It is with great pleasure that I write this foreword to my close friend Richard Graham’s latest book, Flying the SR-71 Blackbird: In the Cockpit on a Secret Operational Mission. Describing his personal insights into piloting the SR-71, he provides the missing link among the many Blackbird volumes that have been written over the past quarter century. While many nuts-and-bolts references have been written covering the aircraft’s development, flight test, and operational history in minute detail, none, until now, have addressed the subject of flying the mission from the perspective of the pilot.
The Lockheed SR-71—and its A-12, F-12, and M-21 predecessors—is arguably the most significant aircraft of our time. Born under the auspices of Cold War secrecy and operated in clandestine fashion for nearly three decades, the “Blackbird family” (as these aircraft became known to the aerospace press) would somewhat reluctantly become an international symbol for all that is good and progressive and vital in the free world. Though produced in relatively tiny numbers and used sparingly, the impact the Blackbirds had on the international community—and in turn, the latter’s impact on global politics—looms large in world history.
As these words are written, no known piloted aircraft has yet to supersede the SR-71’s extraordinary speed and altitude capabilities. Accordingly, it is very possible that this near-monumental performance legacy will remain on the record books, unchallenged, forever. And yes, I’m well aware that forever is a very long time.
Fortunately, no one is more suitable to write this book than Richard Graham. Both a true gentleman and a legitimate scholar, Rich (as he prefers to be called) is well known for his earlier—and, I might add, exceptional—works describing piloting the SR-71 and its use in operational U.S. Air Force service. This latest volume continues this legacy, taking the reader through virtually every aspect of an operational SR-71 flight, from mission assignment and preflight through J58 spool-down following landing. It is a terrifically exciting journey, written by someone who has literally been there and done that.
For those of us who will never have the opportunity to sit in the cockpit of the world’s most alluring aircraft, this book represents the next best thing. If you have a pilot’s soul, a need to read, and you’ve never been able to get enough SR-71 to satiate your hunger, you hold in your hands the remedy you’ve been waiting for. My hat is off to Rich for creating another fine and very authoritative read for those of us who can only dream of cruising at Mach 3.2 and eighty thousand feet!