When an SR-71 had to make an emergency landing in Norway

In 1981, it seems an SR-71 made the first landing in continental Europe. The lucky place was in Norway. The landing was unannounced and, apparently, not altogether welcome. Their mission had been to photograph Murmansk and 'troll' the Soviet air defenses. During their 4th (!) refueling, they had a warning light come on (left engine oil low! Its the oil! Always the oil!) and so they had to go in.

The worst part of the account seems to have been the fish soup. ugh.

foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com...

a reply to: anzha

That might be the same jet that later had to IFE into Pease with a busted nav system. I can't remember if that was 81 or 82. We had to send one of our -135s to play bird dog and guide him.

This is a very interesting story. Thanks for sharing!

a reply to: anzha
Thanks for the story, nice read

Made a similar thread about this a while back. Very cool stuff!

www.abovetopsecret.com...

www.wvi.com...

a reply to: Zaphod58

The idea of being able to see a Blackbird at Pease is one of many reasons why I sometimes wish I was born 20 years earlier.

Now do we have improvements in jet engines to think for this sort of thing being such a rarity with today's black aircraft (aside from Boscombe)?

That is one very pretty lady. Stunning!

P

Can I clear this up, because I always get mixed up; my understanding is that after Gary Powers was shot down no U-2 ever made an overflight of China or the Soviet Union. But what about the A-12 or the SR-71, did they ever overfly the communist states or were they bound by the same rules?

a reply to: gfad

They never over flew them directly. They used sensors to look sideways into Soviet or Chinese territory and did like the RCs do now and tried to map defenses.

These days pilots make "emergency" landings in Wisconsin if they fancy Lutefisk.

a reply to: Michet
Which explains why no one in the history of flight has made an emergency landing in Wisconsin.

originally posted by: anzha
In 1981, it seems an SR-71 made the first landing in continental Europe.

*snip*

foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com...

Fascinating story with plenty of twists. Thanks for posting

Really enjoyed reading that piece of history, thank you. damn nice pics.too.