The 19 Most Badass Spy Planes

[MIKA27]

The 19 Most Badass Spy Planes

There is little in the world that can match the simultaneous awesomeness and mystery of a spy plane. These are the paragon of modern innovation, yet largely pass invisible above us. They decide battles and wars, yet only a few lucky soldiers get to see them. Blah blah blah words. Let’s look at some incredible machinery.

Convair B-36 RB-36D Peacemaker

The B-36 strategic bomber was not only the largest primary nuclear weapons delivery aircraft of the USAF in the Fifties, but the reconnaissance version, the RB-36D (below) was smart as well: It could carry 23 cameras AND a small darkroom where a photo technician developed the film.

Photo: US Air Force

North American B-45 RB-45C Tornado

The RB-45C was the spying version of the B-45, the first jet-powered US bomber. This four-jet-engined beast carried 12 cameras and penetrated several enemy territories (North Korea, Eastern Europe) in the mid-1950s.

Photo: US Air Force

Lockheed U-2

The U-2 is a legend: It has delivered high-altitude, all-weather surveillance day and night for more than 50 years as the primary strategic reconnaissance aircraft of the USAF.

Photo: US Air Force

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird

Any words we could write here would miserably fail to describe the Blackbird’s awesome badassery.

Photo: Lockheed Martin

Grumman OV-1D / RV-1D Mohawk

This observation aircraft was designed in the late 1950s as a dedicated reconnaissance plane, equipped with a Motorola APS-94F SLAR radar with a range of over 100km.

Photo: J. David Clinton/NASA Glenn Research Center

Nasicornis Loening OL

Also known as the Loening Amphibian, the OL was a two-seat amphibious observation biplane built by Loening for the US Army and the Navy.

Photo: Library of Congress

Boeing E-3 Sentry

This US Air Force handout photo shows an E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control system (AWACS) in flight. The E-3 Sentry is a modified Boeing 707/320 with a large radar dome used for air and ground surveillance.

Photo: Joe Cupido/US Air Force/Getty Images

Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star

The propeller-driven EC-121 was constructed to serve as an early warning system to supplement the Distant Early Warning Line, using two large radomes above and below its fuselage.

Photo: US Air Force

General Dynamics EF-111A Raven

The Raven was more an electronic warfare aircraft than a dedicated spy plane. The plane was unarmed, but its speed, acceleration, and radar jamming system made the plane a fierce foe.

Photo: Staff Sgt. Simons/US Air Force

Raytheon Beech RC-12

One word: Wolverine. The highly modified Super King Air 200B business class aircraft is used as a battlefield reconnaissance plane.

Photo: fas.org

Tupolev Tu-16R Badger

Let’s not forget about the Soviet and Russian spy planes, the American jet pilots’ best friends in the Cold War era. This dangerously shiny silver airborne weapon is the maritime reconnaissance variant of the fearful Tu-16 twin-engine jet bomber.

Photo: San Diego Air & Space Museum

Tupolev Tu-22 Blinder-C

This silver arrow was the first supersonic bomber to enter production in the USSR, powered by two turbojet engines, modified to serve a maritime reconnaissance aircraft. The unusual design — engines beside the vertical tail, above the rear fuselage — made her quite unique.

Photo: San Diego Air & Space Museum

Myasishchev M-17/M-55

The Soviet U-2.

Photo: San Diego Air & Space Museum

Tupolev TU-95 Bear

The Convair Peacemaker’s evil Communist sister shadowed by a US Navy A-4E Skyhawk. The Tu-95MR was a modified version of the large, four-engine turboprop-powered strategic bomber.

Photo: San Diego Air & Space Museum

Tupolev Tu-141

A Soviet transonic turbojet reconnaissance drone that flew in the late 1970s and 1980s. Soviet. Reconnaissance. Drone. Awesome. It could carry film cameras, infrared imagers, Earth observation imagers, and imaging radar.

Photo: Bernhard Gröhl/Wikimedia Commons

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

This supersonic interceptor and reconnaissance aircraft was among the fastest military aircrafts to enter service. Below is one of the two Ye-155R reconnaissance prototypes followed by four pre-production aircraft fitted with different pieces of spying equipment and a powerful radar. The MiG-25 has a top speed of about Mach 3.

Photo: N/A

Yakovlev Yak-28

This graceful, swept wing, two-engine, turbojet-powered combat aircraft was initially produced as a subsonic bomber, but was later kitted out as reconnaissance, electronic warfare, interceptor and trainer versions in the ’60s.

Photo: A. Sz. Jakovlev: Szárnyak, emberek. Zrínyi Katonai Kiadó, Budapest, 1977.

Beriev A-50 Mainstay

A-50, the Russian equivalent of the American AWACS aircraft is based on the Ilyushin Il-76 freighter. In the photo it’s escorted by MiG-31 interceptor jets during an air show to mark the 95th anniversary of the Russian Air Forces in Monino, some 40km east of Moscow.

Photo: Ivan Sekretarev/AP

Avro Vulcan B2(SR2)

I hope you won’t mind me bringing up a childhood memory: In the Seventies and Eighties any Hungarian kid (or grownup) who was interested in science and technology used to watch this weekly show called Delta.

. As a result, we all have the Avro Vulcan silhouette burned into our retinas forever. (The Avro Vulcan was a four-engine jet-powered delta wing strategic bomber, operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 until 1984. In the mid Seventies nine Vulcans were adapted for maritime radar reconnaissance operations, redesignated as B.2 (MRR).)

[Warren]

We have spent quite a lot of money looking over each others shoulders.

Keep your friends close but make sure you have some really nice pictures of your enemies.

[Puros Y Vino]

What no U2, same on you!

It's there as the Lockheed U2. The picture has a bunch of guys in yellow flight suits standing in front of it.

Great post BTW. I've been a fan of military aircraft since I was a kid. The Blackbird and MIG25 are some seriously badass jets.

[CanuckSARTech]

The Blackbird is balls out the best, IMO.

Anything that can be that explosive with leaking fuel on the runway (as everything in it was built with such gaps to allow for expansion with the high speeds and altitudes that it was exposed to), and to have the service record that it does, is just amazing.

Also, it's bad ass in "Flight of the Navigator". Way cool!

[KyleHaldane]

The Blackbird is balls out the best, IMO.

Anything that can be that explosive with leaking fuel on the runway (as everything in it was built with such gaps to allow for expansion with the high speeds and altitudes that it was exposed to), and to have the service record that it does, is just amazing.

Also, it's bad ass in "Flight of the Navigator". Way cool!

Completely agree, you can't beat the sheer awesome power of that beast.

[winelover]

Great post Mika. I've seen the Vulcan a few times at airshows and it is pretty cool in real life. Agree that notging really out trumps the SR71 which was easily the coolest plane when I was growing up. Let it not be forgotten that some pretty awesome innovationa came out of the Cold War as well as plenty of good films etc.

[LexG]

The Blackbird is balls out the best, IMO.

...

Also, it's bad ass in "Flight of the Navigator". Way cool!

couldnt agree more! i grew up with posters of Blackbirds around my room, and Flight of the Navigator is an awesome movie!

"what made you crash anyway?"

"I was cheeeckin out some daiiisies,"

"You were lookin at flowers?!? sounds like you're the inferior species!"

love it!

[mk05]

i think i'll be fine with my google maps?

[Tan1801]

Cool post.

I will echo the statement that the Blackbird is awesome!

[smokum]

.I was lucky enought to see a fly by of the Blackbird when it was still operational at Scott AFB air show. My brother was 25 year career at that point and it was the first time he ever actually saw an SR 71.One slow pass across flight line and on the second run by he just pointed it up to the heavens and just kept going vertical until we could no longer see it ! while stationed in the Phillipines he said it would take off at night from its own hangar at the other end of the field. When it landed at night it would taxi straight into its hangar. heavy clearance was needed to look at it . I saw the F 15 eagles many times . Came in from St Louis and did hi performance fly by's. talk about awsum. They stood them on their tails and just stayed vertical in full after burner....love that stuff.

[MIKA27]

Hey guys, thanks for reading. Yes, I agree 100% the SR-71 is Awesomeness personified!!

So, for those who didn't click on the link, I'll post more on it!

[MIKA27]

Incredible Shot Of SR-71 Blackbirds Together

Like Richard Gottardo says: this image reaches a “maximum amount of awesomeness”. Here are 11 Lockheed Martin SR-71 Blackbirds — perhaps the the most exhilarating piece of flying titanium ever to touch the sky — “posing” together.

It’s pure aeroplane porn. A perfect occasion to re-read these excerpts from Sled Driver, the amazing book by one of the SR-71 pilots, Major Brian Shul:

In April 1986, following an attack on American soldiers in a Berlin disco, President Reagan ordered the bombing of Muammar Gaddafi’s terrorist camps in Libya. My duty was to fly over Libya and take photos recording the damage our F-111′s had inflicted.

Gaddafi had established a ‘line of death’, a territorial marking across the Gulf of Sidra, swearing to shoot down any intruder that crossed the boundary. On the morning of April 15, I rocketed past the line at 3420km/h.

I was piloting the SR-71 spy plane, the world’s fastest jet, accompanied by Maj Walter Watson, the aircraft’s reconnaissance systems officer (RSO). We had crossed into Libya and were approaching our final turn over the bleak desert landscape when Walter informed me that he was receiving missile launch signals.

I quickly increased our speed, calculating the time it would take for the weapons-most likely SA-2 and SA-4 surface-to-air missiles capable of Mach 5 — to reach our altitude. I estimated that we could beat the rocket-powered missiles to the turn and stayed our course, betting our lives on the plane’s performance.

After several agonisingly long seconds, we made the turn and blasted toward the Mediterranean “You might want to pull it back,”" Walter suggested. It was then that I noticed I still had the throttles full forward. The plane was flying a mile every 1.6 seconds, well above our Mach 3.2 limit. It was the fastest we would ever fly. I pulled the throttles to idle just south of Sicily, but we still overran the refuelling tanker awaiting us over Gibraltar.

Scores of significant aircraft have been produced in the 100 years of flight, following the achievements of the Wright brothers, which we celebrate in December. Aircraft such as the Boeing 707, the F-86 Sabre Jet, and the P-51 Mustang are among the important machines that have flown our skies. But the SR-71, also known as the Blackbird, stands alone as a significant contributor to Cold War victory and as the fastest plane ever-and only 93 Air Force pilots ever steered the ‘sled’, as we called our aircraft.

As inconceivable as it may sound, I once discarded the plane. Literally. My first encounter with the SR-71 came when I was 10 years old in the form of moulded black plastic in a Revell kit. Cementing together the long fuselage parts proved tricky, and my finished product looked less than menacing. Glue, oozing from the seams, discoloured the black plastic. It seemed ungainly alongside the fighter planes in my collection, and I threw it away.

Twenty-nine years later, I stood awe-struck in a Beale Air Force Base hangar, staring at the very real SR-71 before me. I had applied to fly the world’s fastest jet and was receiving my first walk-around of America’s most prestigious aircraft. In my previous 13 years as an air foorce fighter pilot, I had never seen an aircraft with such presence. At 33m long, it appeared big but far from ungainly.

Ironically, the plane was dripping, much like the misshapen model had assembled in my youth. Fuel was seeping through the joints, raining down on the hangar floor. At Mach 3, the plane would expand several inches because of the severe temperature, which could heat the leading edge of the wing to 1100 degrees. To prevent cracking, expansion joints had been built into the plane. Sealant resembling rubber glue covered the seams, but when the plane was subsonic, fuel would leak through the joints.

Origins

The SR-71 was the brainchild of Kelly Johnson, the famed Lockheed designer who created the P-38, the F-104 Starfighter, and the U-2.

After the Soviets shot down Gary Powers’ U-2 in 1960, Johnson began to develop an aircraft that would fly three miles higher and five times faster than the spy plane-and still be capable of photographing your licence plate. However, flying at 3200km/h would create intense heat on the aircraft’s skin. Lockheed engineers used a titanium alloy to construct more than 90 per cent of the SR-71, creating special tools and manufacturing procedures to hand-build each of the 40 planes. Special heat-resistant fuel, oil and hydraulic fluids that would function at 85,000 feet and higher also had to be developed.

In 1962, the first Blackbird successfully flew, and in 1966, the same year I graduated from high school, the Air Force began flying operational SR-71 missions. I came to the program in 1983 with a sterling record and a recommendation from my commander, completing the week-long interview and meeting Walter, my partner for the next four years He would ride a a metre behind me, working all the cameras, radios, and electronic jamming equipment. I joked that if we were ever captured, he was the spy and I was just the driver. He told me to keep the pointy end forward.

We trained for a year, flying out of Beale AFB in California , Kadena Airbase in Okinawa, and RAF Mildenhall in England .

On a typical training mission, we would take off near Sacramento, refuel over Nevada, accelerate into Montana, obtain high Mach over Colorado, turn right over New Mexico, speed across the Los Angeles Basin, run up the West Coast, turn right at Seattle, then return to Beale. Total flight time: two hours and 40 minutes.

One day, high above Arizona, we were monitoring the radio traffic of all the mortal aeroplanes below us. First, a Cessna pilot asked the air traffic controllers to check his ground speed. ‘Ninety knots,’ ATC replied. A twin Bonanza soon made the same request. ‘One-twenty on the ground,’ was the reply. To our surprise, a navy F-18 came over the radio with a ground speed check. I knew exactly what he was doing. Of course, he had a ground speed indicator in his cockpit, but he wanted to let all the bug-smashers in the valley know what real speed was ‘Dusty 52, we show you at 620 on the ground,’ ATC responded.

The situation was too ripe. I heard the click of Walter’s mike button in the rear seat. In his most innocent voice, Walter startled the controller by asking for a ground speed check from 81,000 feet, clearly above controlled airspace. In a cool, professional voice, the controller replied, ‘ Aspen 20, I show you at 1982 knots on the ground.’ We did not hear another transmission on that frequency all the way to the coast.

Permanent Awe

The Blackbird always showed us something new, each aircraft possessing its own unique personality. In time, we realised we were flying a national treasure. When we taxied out of our revetments for takeoff, people took notice. Traffic congregated near the airfield fences, because everyone wanted to see and hear the mighty SR-71 You could not be a part of this program and not come to love the aeroplane. Slowly, she revealed her secrets to us as we earned her trust.

One moonless night, while flying a routine training mission over the Pacific, I wondered what the sky would look like from 84,000 feet if the cockpit lighting were dark. While heading home on a straight course, I slowly turned down all of the lighting, reducing the glare and revealing the night sky. Within seconds, I turned the lights back up, fearful that the jet would know and somehow punish me. But my desire to see the sky overruled my caution, I dimmed the lighting again. To my amazement, I saw a bright light outside my window. As my eyes adjusted to the view, I realised that the brilliance was the broad expanse of the Milky Way, now a gleaming stripe across the sky. Where dark spaces in the sky had usually existed, there were now dense clusters of sparkling stars Shooting stars flashed across the canvas every few seconds. It was like a fireworks display with no sound. I knew I had to get my eyes back on the instruments, and reluctantly I brought my attention back inside.

To my surprise, with the cockpit lighting still off, I could see every gauge, lit by starlight. In the plane’s mirrors, I could see the eerie shine of my gold spacesuit incandescently illuminated in a celestial glow. I stole one last glance out the window. Despite our speed, we seemed still before the heavens, humbled in the radiance of a much greater power. For those few moments, I felt a part of something far more significant than anything we were doing in the plane. The sharp sound of Walt’s voice on the radio brought me back to the tasks at hand as I prepared for our descent.

The SR-71 was an expensive aircraft to operate.

The most significant cost was tanker support, and in 1990, confronted with budget cutbacks, the Air Force retired the SR-71.The Blackbird had outrun nearly 4000 missiles, not once taking a scratch from enemy fire.

On her final flight, the Blackbird, destined for the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, sped from Los Angeles to Washington in 64 minutes, averaging 3200km/h and setting four speed records.

The SR-71 served six presidents, protecting America for a quarter of a century.

Unbeknownst to most of the country, the plane flew over North Vietnam, Red China, North Korea, the Middle East, South Africa, Cuba, Nicaragua, Iran, Libya and the Falkland Islands .

On a weekly basis, the SR-71 kept watch over every Soviet nuclear submarine and mobile missile site, and all of their troop movements. It was a key factor in winning the Cold War.

I am proud to say I flew about 500 hours in this aircraft. I knew her well.

She gave way to no plane, proudly dragging her sonic boom through enemy backyards with great impunity.

She defeated every missile, outran every MiG, and always brought us home. In the first 100 years of manned flight, no aircraft was more remarkable.

Approaching the Libyan Coast

With the Libyan coast fast approaching now, Walt asks me for the third time, if I think the jet will get to the speed and altitude we want in time. I tell him yes. I know he is concerned. He is dealing with the data; that’s what engineers do, and I am glad he is. But I have my hands on the stick and throttles and can feel the heart of a thoroughbred, running now with the power and perfection she was designed to possess. I also talk to her. Like the combat veteran she is, the jet senses the target area and seems to prepare herself.

For the first time in two days, the inlet door closes flush and all vibration is gone. We’ve become so used to the constant buzzing that the jet sounds quiet now in comparison. The Mach correspondingly increases slightly and the jet is flying in that confidently smooth and steady style we have so often seen at these speeds. We reach our target altitude and speed, with 8km to spare.

Entering the target area, in response to the jet’s new-found vitality, Walt says, ‘That’s amazing’ and with my left hand pushing two throttles farther forward, I think to myself that there is much they don’t teach in engineering school.

Out my left window, Libya looks like one huge sandbox. A featureless brown terrain stretches all the way to the horizon. There is no sign of any activity. Then Walt tells me that he is getting lots of electronic signals, and they are not the friendly kind. The jet is performing perfectly now, flying better than she has in weeks. She seems to know where she is. She likes the high Mach, as we penetrate deeper into Libyan airspace. Leaving the footprint of our sonic boom across Benghazi , I sit motionless, with stilled hands on throttles and the pitch control, my eyes glued to the gauges.

Only the Mach indicator is moving, steadily increasing in hundredths, in a rhythmic consistency similar to the long distance runner who has caught his second wind and picked up the pace. The jet was made for this kind of performance and she wasn’t about to let an errant inlet door make her miss the show. With the power of 40 locomotives, we puncture the quiet African sky and continue farther south across a bleak landscape.

Under Attack

Walt continues to update me with numerous reactions he sees on the DEF panel. He is receiving missile tracking signals.

With each mile we traverse, every two seconds, I become more uncomfortable driving deeper into this barren and hostile land. I am glad the DEF panel is not in the front seat. It would be a big distraction now, seeing the lights flashing. In contrast, my cockpit is ‘quiet’ as the jet purrs and relishes her new-found strength, continuing to slowly accelerate.

The spikes are full aft now, tucked 66cm deep into the nacelles. With all inlet doors tightly shut, at 3.24 Mach, the J-58s are more like ramjets now, gulping 2800 cubic metres of air per second. We are a roaring express now, and as we roll through the enemy’s backyard, I hope our speed continues to defeat the missile radars below. We are approaching a turn, and this is good. It will only make it more difficult for any launched missile to solve the solution for hitting our aircraft.

I push the speed up at Walt’s request. The jet does not skip a beat, nothing fluctuates, and the cameras have a rock steady platform. Walt received missile launch signals. Before he can say anything else, my left hand instinctively moves the throttles yet farther forward. My eyes are glued to temperature gauges now, as I know the jet will willingly go to speeds that can harm her. The temps are relatively cool and from all the warm temps we’ve encountered thus far, this surprises me but then, it really doesn’t surprise me. Mach 3.31 and Walt is quiet for the moment.

I move my gloved finder across the small silver wheel on the autopilot panel which controls the aircraft’s pitch. With the deft feel known to Swiss watchmakers, surgeons, and ‘dinosaurs’ (old- time pilots who not only fly an aeroplane but ‘feel it’), I rotate the pitch wheel somewhere between one-sixteenth and one-eighth inch location, a position which yields the 500-foot-per-minute climb I desire. The jet raises her nose one-sixth of a degree and knows, I’ll push her higher as she goes faster. The Mach continues to rise, but during this segment of our route, I am in no mood to pull throttles back.

Walt’s voice pierces the quiet of my cockpit with the news of more missile launch signals.

The gravity of Walter’s voice tells me that he believes the signals to be a more valid threat than the others. Within seconds he tells me to ‘push it up’ and I firmly press both throttles against their stops. For the next few seconds, I will let the jet go as fast as she wants. A final turn is coming up and we both know that if we can hit that turn at this speed, we most likely will defeat any missiles. We are not there yet, though, and I’m wondering if Walt will call for a defensive turn off our course.

With no words spoken, I sense Walter is thinking in concert with me about maintaining our programmed course.

To keep from worrying, I glance outside, wondering if I’ll be able to visually pick up a missile aimed at us. Odd are the thoughts that wander through one’s mind in times like these. I found myself recalling the words of former SR-71 pilots who were fired upon while flying missions over North Vietnam They said the few errant missile detonations they were able to observe from the cockpit looked like implosions rather than explosions. This was due to the great speed at which the jet was hurling away from the exploding missile.

I see nothing outside except the endless expanse of a steel blue sky and the broad patch of tan earth far below. I have only had my eyes out of the cockpit for seconds, but it seems like many minutes since I have last checked the gauges inside. Returning my attention inward, I glance first at the miles counter telling me how many more to go, until we can start our turn Then I note the Mach, and passing beyond 3.45, I realise that Walter and I have attained new personal records. The Mach continues to increase. The ride is incredibly smooth.

There seems to be a confirmed trust now, between me and the jet; she will not hesitate to deliver whatever speed we need, and I can count on no problems with the inlets. Walt and I are ultimately depending on the jet now – more so than normal – and she seems to know it. The cooler outside temperatures have awakened the spirit born into her years ago, when men dedicated to excellence took the time and care to build her well. With spikes and doors as tight as they can get, we are racing against the time it could take a missile to reach our altitude.

In Love With the Blackbird

It is a race this jet will not let us lose.

The Mach eases to 3.5 as we crest 80,000 feet. We are a bullet now — except faster.

We hit the turn, and I feel some relief as our nose swings away from a country we have seen quite enough of. Screaming past Tripoli, our phenomenal speed continues to rise, and the screaming Sled pummels the enemy one more time, laying down a parting sonic boom. In seconds, we can see nothing but the expansive blue of the Mediterranean. I realise that I still have my left hand full-forward and we’re continuing to rocket along in maximum afterburner.

The TDI now shows us Mach numbers, not only new to our experience but flat out scary. Walt says the DEF panel is now quiet, and I know it is time to reduce our incredible speed. I pull the throttles to the min ‘burner range and the jet still doesn’t want to slow down.

Normally the Mach would be affected immediately, when making such a large throttle movement, but for just a few moments old 960 just sat out there at the high Mach, she seemed to love and like the proud Sled she was, only began to slow when we were well out of danger.

I loved that jet.

Major Brian Shul is the author of Sled Driver, a fascinating account of his experiences as a pilot of the SR-71 Blackbird.

The book has been out of print for two years now, but now you can buy one of the 3500 limited edition copies — signed by Shul and other SR-71 legends — here.

Excerpts via vfp62.com, a site dedicated to the officers and enlisted men who served with VFP-62, Light Photographic Squadron 62, Home Base Cecil Field (NZC), FLA. It’s full of great anecdotes and images.

[CanuckSARTech]

Amazing read. Was gripped by it all.

Thanks so very very much for sharing!

[MIKA27]

Amazing read. Was gripped by it all.

Thanks so very very much for sharing!

Anytime bud, thanks for reading, glad you enjoyed it!!!