SR-71 Pilot Interview Richard Graham Veteran Tales
Video Statistics and Information
No captions available for this video.
Channel: ErikJohnston
Views: 1,965,771
Rating: 4.8192153 out of 5
Keywords: SR-71, Blackbird, Habu, Richard Graham, Pilot, Skunkworks, Secret, Recon, U-2, Dragon Lady, Interview, Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird (Aircraft Model), Lockheed Corporation (Organization), Exclusive, Episode
Id: CeBu6mRDaro
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 78min 35sec (4715 seconds)
Published: Tue Aug 06 2013
Please note that this website is currently a work in progress! Lots of interesting data and statistics to come.
From Ben Rich, SR-71 project manager:
In January 1962 we were ready to cart the Blackbird [from Burbank, California near Los Angeles to Area 51]. The airplane was disassembled into large pieces and would be trucked out in a heavily guarded wideload trailer, 105 feet long and 35 feet wide. Dorsey Kammerer, head of the flight-test shop at that time, came up with the idea of driving the entire route ahead of time using a pickup truck with two bamboo poles up on top. One pole was as wide as the load would be going along the edge of the series of freeways and underpasses. The second pole was exactly as high as the load. They drove the entire route, and any traffic or speed signs that hit against the pole, they pulled over and used a hacksaw to cut the sign off. Then they fit the pieces back with a brace and bolt and marked the sign.
On the day we moved the airplane under wraps the lead security car stopped at all the marked signs, undid the bolts to take down the sign while the truck passed, then the rear security car bolted the signs back in place and the convoy moved on. But not even that kind of efficiency could overcome the unexpected disaster.
Midway into the trip, a Greyhound bus passed us too closely and was scraped. Our security guys flagged him over, haggled for a while with the driver, and paid him $3,500 cash in damages right on the spot—to keep any official insurance or accident report from being filed involving the most top secret truck caravan in America.
[insert SR-71 speedcheck story here]
I started watching thinking there's no way I'll sit through that whole hour+.
It was worth it.
oh yeah rich is great. if anyone is in the north dallas area, he offers flying lessons https://www.texinsflyingclub.org/html/instructors.php
and hes got a mean tennis hand too, for an older guy. I used to live near him and we played every now and then