61-7966
No display location
Dots mark every surviving airframe
Record
Career
- Very low-time airframe: about 53 hours when lost
- Crash site rediscovered by Robb Magley on 10 May 2001
How it was lost
Lost on the night of 13 April 1967 near Las Vegas, New Mexico, after entering an unrecoverable subsonic high-speed stall following in-flight refuelling on a training sortie (call sign ASPEN 29). Pilot Earle M. Boone and RSO Richard E. "Butch" Sheffield both ejected safely.
Where the record disagrees
Total hours uncertain: habu.org cites a June 1967 DCMA summary at 53.2 h but a March 1967 activity summary implies about 64.7 h; Sheffield estimated under 50 h. Crew ranks differ by source (Captain in sr-71.org, Major in the accident report extract on thesr71blackbird.com). The archived sr-71.org locations page misprints the year as 1965, and Baugher wrongly gives Las Vegas, NV; the accident report and habu.org say New Mexico. First flight date not found.
Sources
- SR-71 Online (sr-71.org), via Internet Archive. Blackbird Losses (archived copy). Open · In the register
- Habu.org. 61-7966 (Blackbird Photo Archive). Archived copy · In the register
- The SR-71 Blackbird (thesr71blackbird.com). SR-71A Blackbird #17966 / #2017. Open · Archived · In the register
- SR-71 Online (sr-71.org), via Internet Archive. SR-71 Locations (archived copy, lists serial / Lockheed article number and fate). Open · In the register