CIA A-12 pilot Lt. Col. Frank Murray (USAF retired) was assigned to Area 51 during CIA A-12 Project Oxcart, and was one of six CIA pilots chosen to fly surveillance missions in the A-12 at Mach-3 and 90,000 ft. over Southeast Asia during Operation Black Shield. Operation Black Shield Forty-five..
Read more
In this talk at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Vietnam-era attack pilot and retired Air Force major Brian Shul, author of “Sled Driver: Flying the World’s Fastest Jet,” reveals fascinating details of piloting the SR-71. Using his rare aviation slides and stories as a vehicle, he tells a broader inspired story..
Read more
This is an expanded excerpt from Brian Shul’s book Sled Driver : Flying the World’s Fastest Jet. There were a lot of things we couldn’t do in an SR-71, but we were the fastest guys on the block and loved reminding our fellow aviators of this fact. People often asked..
Read more
New declassified video from the National Reconnaissance Office. Learn about the early history of the A-12 and SR-71 and how these two aircraft set records and served multiple missions for the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. Air Force.
USAF Col. Rich Graham, Retired talks about how he got involved in flying the SR-71 and other airplanes. Video was recorded at the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas, Texas beside the J-58 engine used in the SR-71. SR-71 Cockpit Simulator Checkout with Richard Graham SR-71 J58 Engine Tour by..
Read more
An outstanding one-on-one interview of SR-71 pilot Lt.Col. Maury Rosenberg, USAF Retired, by Ron Carrico for the San Diego Air and Space Museum. In this one hour interview, Rosenberg discusses the flight parameters and characteristics of the SR-71 Blackbird which he flew for 9.5 years. About Lt. Col. Maury Rosenberg,..
Read more
In 1976, U.S. Air Force SR-71 Blackbird crews flew from New York to London in less than two hours, reaching speeds exceeding Mach 3 and setting world records that have held up for nearly four decades. But those world records may not stay unbroken for long. That’s because today, at..
Read more
This story gives a glimpse into the life of former SR-71 pilot and the world speed record holder, Al Joersz. Joersz and Skunk Works® program director Steve Justice reminisce how a boy growing up in North Dakota went on to become the “fastest man alive.” Photographs of Joersz’ life were..
Read more
By Tony Landis, in the December 2004 edition of Wings Shortly after the first SR-71s began flying operational missions over North Vietnam, the Air Force began looking into ways of expanding the capabilities of this exotic aircraft. With its versatile interchangeable noses, mission planners would have to make a choice..
Read more
AirWingMedia.com offers digitized back issues of Wings & Airpower magazines as PDF eBook downloads. Learn more in our Digital Magazine Store...
Each Wings & Airpower PDF eBook contains hundreds of pages with thousands of images offering aviation history you can't get anywhere else. Request a Free Sample. Check out our always updated Magazine Index.