Settling into the pilot seat of the SR-71, Buz Carpenter knew his impending mission impacted the security of the United States. Straddling the border of the Soviet Union or zipping across a Middle Eastern nation, the reconnaissance he was gathering could determine whether there would be ensuing military action.

"It was an absolutely incredible airplane, and unlike a lot of other airplanes, peacetime, wartime, we flew so many missions that you came back and you felt you had made a positive contribution to our nation's defense," said Carpenter, who was assigned as a SR-71 pilot 1975-80.

Carpenter and Jerry Glasser, both retired Air Force colonels, were among more than 40 former SR-71 air crew members participating in a recent event at the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum near Ashland. The SR-71 played a key role for the United States’ spy missions during the Cold War.

Carpenter handled the SR-71 on 230 flights with 65-70 being actual reconnaissance missions. Glasser flew the plane on 110 operational missions over six years, beginning in 1980. The SR-71 - which had only 85 pilots - served the U.S. Air Force for 34 years, from 1964 until 1998. The last SR-71 flight was in 1999, when NASA used it for training. Whether it was a military installation or troop movement, the information gathered by the pilots and their reconnaissance systems officer (RSO) played a key role in military and diplomatic decisions.

Instead of having the magic of digital cameras of today, 50 years ago, crews used film to capture photos of targets and needed to be developed before American leaders would see them, said Glasser, who once trained under Carpenter.

“The camera is actually, I would say, the big thing that you have now that we weren't able to have, because when you're taking the picture, it's digitally based, and it gets to the requester in a short amount of time," Carpenter said. "I flew a special mission during a conflict for President (Jimmy) Carter out of England into Yemen and back. He probably didn't see the pictures that they were going to use to figure out what to do for 36 to 48 hours. That's not the world we live in right now."

The SR-71, the fastest plane in military history, could travel up to 2,000 mph at 80,000 feet above ground. While at that speed, the camera could take a clear photo of a golf ball on a putting green, but that was an extreme, Carpenter said.

"Our photo interpreters could regularly identify cars and things as what they were," he said. "Not only could tell you the make, many times, they could tell you the model. From 80,000 feet, you can see the stripes in the parking lot."

The SR-71, nicknamed the Blackbird, was stationed at three bases - Beale Air Force Base (California), Okinawa Air Base (Japan), and Mendenhall Air Base (United Kingdom).

Made from titanium, the United States had to import it from the Soviet Union, Carpenter said. Despite being the primary source of the metal, Soviet technology was far behind the United States in developing aircraft, he said.

"We had to spy on Russia, because in 1960, we didn't use titanium," Carpenter said. "Right now, my glasses and Jerry's glasses are probably made of titanium and all kinds of stuff. But back then, it was a new metal, so we had to figure out how to use it, because they were much more advanced than us in metallurgy."

Enemy nations put a target on every SR-71 mission, Glasser said. The United States Department of State would advise nations such as the Soviet Union and China about planned missions.

"It was a political game," he said. "They thought the SR-71 was invulnerable, so we'd get tested."

Soviet fighters would attempt to intercept an SR-71 whenever they had the chance, Glasser said.

"There's a Russian term called Pavlovian," he said. "It means that you react just instinctively. The Russians Pavlovian reacted. They wanted to get an SR. So, if our SR showed up, radars came up, frequencies came up, fighters came up that nobody else saw. We were a stimulator, and other platforms were recording what we were seeing."

While fighters weren't going to catch an SR-71, they'd be happy capturing a disabled Blackbird, Glasser said.

"There was one time up in the Baltic, an airplane had an engine come apart, over Lithuania. So, they declared, 'Mayday. Mayday,'" he said. "They turned and flew into Swedish airspace, and the Swedes sent two (Saab 37) Viggen fighters to come up and get on the wings." Dropping to about 11,000 feet and attempting to make it to an American base in West Germany, the damaged SR-71 seemed to be the wounded bird that seemed ripe for the Soviets to capture. The Soviets dispatched five pairs of MiG-29 jets to intercept the SR-71 and force it to land behind the Iron Curtain.

"When these MiGs came up, all of a sudden, there's a Viggen on either side of the wing," Glasser said. 'So now they're saying to themselves, 'This doesn't work.'"

The Swedish pilots guided the SR-71 until American F-15s took over to guide the plane to safety, he said.

"What I didn't realize until about six months ago, (the Soviets) also sent out a rescue helicopter, thinking that the airplane was going to crash, and the Swedes also sent out a rescue helicopter," Glasser said.

A SR-71 mission would last at least two hours, Carpenter said.

"The longest one was 11 hours and 20 minutes," said Carpenter, who was the pilot on that mission.

The Blackbird had to refuel every 3,000 miles - or two hours - Glasser said. The plane had to drop to about 25,000 for the Air Force tanker to refuel the SR-71, he said.

"Jerry was an instructor later on, teaching our new pilots that, when you get to a certain weight, you're not going to have enough power, so you're going to have to light the left afterburner and then use the right engine as kind of a modulator to stay behind the tanker," Carpenter said.

Resembling astronauts, SR-71 pilots once wore space suits used during the Gemini missions of America's early space program before switching to lighter weight, gold-colored flight suits, Carpenter said.

"The shuttle astronauts on their first four missions on Columbia borrowed our suits when they had the ejection seats, and they didn't have any space suits developed at that time," he said.

Prior to every flight, pilots enjoyed a meal featuring steak and eggs for protein required to pilot missions, Carpenter said.

During long flights, pilots would eat food from a tube, resembling toothpaste - applesauce, peaches, sloppy Joe and beef - Carpenter said.

"The apple sauce was pretty good, and the peaches were good," he said. "The sloppy Joes, I said, after one time, 'I don't think we'll do this again.'"

Times have changed, Carpenter said. "I took my grandkids and a bunch of their friends about five years ago to watch a YouTube of a suiting up, so they could see the space suit," he said. "And this guy was going up for eight hours, and they come out with this menu board with 28 items. So he picked chicken cacciatore."

Flying an SR-71 was similar to piloting a spaceship with a few differences, such as the ascent to 80,000 feet, Glasser said. Instead of a quick climb like astronauts would experience, the SR-71's climb was more methodical, he said.

"It takes you 20 minutes to get up, 23 minutes to get to altitude," Glasser said. "So it's a very structured climb. And you're at 80,000 feet, you're going three times as fast, you're two-and-a-half times as high. Until you see the counters, you're so busy, you don't get that. There's not a zoom perspective. There’s nothing around you to give you that sense, like you are on a freeway."

Night flying offered a spiritual experience for pilots, Glasser said. Vibrant colors of the sky - blue, indigo, purple, green - were breathtaking, he said.

"I transitioned to scuba diving, because I could sit under the water just like this, idle,' he said. "I'm just looking at new colors. And every time I do it, there's a new color. And I'm mesmerized by the magnificent color changes and you can't take a photo of it. I can't describe the indigos and the blues and the purples. That was mesmerizing. It always was." Though they later flew other aircraft, including the F-4 fighter, RF-4 reconnaissance jet, C-141 transport and F-5 jet - nothing compares with the magical experience of the SR-71, Carpenter said.

"I wish I could take everybody up to 85,000 feet, and you can see the curvature of the earth," Carpenter said. "You see 350 miles in any direction. At night, the sky is an absolutely massive twinkle, because 90% of the stars you can see up there, because the atmosphere filters them out.”

"You were given the responsibility of flying probably one of the most magnificent airplanes ever built, and it was just a very rewarding experience, very challenging. We didn't suffer from boredom, but there was a great sense of satisfaction when you'd come back and you landed the airplane and you knew you'd done something."

Tim Trudell is a freelance writer and online content creator. His work has appeared in Flatwater Free Press, Next Avenue, Indian Country Today, Nebraska Life, Nebraska Magazine, Council Bluffs Daily Non-Pareil and Douglas County Post Gazette, among others. He is a citizen of the Santee Dakota Nation.