The Apollo astronauts had to change many of their daily routines, including what they ate, drank, dressed, and even how they used the restroom On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11…
A few people nicknamed the SR-71 the “Lead Sled” after pilot Jerry O’Malley and RSO Ed Payne, on their second Blackbird combat sortie over Vietnam in 1968, dropped 60,000 feet…
If KC-135Qs were unavailable, ordinary Stratotankers could be used to refuel the SR-71 Blackbird Mach 3+ spy plane. If it weren’t for air refueling, the SR-71’s range would be relatively…
‘The VC10 captain announced that as it was Bastille Day he had been told that we would have to look after the ‘trade’ alone and that, consequently, we could not…
‘In retrospect, my ordering WSO to eject was a mistake which I have always regretted. I felt at the time I was saving his life and I intended to eject…
‘At Takhli we liked the pop-up tactic as we felt we got better target coverage with less exposure and fewer losses. Lots of folks agreed until new PACAF C-in-C Gen…
Mossad deployed a team of female agents to recruit several Iraqi pilots who had been sent to Randolph Air Force Base in the United States for a staff course, but…
The first aircraft to use its own fuel for hydraulic fluid was the SR-71 Blackbird and it was called the fuel hydraulic system The legendary SR-71 Blackbird Mach 3+ spy…
‘Tony LeVier [the test pilot who flew the first flight of the U-2] was sitting at Bob Gilliland’s bar when we arrived. The story of how the U-2 was named…
“I remember looking up out of the canopy at the cars passing under us on Highway 20. After we landed and got out of the plane I was really hyped…