As soon as the last engine was shut down, maintenance personnel immediately swarmed all over the aircraft like worker bees in a hive, each with a specific job. It was a sight to behold—everyone working on the aircraft in perfect harmony. The highest priority was to download the sensors from the chine bays and rush them to the mobile processing center (MPC) for film development, computer processing, and analysis. The MPC consisted of twenty-four interconnected, trailer-like vans, each measuring eight by eight by forty feet. Collectively, they contained all the equipment needed to process the raw intelligence data collected by the SR-71. It took about sixty officers, airmen, and civilians to operate the MPC. After landing, the MPC had photography and radar imagery available for scrutiny within four hours. After the photo interpreters scanned over the film, they immediately alerted all concerned parties with a message called the initial photo interpretation report (IPIR, pronounced “ipper”), letting everyone know the level of success or failure of the intelligence gathered. A more detailed report followed.
At the foot of the ladder, waiting for the crew to step down, were the det commander, maintenance officer, mobile crew, and aircraft’s crew chief. A good mobile crew handed ice-cold beers to the pilot and RSO; they knew how good it tasted after sucking on pure oxygen for so long! Everyone was interested to hear about the plane and mission. It was a quick debriefing, lasting only five to ten minutes. Often, by the time we debriefed at the aircraft, the sensors were already downloaded and well on their way to being processed.
After everyone finished asking questions, the crew climbed into the PSD van for the drive back to de-suit. The det commander and mobile crew drove directly back to ops, ready for the debriefing. During the crew’s drive back, their stirrups were removed and boots unzipped, starting the de-suiting process. PSD personnel recorded several routine questions about the flight and asked the crew if they had any problems with their suits that needed fixing. Once inside PSD, it only took a few minutes to remove the boots, peel off the pressure suit and sweaty long-john underwear, and go to the shower. The crews changed back into their orange flight suits, gathered up their classified materials, and were off to debrief the mission.
The ops and intelligence debriefing was first. The det commander, operations officer, flyers, mobile crew, weather personnel, and mission planners attended the debriefing to ask a series of questions. Mission planners wanted to know if there were any unusual sightings (no, not UFOs!), if they had problems flying the route, how well the aircraft stayed on the black line, and the details of the refueling procedures, sensor operations, target area weather, and HF radio calls. Debriefing was a good time to let the mission planners know how much crews appreciated the special photographs they had added to the map projector. Weather personnel were especially interested in temp devs during the climb and cruise, wind speeds, and any other significant weather conditions. The operations officer wanted to share how everything had gone from his vantage point in the tower, and the mobile crew asked if there was anything they could have done better to make the operation run smoother.
At the end of the debriefing, the det commander usually had a few words of praise . . . we hoped! We discussed any problems and came up with ways to improve the operation next time. When the commander stood up to leave, everyone came to attention. The crew then departed for the maintenance debriefing. Everyone else went back to their offices and began drafting classified reports on the mission. The mobile crew stowed all their classified materials and were done for the day.
At Kadena, the flyers stored their classified materials in the safes and drove their car to the maintenance complex for debriefing on the second floor. At Mildenhall, maintenance personnel were waiting outside the debriefing room and merely switched personnel after the ops debriefing was completed. All major aircraft systems (engines, inlets, electrical, fuel, hydraulics, avionics, communications, SAS, DAFICS, etc.) were represented by maintenance experts around the table.
The RSO already had filled in a preprinted maintenance form and gave it to the maintenance supervisor conducting the maintenance debriefing. To begin, the supervisor read from the form all the data the RSO had filled in (time above certain Mach numbers, maximum Mach, maximum altitude, CG settings, air refueling offloads, aircraft discrepancies, etc.). After the supervisor finished, each representative asked the crew questions about specific aircraft systems. Once the formal maintenance debriefing was concluded, the crew remained behind to discuss any aircraft maintenance problems in greater detail. Between a thorough debriefing from the air crew and readings from the DAFICS, maintenance could troubleshoot and correct discrepancies accurately.
Some of the more difficult discrepancies to troubleshoot were problems with flight control. In order for maintenance personnel to duplicate any flight control malfunction, they had to get the hydraulic fluid up to in-flight temperatures. To do so, they utilized a large maintenance cart connected to the aircraft’s hydraulic input and output lines. As hydraulic fluid circulated throughout the plane, it was heated to in-flight temperatures by the cart, allowing maintenance to isolate a faulty hydraulic actuator or servo at Mach 3 temperatures. The process was called a “hot gig.”
After maintenance debriefing, the crew drove back to the bachelor officer quarters or the officers’ club for some liquid refreshment. Often, either the mobile crew or third crew would host a so-called “debriefing” back in their BOQ room. Everyone could relax, have a vodka and tonic (Habus nicknamed this drink a “hook”), discuss the mission, and talk about how well or how poorly the plane performed. The mission crew could make plans on what to do over the next two or three days off. The mobile crew was up to fly the next mission, and the next mobile crew would be the pilot and RSO just coming from a few days off.
Often, the crew that was off had projects to do at the det, tours to give, or personal things to take care of. Occasionally, we had two SR-71s flying a mission, requiring that everyone be involved. The crew ladder worked out well in most cases. After each crew’s six-week tour of duty at Det 1, the KC-135Q redeployer flew them back to Beale. Back home, they took a few weeks off, flew the SR-71 and T-38, and spent considerable time in the simulator brushing up on emergency procedures. Once Mildenhall became a full-time operation in the late 1970s, crews spent six weeks at Beale before heading off to Mildenhall. After six weeks of flying at Mildenhall, it was back to Beale for another six weeks. Crews spent over half a year away from Beale—long separations, but the flying was great!