“I came away with one observation—the more recommendations an applicant had from general officers, the less likely were his chances of getting into the SR-71 program. Flying skills rather than…
“Everything seemed to unfold in slow motion. I learned later the time from event onset to catastrophic departure from controlled flight was only 2-3 sec. Still trying to communicate with…
“I am the spirit of the Phantom. My spirit will live long in the minds and hearts of those in whom I have captured something. They are the ones who…
“It grows on you. It smells like an airplane, it makes a lot of noise, vibrates, goes fast, it’s real loud. You put it on like a glove. I’ll never…
“The three B-52s sat behind the runway hold line awaiting permission for the final B-52 takeoff from U-Tapao. Then the tower cleared us for takeoff. On interplane frequency, I said,…
“The F-14 pilot came back and said in an excited voice, ‘Target, nose, 12 miles [19.31km] hot, am I cleared to engage?’ and again the E-2 stuttered ‘Sta-Sta-Standby’ just as…
“The landing signal officer was frantically trying to wave us off as if he honestly thought that we were serious about trying to land a ‘Connie’ on his carrier. I…
Three Lockheed Hercules aircraft were converted to YMC-130H transport planes as part of Top Secret “Operation Credible Sport,” the second attempt to rescue Iranian hostages The Empire State Aerosciences Museum…
‘On December 14, 1967, when I managed to reach 100,110 feet and authenticate it, we wisely decided to call it a day. Interestingly, that record still stands today as a…
“The termination of the SR-71 Blackbird was a grave mistake and could place our nation at a serious disadvantage in the event of a future crisis,” Senator John Glenn The Lockheed…