Spy Plane Sets Speed Record, Then Retires
Published: March 7, 1990
CHANTILLY, Va., March 6— One of America's premier spy planes, the SR-71 Blackbirds, had a final fling with the history books today, setting a transcontinental speed record before retiring to a museum home.
The black, dagger-shaped aircraft, which like the rest of the fleet is being retired by the Air Force because of budget cuts, flashed from coast to coast in 68 minutes 17 seconds, arriving at Dulles International Airport outside Washington to the cheers of hundreds of onlookers.
The old record was 3 hours 38 minutes, set in 1963 by a Boeing 707.
Refueling Over Pacific
The Blackbird took a running start, refueling over the Pacific Ocean at 60,000 feet before heading east from the California coastline and crossing its finish line near Salisbury, Md. The plane then refueled before cruising in to Dulles Airport.
The flight also set three other speed records certified by the National Aeronautic Association: 2,153.24 miles per hour between Los Angeles and Washington; 2,242.48 m.p.h. between St. Louis and Cincinnati, and 2,200.94 m.p.h. between Kansas City, Mo., and Washington. Sonic booms were reported in communities along the flight path as the plane completed its race across the continent.
Two men were aboard: Lieut. Col. Ed Yeilding, the pilot, and Lieut. Col. J. T. Vida, the reconnaissance systems officer.
Against overcast skies at Dulles, the plane ended its flight by dipping as low as 200 feet above the runway as it whistled past an official greeting gate, balls of fire trailing its huge engines as the pilot suddenly pointed the pencil-shaped fuselage toward the heavens.
It was one of the few public displays of a Blackbird. And despite the rush to publicize this final run, most details of the plane's design and capabilities are still top-secret. The Air Force will not even say how many Blackbirds exist.
The plane that made the flight has been donated to the Smithsonian Institution, which plans to display it at a Dulles Airport wing of the National Air and Space Museum.
Photo: An SR-71 Blackbird spy plane landing yesterday at Dulles International Airport near Washington after setting a new transcontinental speed record by flying from the West Coast in 68 minutes 17 seconds. (Associated Press)