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Old 03-13-2015, 01:04 PM   #1
Gary Schulte
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Sled Driver. A book by an SR-71 driver

http://mirror.xwl.me/Sled%20Driver.pdf

I would highly recommend that all you you read this book. It's a link to the .pdf so all you have to do is download it for free. The hardcover costs over $300 to buy. There's only 142 pages plus a lot of those are great photos. It's quick and easy reading that I'm sure most of you will enjoy.

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Old 03-13-2015, 03:52 PM   #2
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Re: Sled Driver. A book by an SR-71 driver

Thanks for sharing that, I was always fascinated with Blackbird!
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Old 03-13-2015, 07:02 PM   #3
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Re: Sled Driver. A book by an SR-71 driver

~ Man alive, sweet ride! A minor foot note is that Singer, Actor John
Denver's Dad set a speed record in the SR 71. Cheers, and more cheers!
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Old 03-19-2015, 12:53 AM   #4
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Re: Sled Driver. A book by an SR-71 driver

Quote:
Originally Posted by slingshaft View Post
~ Man alive, sweet ride! A minor foot note is that Singer, Actor John
Denver's Dad set a speed record in the SR 71. Cheers, and more cheers!
Interesting side note: John Denver wound up flying higher and farther than his dad ever did, and he did not even bother to use a plane to do it!!!
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Old 03-19-2015, 12:59 AM   #5
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Re: Sled Driver. A book by an SR-71 driver

for those of you who love the SR 71. Love this story
http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/fav...ory-1079127041
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Old 03-19-2015, 08:48 AM   #6
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Re: Sled Driver. A book by an SR-71 driver

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gary Schulte View Post
http://mirror.xwl.me/Sled%20Driver.pdf

I would highly recommend that all you you read this book. It's a link to the .pdf so all you have to do is download it for free. The hardcover costs over $300 to buy. There's only 142 pages plus a lot of those are great photos. It's quick and easy reading that I'm sure most of you will enjoy.

That was great.
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Old 03-19-2015, 09:14 AM   #7
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Re: Sled Driver. A book by an SR-71 driver

I'm glad you guys like it.
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Old 03-19-2015, 09:30 AM   #8
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Re: Sled Driver. A book by an SR-71 driver

If you guys ever get out to Oregon, the Evergreen Flight Museum out of McMinnville has one on display. It was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. Super cool to see it as I consumed everything I could about it when I was a kid.
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Old 03-20-2015, 01:34 AM   #9
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Re: Sled Driver. A book by an SR-71 driver

Thanks, Gary, I just read the whole thing. I went to Marysville High School, and rode the bus right past Beale Air Force base every day. I remember seeing and hearing the SR 71 take off and fly many times. It was always really impressive.

Having become a private pilot myself later in life, reading the book gave me a deep appreciation for what the Sled Drivers experienced and felt as they flew such an amazing jet. Their personal relationship with the plane they flew is an experience that every pilot understands.

I have seen up close the one on display at the Evergreen Air Museum here in McMinnville Oregon, and it never ceases to amaze me, especially that such an advanced jet was designed with a slide rule and a pencil. Those guys were brilliant engineers.

It is kind of sad to see it sitting there, knowing that it really belongs at 80,000 feet.

Thanks for the post Gary. It was a delightful read.
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Old 03-20-2015, 12:03 PM   #10
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Re: Sled Driver. A book by an SR-71 driver

I'm glad you enjoyed it North Star. That's awesome that you grew up near the base. I'll bet you had several mental images in your mind as you read the book.
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Old 03-21-2015, 10:33 PM   #11
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Re: Sled Driver. A book by an SR-71 driver

When I was in, I actually got to touch one. It was very low to the ground sitting on the tarmac (short landing gear). If I remember correctly (1989?) it was one of the first, or maybe the first to fly, like serial number one or something I heard. Very cool!

It was in a rope corral just chilling off to the side of a bunch of A-10's behind a sand wall.
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Old 07-23-2015, 12:29 PM   #12
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Re: Sled Driver. A book by an SR-71 driver

“As a former SR-71 pilot, and a professional keynote speaker, the question I’m most often asked is ‘How fast would that SR-71 fly?’ I can be assured of hearing that question several times at any event I attend. It’s an interesting question, given the aircraft’s proclivity for speed, but there really isn’t one number to give, as the jet would always give you a little more speed if you wanted it to. It was common to see 35 miles a minute.

Because we flew a programmed Mach number on most missions, and never wanted to harm the plane in any way, we never let it run out to any limits of temperature or speed.. Thus, each SR-71 pilot had his own individual ‘high’ speed that he saw at some point on some mission. I saw mine over Libya when Khadafy fired two missiles my way, and max power was in order. Let’s just say that the plane truly loved speed and effortlessly took us to Mach numbers we hadn’t previously seen.

So it was with great surprise, when at the end of one of my presentations, someone asked, ‘What was the slowest you ever flew the Blackbird?’ This was a first. After giving it some thought, I was reminded of a story that I had never shared before, and I relayed the following.

I was flying the SR-71 out of RAF Mildenhall, England, with my back-seater, Walt Watson; we were returning from a mission over Europe and the Iron Curtain when we received a radio transmission from home base. As we scooted across Denmark in three minutes, we learned that a small RAF base in the English countryside had requested an SR-71 fly-past. The air cadet commander there was a former Blackbird pilot, and thought it would be a motivating moment for the young lads to see the mighty SR-71 perform a low approach. No problem, we were happy to do it. After a quick aerial refuelling over the North Sea, we proceeded to find the small airfield.

Walter had a myriad of sophisticated navigation equipment in the back seat, and began to vector me toward the field. Descending to subsonic speeds, we found ourselves over a densely wooded area in a slight haze. Like most former WWII British airfields, the one we were looking for had a small tower and little surrounding infrastructure. Walter told me we were close and that I should be able to see the field, but I saw nothing. Nothing but trees as far as I could see in the haze. We got a little lower, and I pulled the throttles back from 325 knots we were at. With the gear up, anything under 275 was just uncomfortable. Walt said we were practically over the field-yet; there was nothing in my windscreen. I banked the jet and started a gentle circling maneuver in hopes of picking up anything that looked like a field. Meanwhile, below, the cadet commander had taken the cadets up on the catwalk of the tower in order to get a prime view of the fly-past. It was a quiet, still day with no wind and partial gray overcast. Walter continued to give me indications that the field should be below us but in the overcast and haze, I couldn’t see it. The longer we continued to peer out the window and circle, the slower we got. With our power back, the awaiting cadets heard nothing. I must have had good instructors in my flying career, as something told me I better cross-check the gauges. As I noticed the airspeed indicator slide below 160 knots, my heart stopped and my adrenalin-filled left hand pushed two throttles full forward. At this point we weren’t really flying, but were falling in a slight bank. Just at the moment that both afterburners lit with a thunderous roar of flame (and what a joyous feeling that was) the aircraft fell into full view of the shocked observers on the tower. Shattering the still quiet of that morning, they now had 107 feet of fire-breathing titanium in their face as the plane levelled and accelerated, in full burner, on the tower side of the infield, closer than expected, maintaining what could only be described as some sort of ultimate knife-edge pass.

Quickly reaching the field boundary, we proceeded back to Mildenhall without incident. We didn’t say a word for those next 14 minutes. After landing, our commander greeted us, and we were both certain he was reaching for our wings. Instead, he heartily shook our hands and said the commander had told him it was the greatest SR-71 fly-past he had ever seen, especially how we had surprised them with such a precise maneuver that could only be described as breathtaking. He said that some of the cadet’s hats were blown off and the sight of the plan form of the plane in full afterburner dropping right in front of them was unbelievable. Walt and I both understood the concept of ‘breathtaking’ very well that morning and sheepishly replied that they were just excited to see our low approach.

As we retired to the equipment room to change from space suits to flight suits, we just sat there-we hadn’t spoken a word since ‘the pass.’ Finally, Walter looked at me and said, ‘One hundred fifty-six knots. What did you see?’ Trying to find my voice, I stammered, ‘One hundred fifty-two.’ We sat in silence for a moment. Then Walt said, ‘Don’t ever do that to me again!’ And I never did.

A year later, Walter and I were having lunch in the Mildenhall Officer’s club, and overheard an officer talking to some cadets about an SR-71 fly-past that he had seen one day. Of course, by now the story included kids falling off the tower and screaming as the heat of the jet singed their eyebrows. Noticing our HABU patches, as we stood there with lunch trays in our hands, he asked us to verify to the cadets that such a thing had occurred. Walt just shook his head and said, ‘It was probably just a routine low approach; they’re pretty impressive in that plane.’

Impressive indeed.”

The story comes from retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Brian Shul, and it was posted by Sierra Hotel Aeronautics
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Old 07-23-2015, 12:38 PM   #13
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Re: Sled Driver. A book by an SR-71 driver

Thanks Marcus
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Old 08-20-2015, 09:10 PM   #14
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Re: Sled Driver. A book by an SR-71 driver

Is there somewhere else that we can read this? I keep getting an error when I clik.
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Old 08-20-2015, 09:49 PM   #15
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Re: Sled Driver. A book by an SR-71 driver

Wow Marcus, that story had me on the edge of my seat!
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