Page 6 - Aerotech News and Review, April 16, 2021

High Desert Hangar Stories
Lockheed Paparazzi:

Aerial Recon, the P-38 and the SR-71

by Bob Alvis flying co-pilot. that long line of famous Lockheed
special to Aerotech News Flying a record run between Los super-sexy and stealthy Skunk Works
Angeles and London is a sure way projects that became legends. They
I was reading and enjoying some to get a fanbase going, but thinking had us lining up to watch in awe,
comments this past couple of weeks back to guys like longtime Lancaster seeking out those special individuals
about the SR-71. resident Marshall Mullins and his re- who were the hands-on participants
It’s amazing how this magnificent connaissance runs in the year of fly- in the greatest run of reconnaissance
plane still carries a shroud of secrecy ing mission off of Saipan in World aircraft ever produced. Looking at
around its existence, even though you War II, I will just say they deserve as an SR-71 on the ground, it still looks
can now walk up to many on display much recognition as their modern day like it’s going Mach 3-plus just sitting
(notably at Palmdale’s Blackbird Air- counterparts and credit for helping to there! But to these old eyes of mine
park) and take pictures to your heart’s develop the current tactics for modern
content. Many SR-71 pilots will hap- day combat intelligence (including and in my heart, I see past the sleek
pily share previously untold stories of drones and those troops that remote- Blackbird and envision its predecessor,
sitting “in the tip of the sword.” pilot them from long distance.) Lt. with those twin tails and twin engines
With all the gloss and storytelling Mullins flew 64 combat missions and all wrapped around a center nacelle.
around the hangar, one aspect of the never had an aircraft that was armed. I think back to an old design from a
SR-71/U-2 project and its history is Courtesy photograph He did that at treetop level, with en- company that was hatched in an old
always overlooked. An important The SR-71 emy gunfire from other aircraft and distillery that stunk like a skunk. The
piece of the Lockheed legacy when it
comes to aircraft with cameras is lost warfare, as knowing what your en- litical complexes outside of the range
in high Mach numbers and classified emies are up to is the key to winning of single-engine tactical photo aircraft.
documents that keep the fans wanting or holding the line in combat. Starting Kelly Johnson accomplished this by
more. Being a history guy who likes as far back as the Civil War a view adding four K-17 cameras in the nose
to rewind the clock way back, I felt above the battlefield was the most de- of a P-38 and performing tests. When
it was time to pay tribute to the real sired way of getting that intelligence. the experiments were declared a suc-
trailblazers and pioneering aircraft that In World War I, with the advent of the cess, Lockheed got its first order for
made Lockheed Skunk works projects airplane, many a brave soul took to the strategic reconnaissance aircraft that
a reality in later years. air to get a personal account of what would be produced as the F-4 and F-5
Reconnaissance in war is considered was going on and report his findings Lightning photo reconnaissance vari-
by many the most important aspect of back to headquarters. It didn’t take ants of the P-38. They would become
long for combatants to figure out that, the standard United States Army Air
of all the planes to be dispatched to the Forces photo aircraft in Europe and
air, the intelligence gathering aircraft the Pacific.
were the highest priority and needed to The next step for Lockheed was the
be shot down. advent of the P-80 jet aircraft before
So it was no big surprise when in the end of World War II. It wasn’t long
1936, with war clouds raising around before the F-4 camera system made its
the world, the Army Air Corps de- way into the gun bay of an YP-80A.
termined that it needed a high-speed The conversion was successful and the Courtesy photograph
fighter. They found it with the Lock- USAAF ordered the aircraft into pro- The plane that put Lockheed in the business of long range reconnaissance
heed P-38 Lightning, a fast (350 mph duction under the designation F-14A aircraft and the father of the U-2 and SR-71, the Lockheed F-4/5 Lightning.
plus) and maneuverable fighter with — later changed to RP-80A/RF-80A.
long range. It was this design and this Thinking back to this time period,
design alone that began the military’s it’s easy to forget all the pilots that ground troops that did all they could legendary Kelly Johnson took that
long-term relationship with Kelly were in the cockpits of all those pio- to knock his Lockheed F-5 Lightning Army Air Corps requirement for a top
Johnson, which led to Lockheed’s in- neering Lockheed photo recon planes. out of the sky. During World War II’s speed of 367 miles per hour and ended
volvement in aerial reconnaissance and They never got the headlines like their island-hopping campaign in the South up on the edge of space, flying a clas-
the development of the U-2 and SR-71 modern-day counterparts who piloted Pacific, it was the Photo Joes who sified speed that tops Mach 3. Well
programs. those sleek black project planes into did their best to keep the soldiers on done, men and women of Lockheed —
The story of the Grand Dad of the imaginations of every American the beaches informed of enemy troop
modern-day reconnaissance aircraft that loves fast planes and records sur- movements and placements. As bad and well done to all those that strapped
went into full production in World rounded by secrecy. The reality was as that brutal fighting was on those into a plane and flew the vision of the
Courtesy photograph War II, as the Air Corps needed that those early pilots in those first precur- islands, it could have been a lot worse designers to its ultimate conclusion,
Lt. Marshall Edward “Moon” Mullens long range and high speed to carry out sors of Lockheed’s high-altitude fli- if not for the young men like Lt. Mar- making the world a safer place from
of the 28th photo Reconnaissance ers and Mach busters were doing the shall Mullins and their Lockheed re- those that would seek to do us harm
Squadron, 7th Army Air Force 318th missions deep into enemy territory. majority of their work on the deck at connaissance planes. no matter the generation.
Fighter Group. Photographic information was needed
on enemy industrial, military and po- breakneck speeds, with a lot of luck So here we are now, thinking about Until next time, Bob out …
SHUTTLE, from 4
Milt Thompson saved the shuttle program, when they went down launching atop a conventional rocket. bia “one of the most dangerous things that was ever done in space.”
to Florida to warn NASA planners not to pursue the idea of adding Addressing ongoing arguments over whether the shuttle program Bowman saw on television the final landing of the last American
pop-up jet engines to the space shuttle orbiter for landings. She also was or was not successful, Gallentine said creating the shuttle to space shuttle in the dark of night. He was, he said, “Overwhelmed
said she believes both the Challenger and Columbia losses were accomplish so many kinds of missions required extraordinary risks. by a sense of melancholy.” Michelle Evans viewed the end of the
avoidable, had officials applied lessons from the X-15 program to But its success in evolving to accomplish unexpected work over shuttle program after STS-135 as “an anti-climax.” It ended well,
the shuttle orbiters. many years, demonstrated that fear born of uncertainty would have she said, but it could have continued, undated “to fix the flaws and
There were no quick or easy answers to issues raised. On the paralyzed the overall effort. From its very inception, existing tech- get us back faster. It might be flying today.”
one hand, it was argued that spending on space shuttles restricted nology raced to meet growing shuttle performance demands, and Chladek remarked, “For 30 years we had a shuttle program, and
crewless robotic research. On the other hand, space shuttle crews mostly succeeded. He characterized the situation as “trying to build
corrected flaws in the Hubble Space Telescope, resulting in a vastly a 747 with DC-3 technology.” then, nothing.”
improved view of the universe and pictures offering meteorologists It was pointed out more than once that whatever shortcomings the Hitt commented that the history of the space shuttle is about half
the tools to deliver more accurate weather forecasts. With an ex- early model orbiters endured, the Space Shuttle program delivered of all human spaceflight’s total history, which began with Russian
pansive cargo bay and extra-vehicular activity capability, a shuttle 22 years of good service to America. And Francis French observed cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. And Merlin concluded, “The shuttle was
orbiter could service, repair and extend the service lives of orbiting that the Space Shuttle was the only thing flying that couldn’t be flying on borrowed time. It was nine years until we were able to
satellites, and deliver new satellites into orbit at far less cost than tested before it was flown. He called the first space flight of Colum- launch our own astronauts into space again.’
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