Lockheed SR-71 Operations in the Far East

Osprey Combat Aircraft #76

by Paul F. Crickmore, Chris Davey (Illustrator), Jim Laurier (Illustrator)

Even before the first operational flight of the legendary Lockheed U-2 spy plane, aircraft design genius Kelly Johnson began work with his team at the company's "Skunk Works" plant on the type's replacement. The result was the SR-71. First deployed on March 9, 1968, this tri-sonic 'hotrod' flew its first operational sortie over North Vietnam just 12 days later. On that debut mission, the Blackbird overflew surface-to-air missile sites with complete impunity, collecting the detailed intelligence that led directly to the end of the siege of Khe Sanh in the process.

Thereafter, the SR-71 roamed freely over areas previously denied to the vulnerable U-2, capturing photographic, radar and electronic intelligence. This book examines the immense impact this revolutionary aircraft had, not only on North Vietnam (Vietnam War, 1955-1975) but during the Cold War (1946-1991) as a whole, gathering information about the Soviet nuclear submarine fleet based in Vladivostok as well as the port's defenses, monitoring the actions of North Korea and flying four 11-hour, non-stop sorties into the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq War in the late 1980s.

96 pages, Paperback

First published November 10, 2008

Reviews

[Stephen G. Barr · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was an imagery interpreter specialist in the 548th Recon Tech Grp in the late 1970's behind the green door in the exploitation group in hanger 3 at Hickam AFB and this book tells the story of what I and my fellow airmen of the 548th did during our service. This is a highly accurate accounting!

[Robert Hepple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 2008, 'Lockheed SR-71 Operations in the Far East' is number 76 in the 'Osprey Combat Aircraft' series, and in what is now a well established format gives a very concise and informative operational history of the aircraft type, supported by 74 excellent photos - some in colour - and a 10 page spread of colour profile artworks. Excellent.