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The Race for Supremacy: Speed and Innovation in Cold War Military Aviation

In the nearly half-century following World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union were embroiled in a Cold War, a period of intense political and military tension. While large-scale wars were avoided, the era was defined by an unremitting quest for speed and technological superiority.

Speed lay at the center of both nations’ Cold War strategies, creating huge conventional and nuclear arsenal buildups. During this time, the largest gains were made with turbojet aircraft and intercontinental ballistic missiles. These developments changed warfare forever and affected people across the globe.

Researching Speed

The United States, determined to overcome Soviet numerical superiority, began developing a new generation of high-speed aircraft. In the late 1940s, Edwards Air Force Base in California became a high-speed flight-testing center under military and civilian researchers. After Chuck Yeager’s historic supersonic flight in the Bell X-1 on October 14, 1947, other test pilots flew even faster in such experimental aircraft as the Bell X-2 and X-15.

The Bell X-2 represented the effort by Bell Aircraft, working in conjunction with the U.S. Air Force and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, and explored Mach 2 and Mach 3. Test pilot Lt. Col. Frank “Pete” Everest reached Mach 2.8 in July 1956, and after flying at Mach 3.2, the program ended.

The X-15 program, 1959-1968, was by far NASA’s most successful high-speed flight research program. That investigated hypersonic flight to altitudes that reached the fringes of space. One X-15 flight went 67 miles above Earth at Mach 6.7, or 4,534 mph, securing its reputation as a true “aerospace” plane.

The Jet Engine

In the years of the Cold War, innovations were happening in military aircraft, with the creation of high-speed reconnaissance and fighter jets. The jet engine’s invention made supersonic flight possible; a North American F-100 Super Sabre first flew supersonic in level flight in 1953.

Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson, a prominent aircraft designer at Lockheed, contributed significantly to Cold War aviation. His designs included the Mach 2 F-104 Starfighter and the iconic Mach 3 SR-71 Blackbird. The SR-71, first flown in 1964, remains the fastest piloted jet aircraft, cruising at Mach 3 and reaching altitudes above 85,000 feet. It set a speed record of 2,124 mph from Los Angeles to Washington, DC, in 1990.

ICBMs transformed the nature of warfare by finally making it possible to deliver nuclear warheads over intercontinental distances. Entering service in the early 1960s, the Titan I introduced the United States to its first multi-stage ICBM with a range of 5,500 nautical miles and a speed of 21 times the sound velocity. The productive power of ICBMs increased exponentially, with the LGM-118 Peacekeeper carrying up to 10 warheads by 1986.

Blackbird vs. Phantom

The SR-71 Blackbird again flexed its speed in the Vietnam War. On one very interesting occasion, a USN Phantom pilot, Jerry Hart, along with his Radar Intercept Officer, was vectored to intercept an SR-71 exiting Chinese airspace. All their efforts went in vain as their radar screen went black due to the high speed of the Blackbird, thus portraying the excellence of SR-71.

The Legacy of the SR-71

Former SR-71 pilot Col. Richard Graham spoke to us today about the experiences gained from piloting one of the world’s fastest air-breathing manned aircraft. Graham, a pilot with 210 combat missions under his belt in the Vietnam War, joined the SR-71 program in 1974. He looked back at the training they had gone through as pilots and how they felt about flying more than 2,000 miles per hour and higher than 80,000 feet.

Graham’s career culminated with command of the 1st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron and later the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing. The SR-71 finally retired in 1999, but it still serves as a memorial to the ingenuity of the Cold War and humankind’s insatiable need for speed.

The need for speed and technological advancement that characterized the Cold War era has changed the face of military aviation and left its mark on world geopolitics.

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