Page 7 - DFCS News Magazine Spring 2014

I am Jack Tischler, an old friend and classmate of Sam Ursini. Sam said to himself, it would be a dream to be involved in that super
We were both at the University of Detroit, when I first met him. I was the Editor of the University News Paper. Sam was campaigning for the position of President of the Student Union and Student Council; which he won handily. So I covered him in great detail to write about him and his campaign. Through his senior year, as Student Union President, Sam set new profit rec- ords for the Student Union. As we approached graduation. I was still writing for the paper. Meanwhile, Sam was completing his fourth year on the school varsity baseball team, the Titans. In the last away series against St. Louis University in St. Louis, he had a fabulous 3 game hitting streak, including two 400ft home runs. So there in St. Louis, he signed a bonus contract with the Cleveland Indians, to play in their farm system. This was his dream, to become a professional baseball player.
In 1955 when we graduated, I went off to serve in Korea and Sam was commissioned a Second Lieutenant through the AFROTC. With that commissioning, he received orders to report to Ellington Air Force Base, Houston Texas, for Navigator Train- ing, (pilot classes were already filled). Thus, with that commit- ment from the USAF, his contract with the Cleveland Indians was negated. After a year in navigator training he got his wings. We remained close friends through the following years.
His prowess in the high altitude high speed YF-12 and SR-71 was always an intrigue to me, so I kept taking copious notes of the stories he related to me over the years (especially after program details were declassified). Following are excerpts of his amazing history in the Black Bird Program.
Sam’s first assignment after getting his wings, was to jet inter- cept training, then on to the 84th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Hamilton Air Force Base near San Francisco. He started in the F- 89 aircraft then on to the F-101B. After a few years of flying in these jets he was cross trained as a ground weapons controller and stationed at the San Francisco Air Defense Sector at Beale Air Force Base California. This Sector controlled many radar sites and Fighter Squadrons throughout California, Oregon and Nevada.
One day in 1962 when Sam was on duty, the system had an un- known radar detection at over 60,000 feet and less than 200 knots. The interceptor aircraft could not reach that altitude to make a visual identification of this possible intruder. The Sector commander, General Tom McGehee, was notified. He instructed them to stand by. Shortly thereafter, the General, who was the only person in the sector who was cleared for the Oxcart Black Bird Program with A-12 aircraft located at Area 51 ( Groom Lake Nevada); arranged for one of the A-12 Mach 3 aircraft to assist in identifying this very high altitude unknown vehicle.
This was an unprecedented action. The General advised Capt. Ursini, the controller, that an aircraft with a call sign of Dutch would contact him on his radio frequency. Ursini made radar contact with the Dutch aircraft between Reno Nevada and Sacra- mento California. He was traveling at about 2000 miles per hour and 70,000 feet. Wow! What a high speed data trail it left. He was vectored toward the unknown vehicle. He made visual con- tact. It was an escaped weather balloon in the jet stream. It had originated in Alaska.
secret high altitude high speed program. Guess what? In late 1963 when Sam was stationed at Hamilton Air Force Base at the 28th Air Division HQ in the fighter branch, he was notified that he was being transferred to the YF-12/SR-71 Test Force, at Edwards AFB. So, he would become the first Air Defense Command radar intercept officer to join the elite group flying in the Mach3+ program...so a dream was realized.
In early 1964,
President
Lyndon
Johnson gave a
press confer-
ence at which he announced that the Air Force had developed an air- craft that exceeded 2000 mph and flew at 70,000 feet. These aircraft, he said, were at Edwards Air Force Base.
They were not!
They were at Area 51 (Groom Lake Nevada).
The YF-12 and the A-12 aircraft were flying out of Area 51. The A-12s were owned and operated by the CIA. They were single seat recon- naissance vehicles operating in a very clandestine manner. Several of these aircraft were going through development testing. The three YF- 12 aircraft followed the A-12s in very early testing. President John- son’s revelation that the aircraft were located at Edwards AFB was not expected. So immediately two of the YF-12s were flown from Area 51to Edwards. The YF-12s carried missiles and were not reconnais- sance vehicles.
While the existence of the YF-12s was revealed, the Black Bird Pro- gram was still highly classified. The A-12 program and mission were not revealed until years later. In retrospect the YF-12s provided a very good cover for the super-secret reconnaissance A-12 vehicles. These A-12s were later deployed to Kadena AFB Okinawa. They flew many missions over North Vietnam and Laos gathering critical intelligence photos. Later, the SR71s replaced the A-12s in these reconnaissance missions worldwide.
In 1964, shortly after the YF-12s were in position at Edwards AFB, Sam Ursini had his first flight in the YF-12. He flew with Jim Eastham, who was the first man to fly the YF-12 (also the Lockheed YF-12 chief test pilot). On this first flight they went to Mach 3.2, 75,000 feet and conducted air to air intercepts. So Capt. Ursini became one of the first military men to fly at cruising speed of Mach 3.2. That was not the fastest speed but the optimum cruise speed. How fast is Mach 3.2? That is 3,300 feet per second. The M-1 rifle, at the muzzle, the bullet is traveling about 2,800 feet per second. So these flyers were traveling literally faster than a speeding bullet, for over an hour continuously.
Upon landing, on his first flight, Sam was
greeted by Clarence “Kelly” Johnson the
famous “skunk works” Vice President and
designer of the Mach 3+ family of aircraft.
“Kelly” flew from his office in Burbank to
Edwards AFB to present Sam with his Mach 3+ pin and certificate.
A few months later, Sam became the first military man to launch a missile (AIM 47) from the YF-12, flying at 75,000 feet and Mach 3.2, against a target drone over the Pacific Ocean. The launch range against this target 60,000 feet below the YF-12 was over 35 nautical miles. The missile guided to a hit. This demonstrated the unique look –down, shoot down capability of this radar/missile weapon system.
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