Richard H. Graham

Very detailed insights into one the best aircraft ever to be designed and flown. It was written shortly after the Habu disappeared from the USAF inventory and is much more obtuse than it's successor books. I enjoyed the internal vignettes written by former Habu crew. It adds credibility to the story. A very technical book in places, personal stories in others. The book ends with the bureaucratic demise of "the program."

SR-71: The Complete Illustrated History of the Blackbird, The World's Highest, Fastest Plane by Richard H. Graham is the history of America's most mysterious aircraft. Colonel (ret) Richard Graham is the author of three books on the SR-71 Blackbird. He flew this aircraft for seven years and ended up with 756 hours in its cockpit.

When I was a kid the SR-71 had been flying for a few years. It was the model kit every kid wanted. It was the fastest and highest flying plane ever built. Its specs show more remained classified. There, however, was little doubt how fast it was; in 1981 it outran a North Korean ground to air missile. By that time my childhood illusions of the SR-71s maneuverability had long since been substituted for the practical. Still, it remained one of the coolest planes to ever fly.

Graham takes the reader on a heavily illustrated history of the remarkable aircraft. From its beginnings in Burbank and its stealthy road trip to Groom Lake for testing. There is something for everyone to learn including the SR-71's piggyback drone and its initial role as an air-to-air missile carrying interceptor. Graham's book is filled with first-person experiences from training through flight operations. Support necessities to overcome the hostile atmosphere where the SR-71 operated are included. The human body can't breathe at the altitude where the plane performed its mission. The air is thin and very cold and yet the plane's skin temperature was very hot. Reading through this book one sees how planning, preparation, and execution rivaled the manned space program. SR-71 pilots and astronauts had much in common with SR-71 pilots having the additional problem of mid-air refueling.

SR-71 is a richly illustrated history of the plane, the pilots, and all the supporting staff much of it told by those who worked the missions. Official documents are also used in photos and diagrams. This was an age of espionage where people put their lives on the line for information. Although intelligence today may be better and safer with the use of satellites and drones it does lose that mystique. During the Cold War years, we kids, talked about the SR-71 and to some extent the U2. I doubt today that kids sit around and talk specs on reconnaissance satellites or imagine what its like to operate one. This is a book of days gone by and is a tribute to the plane and people who risked it all for their country. A timely read for this Veteran's Day. show less

This is a dense, technical book. If you are looking for an introduction to the SR-71, then you would probably be better served looking elsewhere. If, however, you want to dig into the details of the aircraft (like, for example, the details of pre-flight preparations for the aircraft) then this is an excellent book. You dig into details of this incredible machine, such as that the fuel tanks had to be purged of oxygen before flight using nitrogen and more nitrogen was pumped into the fuel show more tanks as they emptied (at the extreme temperatures that the SR-71 reached due to its incredible speed, oxygen could spontaneously ignite; also, as the aircraft reduced altitude, the fuel tanks would collapse if they had been filled with lower-density, high-altitude air).

The writing is nothing special, but that isn't the reason to read a book like this. Graham provides an extremely compelling and credible account of what it was like to operate this aircraft. An excellent choice for students of military operations and aviation buffs. show less

Phenomenal book on the SR-71 for anyone who is a fan of aviation especially.