President Lyndon B. Johnson introduced Ed Yeilding to the SR-71 Blackbird. Thus began a wonderful, long-lasting relationship.
When LBJ announced the development of a “super plane” capable of traveling at more than 2,000 mph, Yeilding was still in high school and living in Alabama. He couldn’t turn away from the news conference.
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Yeilding was so intrigued that he made a vow to himself that day.
“I thought, ‘Man, I’d like to fly that plane someday,’” Yeilding recalled in an appearance at Arnold Air Force Base in Tennessee in 2024.
He got that opportunity after joining the U.S. Air Force. The lieutenant colonel flew 93 overseas reconnaissance missions at the Blackbird’s controls. Yeilding flew the groundbreaking aircraft for the final time on March 6, 1990, a journey that he and those associated with it never forgot.
Smithsonian Wanted the SR-71 Blackbird
While analysts once considered the SR-71 Blackbird the most classified aircraft in American history during the Cold War, it had largely outlived its usefulness in the late 20th century. The U.S. military planned to retire it, but the spy plane wasn’t being simply thrown onto the scrap heap of military aircraft.
The Smithsonian Institution wanted to display it, so the museum requested that it be flown from Palmdale, California, to Washington, D.C. The Smithsonian made one other request: Officials wanted to establish a speed record.
The Air Force tapped Yeilding to pilot that final flight. With Lt. Col. Joseph “J.T.” Vida accompanying him as his reconnaissance systems officer, Yeilding took off from Palmdale Regional Airport at 4:30 a.m. local time with plenty of excitement and a bit of melancholy.
The distance between Palmdale’s airport and their destination, Washington Dulles International Airport, is approximately 2,400 miles. A flight of that length on a commercial airliner normally takes about five hours.
The Blackbird wouldn’t require that much time. Not even close.
Cruising at 83,000 Feet
Yeilding provided a firsthand account of the historic flight to his alma mater, Auburn University, in 2015.
In it, he explained that for safety reasons, the Blackbird typically lifted off at only 50% of fuel capacity. Because of that, it met two KC-135Q Stratotankers 27,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean to refuel shortly into its journey.
Then the longtime Air Force reconnaissance plane crossed the United States.
Yeilding recalled being amazed as the Blackbird gained altitude, ultimately reaching 83,000 feet. He and Vida were on a business trip of sorts, but they weren’t so preoccupied that they didn’t take time to enjoy the views.
They couldn’t help it. Los Angeles. San Francisco. San Diego. Las Vegas. The Grand Canyon. The heartland of America. As they gazed down from their perch 83,000 feet above the earth, they made sure to appreciate their majestic views.
“We were crossing country in minutes that took months for our pioneers to do 150 years earlier,” Yeilding told Auburn. “I really reflected in this flight what a great country we had—and all of the courage, the prayers, and the sacrifices of our forefathers.”
Traveling at Mach 3.3
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Yeilding and Vida were zooming past vast chunks of America.
As they reached the East Coast, they flew just south of Philadelphia on their way to Washington, D.C. Once the Blackbird became subsonic, they refueled for the second and final time. When they arrived in suburban Washington, Yeilding completed two low passes and rocked his wings to acknowledge those gathered at the airport. The Air Force pilot then deployed the Starbird’s orange drag parachute for the final time.
Yeilding and Vida completed the flight in 1 hour, 4 minutes, 20 seconds, a time that remains the record to this day. They also established three other records that morning 3½ decades ago that still stand. They flew from St. Louis to Cincinnati in 8 minutes, 32 seconds; from Kansas City to Washington, D.C., in 25 minutes, 59 seconds; and from the West Coast to the East Coast in 1 hour, 7 minutes, 54 seconds.
The two airmen traveled at an average speed of 2,145 mph, equivalent to Mach 3.3.
The Starbird now resides at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia, where it continues to inspire.
“[Visitors’] jaws drop, and their eyes grow wide at the sight of this massive, futuristic, black knife of titanium,” museum curator Michael W. Hankins wrote in a 2024 article for “Air and Space Quarterly.” “I can’t blame them. The first time I saw the Blackbird, I had the same reaction.”
