aircraft preflight, and were ready for a 9:47 p.m. takeoff.
There is no doubt that our presence was heralded to Soviet personnel on the ground by the sweet (and rather loud) sound of freedom: the distinctive double-sonic boom of the 2,200 mile-per-hour SR-71.
The flight profile called for a 45,000-pound takeoff fuel load; a rendezvous with two tankers over Idaho to fill our tanks; acceleration to Mach 3+ (2,000 mph) while cruise-climbing to 80,000 feet; descending to 26,000 feet to meet more tankers over Goose Bay, Labrador; crossing the Atlantic Ocean just south of Greenland and Iceland at Mach 3 to a third refueling over the North Sea, northeast of Scotland.
That Time An SR-71 Made An Emergency Landing In Norway After Spying On The Soviets
SR-71 refueling via KC-135 tanker. Photo via USAF
The next acceleration was to Mach 3.25 to penetrate the Soviet air defense region around Murmansk. Passing west of Norway, then north of Finland, we headed toward the Soviet coast by flying inbound from a point in the Barents Sea and approaching the land mass at Murmansk directly at 90 degrees head-on.
There is no doubt that our presence was heralded to Soviet personnel on the ground by the sweet (and rather loud) sound of freedom: the distinctive double-sonic boom of the 2,200 mile-per-hour SR-71.
That knowledge would always give us a certain inward sense of pride; not in ourselves altogether, but pride in the aircraft, the engineers and designers who built her, the maintenance people who made her safe to fly, and the faithful tanker crews who were always there when we needed fuel. All of these support personnel were vital for any successful mission.
The Soviet Union claimed their sovereign territory extended 100 nautical miles from their land mass. The international norm is 12 miles. Heading inbound, we turned so that we flew within 12.5 miles of the Soviet coast in a 30-degree right-banked turn while obtaining radar imagery (or photographs) and recording Soviet electronic countermeasures.
This somewhat provocative technique was trolling: we stimulated the Soviet defenses, causing their radios and radar to bristle with electronic information, thus impelling them to reveal telltale electromagnetic signatures indicating the type of equipment, modes of operation, and limits. There were sometimes other American assets offshore, but within radio range, which also collected electronic transmissions.
That Time An SR-71 Made An Emergency Landing In Norway After Spying On The Soviets
Map showing the mission’s target area and emergency landing location. Map via Google Earth
After departing the “take area,” the plan was to refuel again over the North Sea, accelerate to Mach 3, refuel for a fifth time over Goose Bay, then fly Mach 3 thereafter to Beale AFB. We planned to land at 8:15 am on August 13 after 10.5 hours of very intense flying.
We were operating a long distance from home base, the mission was deemed vital, and no crew member ever wanted to abort a flight. Any mission deviation could lead easily to an international incident, would be scrutinized by the highest National Command Authority, and possibly result in our names appearing in every major newspaper in the world.
We certainly felt this responsibility, but had the utmost faith in our preparation, training and the talent and dedication of all our support branches.
THE EMERGENCY
After transiting Murmansk and while hooked up with the tankers during the fourth refueling, I saw a flicker of the Master Warning light.
From our training and experience with the aircraft emergency checklists, we knew immediately that this required that we “land as soon as possible.”
Jay Reid announced the light at the same time that I saw it in my peripheral vision. I disconnected from the tanker’s boom and maneuvered back to the pre-contact position. Our indication was the illumination of the left-engine oil supply low-quantity red warning light. From our training and experience with the aircraft emergency checklists, we knew immediately that this required that we “land as soon as possible.”
The mandate to land immediately was borne out of long experience with malfunctions: the type which would crash the airplane if another single-system failed.
That Time An SR-71 Made An Emergency Landing In Norway After Spying On The Soviets
Photo via Lockheed Martin
The natural tendency for military air crews is to complete the mission if humanly possible. To counter this inclination, the Wing Commander had designated certain emergencies sufficiently critical to require immediate landing. This was one of those emergencies.
Our mission planning and alternate airfield study had prepared us to know quickly where to fly if an emergency required immediate landing. Some military intelligence might limit our choice of a suitable landing field, depending on the political situation, and of course weather was always a major consideration.
Jay and I quickly agreed that recovery at the joint civilian/military air base at Bodø (pronounced: “Buddha”), located on the Norwegian coast a few miles above the Arctic Circle, was best. We were about 60 miles away.
THE ARRIVAL
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