SR-71 Blackbird at RAF Greenham Common Airshow (IAT) 1983

The SR-71 arrives at RAF Greenham Common for the 1983 International Air Tattoo (IAT), Pilot: BC Thomas, RSO: John Morgan, July 1983. The commentator was John Doyle.

I was the pilot in this video, but did not fly the SR-71 out of RAF Greehnam Common. I was the "mobile control" officer when the aircraft departed and the pilot was Maj Jim Jiggens, a USAF Thunderbird pilot and formally a US Army helicopter combat pilot in Vietnam. On the evening of the air show featured in this video, women, who were protesting President Reagan's decision to station intermediate nuclear missiles in England, broke into the security cordon around the air show aircraft and threw paint on several, including this SR-71. Owing to the unique metals associated with the SR-71, the removing of the paint required special maintenance procedures to assure that no "hot spot" would develop on subsequent flights. It was quite a hassle and we were not amused over this incident. Jim and I planned a farewell departure for the protesters who were encamped in a squalor of tents just outside the main gate. Jim obtained clearance for a "closed pattern" and turned to a downwind leg, descended to about 100 feet above the ground, and flew directly over the protestors' encampment. It was early and probably most were asleep, but not for long. Jim was flying about 250 knots and selected afterburner in both engines as he was approaching the tents. As the SR-71 accelerated to 350-400 knots, he pulled up and focused the plume (and noise) directly on the protesters. It was a magnificent sight. As we were leaving the base immediately after Jim's departure, the gate guard (British) said to me: "I say, that was a jolly good show, but next time, please warn me before you do it." I also had the honor to prefer charges against the women, but the British government later declined to prosecute. BC Thomas

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• SR-71
• Blackbird
• Habu
• Lockheed
• Skunkworks
• International
• Air
• Tattoo
• bredette
• bc
• thomas

[frogfister]

after the greenham common women broke into the base a few days before, and daubed paint onto the sr71, the pilot decided to surprise them on his departure from the base by overflying them at 250ft, then pitched up sharply directly above their tents in full afterburn..."sounding the trumpets of freedom"!!! Would love to have seen that!

[bcthomas2h90]

@frogfister Actually, it was somewhat lower than 250 feet.

[frogfister]

@bcthomas2h90 even better! i'm guessing you were the pilot who carried out this sword waving mission-how low were you really, and did you get any idea or feedback on how the wimmin(sorry, women!) reacted?

[bcthomas2h90]

@frogfister I have included a description of the SR-71 departure from RAF Greenham Common above, in the overall description of the video. The narrative was too long to be included here as comments are limited.

[eagleray3437]

and an awesome aircraft, even by TOMORROWS standards

[Oldbmwr100rs]

Am amazing machine designed and built by an incredibly talented group of people. This plane was designed in the early '60's and was designed without the aid of computers or CAD systems, just slide rules!

It's a damn shame that talent like that has really gone, it took such trust in design to commit to making something like this, and I doubt that anything like this will ever be made again.

[impossibledrms]

I was also there as an SP. We understood that an MOD cop didn't want to get paint on his uniform so he let the "peace women" throw the paint on the plane. I also remember the plane taking off and this filled in the blanks as to what was going on. I was sleeping in the dorm and about came stuck to the ceiling. All is good tho.

[wardtree]

I was there too .. I was honoured to be asked by BC to take a sample of the paint to a lab in Cambridge for analysis. It came to nothing in the end, and because I was on the road to Cambridge, I missed the final show. Never mind, I was part of it. And proud.

[Shamutu07]

I was there the day the SR-71 left. We'd been pulled from several bases throughout the 3rd Air Force because of the peace women incident. The painted slogans all over the KC-13Q (Dedicated tanker) then ran across the ramp and threw paint on the SR. An MOD cop was there with his dog and let it off the leash. A peace woman screamed and the dog sat down. The next day we got sent to GC and were at the front gate for orientation at the SP building when she took off, circled, and gave them a show.

[CimarronPeacekeeper]

@frogfister Ahhhh the peace camps @ RAF Greenham. I was in School @ Greenham when that happened. They also had many riots when I was there...

[jovanystevepritchard]

What an amazing piece of craft

[Thunderchief35]

@frogfister How did the women react??? I bet they loved it!!!!