In June Janis and I, accompanied by two daughters,
Theresa and Ruth, attended what was called the last SR71 reunion at the Nugget in Sparks Nevada. It was well attended by over 550 SR71 fans, friends, relatives, acquaintances. Many there thought that this was the last that will be seen any SR71 gathering. In my opinion the answer is a definite “IT AINT OVER! Many tales were told of the experiences people have had being associated with the SR71 Blackbird. Books have been written, websites have been created, and Facebook pages abound. Stories of a Kelly Johnson designed Mach 3 Stealth aircraft that provided necessary intelligence to the United States from March 1968 until January 1990 will live on for years.
My time of 28 years working on the ELINT System on the SR71 is chronicled on this website. The fact that the SR71 had an ELINT system that could detect RADAR signals out to the horizon was classified until the mid 1980s. The company was AIL, Airborne Instrument Laboratory, located on Long Island New York. AIL had four people at each operating location, Kadena AFB, Okinawa and RAF Mildenhall, England and six people at Beale Air Force Base.
Seeing once again people I have known on this program from the first crew forces in 1966, Norb Budzinski and Tony Bavacqua, to the last crew forces at Edwards Air Force Base, Terry Pappas and Rod Dykeman, flying the SR71 for NASA brought back many memories to me.
While at the reunion I had the opportunity to talk with Al Joersz,
Retired Major General and former SR71 pilot who explained to me the real reason the SR71 was cancelled. It came down to a funding problem rather than a spat between two general officers. Al did mention that the early death of General O’Malley probably hastened the cancellation several years earlier than it would have been. As to the idea of the SR71 living on in memory and folklore; the many books and YouTube presentations at museums housing the SR-71 will keep the idea alive for many years to come.