1987 Shoot Down Attempt of SR-71 Over Persian Gulf

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1987 Shoot Down Attempt of SR-71 (61-7975) Over Persian Gulf

The March Field Air Museum's SR-71, 61-7975, was delivered to the Air Force in 1967. (Note: in the past we have identified our SR-71 as 64-17975). Our SR-71 spent several years at Kadena AFB, flying photo recon missions over Vietnam during the war. The small white snakes or "HABUs" that adorn the rear cockpit are sortie marks tallied for every econnaissance mission during Vietnam. Our SR-71 accumulated 82 such marks.

During Linebacker II in December 1972 our SR-71 performed one of the most important missions: flying over targets exactly when 60 B-52's would drop their bombs. By doing this they were able to provide additional ECM coverage to protect the bombers and take reconnaissance photos. The pictures revealed unknown enemy emitters that were responsible for B-52 losses.

In 1987 our SR-71 flew an 11-hour mission over Iran searching for unfriendly missiles overlooking the Gulf of Hormuz. Their revelation enabled a warning to the U.S. Navy and neighboring countries. The red scimitars on her tail are evidence of missions over the Persian Gulf prior to the Gulf War. After Shayne Meder, Aircraft Restoration Manager, tracked down a former crew chief of 975, she got the real story behind the skin patches on the right engine nacelle. It seems our Blackbird was performing a high mach outrun of a SAM (Surface to Air Missile) in 1987 and shelled a turbine blade. She outran the missile, but had to make an emergency landing as a Naval air station in the Key West area.

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Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird 61-7975

On 28 February 1990, the museum's SR-71, 61-7975, flew from Beale AFB and landed at March AFB, completing her career with 2,854 flight hours, 743 of which were over Mach 3. She was stripped of her top secret equipment and assigned to the museum. All but three of the Blackbirds were declared surplus when the cost of operation caused them to be retired. It was believed that satellite reconnaissance could do the same job.

In February 2000, 10 years after her last flight, the museum began restoration work on 61-7975. During the restoration it was discovered that the left rudder had once been on a sister SR-71, 61-7978. This SR-71 wore the famous Playboy bunny and was named Rapid Rabbit. In 1972 during a landing mishap, 61-7978 was damaged beyond repair. Her crew safely escaped and the salvaged parts were removed to be used on other operational blackbirds. At some point while at Kadina, the 978 left rudder had been installed on our museum's 975.


Source:
March Field Air Museum Website
http://www.marchfield.org/sr71a.htm
 
Wow, that bird has had quite an interesting history! I've seen it at March before, but the docent never explained that story about being shot at.
 
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