One of the lies for the premature cancellation of the SR 71 was they were afraid it was going to be shot down.
The truth is the Russians gave up on trying to shoot it down .
Viktor Belenko a Russian who left the Soviet Union with a MiG 25 said the top prize would’ve been shooting down an SR 71 “Victor” died in 2023 at the age of 76 in a nursing home in Illinois.
The SR-71 was NOT CANCELED because of the Russian/ Soviet SA-5 missile. My father and his fellow RSOs and Pilots were not worried about being shot out of the air.
You have to remember that the SR-71 had more than just cameras.
SR-71 had big ears. The Electronic Warfare (EW) suite listened to the radar targeting frequencies for the missiles from the missiles. There were EW antennas throughout the SR 71.
Even at three times the speed of sound, The antennas would pick up the radar pulse.
The SR 71 had a very clever deception jammer. The system received a tracking radar pulse, fiddled with it, and returned it. The returning pulse was just a little stronger. The enemy would be tracking the SR 71 and would find the location, but it was FALSE. The deception jammer had drawn the trackers away from the real SR 71. The enemy thought they were tracking, and in some instances, they felt they had a straightforward kill.
But the real SR 71 was far, far away. This interests me because my father, Colonel Richard “Butch” Sheffield, and Bob Spencer collected the SA 5 radar frequency in 1971. The SR-71 was soon after this risky flight (within a few feet of Russia) able to jam the SA 5.
The other reason for the early cancellation of the SR 71 was that one of the Generals was jealous because they he was rejected from the SR 71 program
There was only a one to 2% acceptance rate for pilots. He so vindictive that they did not promote the Hubu’s that deserved it.
Gen. Welch also demanded that the special orange flight suit be taken away from the SR 71 Crewmembers.. it was unprofessional and wrong what the Generals did at the Pentagon.
Between the jamming system, the speed, and the altitude, I believe there was no chance of a shootdown. Of course, there could’ve been one million lucky shots, but that never occurred.
Source: BlackBird Rising: birth of an Aviation legend.
Paraphrased by~ Linda Sheffield
Here's the site where you can buy that poster of the SR-71 just above the water. Printed on stainless steel. $49 is a bit steep though. displate.com/displate/53620…
@Habubrats71 via X
Quite an aeroplane Mister!
