The Complete Book of the SR-71 Blackbird: The Illustrated Profile of Every Aircraft, Crew, and Breakthrough of the World's Fastest Stealth Jet

I have read most of the SR-71 books, e.g. Sled Driver and Untouchables. This one by far presents the most interesting and thorough history of these planes. Any serious aviation nerd or engineer will appreciate the comprehensive detail in this book.This book even goes into pictorial detail on crashes, and it covers the SR-71's tragic and premature decommissioning (with shredded tooling). Infamously, the program was killed and the tooling was scrapped, out of dubious political motivations. This is one of the few picture books to touch on the events surrounding the shutdown. (The program's shutdown was reportedly the subject of endless regrets, grumblings, and grudges by the Blackbird's pilots and engineers.)We will never know what the Blackbirds might have become. When you read this, ask yourself: why is the U-2 still flying, with active development and support, while its younger sibling, the SR-71, has been relegated to museums?Also, this looks great on a coffee table. The design and large format make it a suitable gift for anyone who would appreciate a technical history of these legendary planes.

This is an absolute must have for all aviation enthusiast. A great book capturing the history of one of the most amazing planes ever made. Great quality, interesting text, and lots and lots of fascinating photos. It was packaged extremely well and arrived earlier than expected!!

This book is the definitive coffee-table book of the SR-71. I bookmark it and pick it up to read the fascinating stories it contains about the operational missions, training, pilot's reports, accidents and crashes, and thrilling successes. The book is large format with lots and lots of photographs, which is great since this jet is the most sinister piece of eye candy ever created by engineers and the forces of aerodynamics. Buy it, you'll like it.One caveat I will add is that if you are interested in the early days of the supersonic reconnaissance business, you are looking for a book about the A-12, the CIA's secret predecessor. This book does have one chapter that gives summary level results of the Oxcart program and the Archangel, which the pilots nicknamed Signet. However, that effort is deserving of its own book.

I was fortunate t be assigned to the 9SRW from 1974-1978 and purchased this because of the author's known reputation to me. When I received it I was immediately struck by the physical quality and the feel of a very expensive coffee table book. When I first paged through it, it was like looking back through a class yearbook, long forgotten. Col. Graham has laid out the book beautifully, it's easy to read although it contains a great amount of technical information as well as crammed full of images that present the history, operating and people associated with the SR. Anyone associated with the program will enjoy the well captioned images and remembering "that guy." SR and aviation fans will appreciate the depth of the crews and support teams. What is lacking in most of the SR books is descriptions of the intelligence collection equipment and systems and the intelligence products. Col. Graham however did spend more time and page space than most authors. He provided information not the "read a license plate from 80,000 feet" standard hype. Not only were their photos but an ample amount of diagrams, charts and illustrations that add to the understanding of this a/c. is now my favorite book on this bird. It's a beautiful book and glad I found it. And the price was hard to beat.

O looked the Book for lots of nice Photos and, History of basically ALL of SR71's Built. O was a bit disappointed that there wasn't more Details of how this INCREDIBLE Plane was Designed and Built in its Time-period. Book is still worth having in my Collection.

SO much information. Some great pictures too.I love the book, but it also made me sad. So shortsighted to discontinue that program when they did. Should still be flying today, giving us uninterrupted coverage until the upcoming SR-72 (or whatever they decide to name it) comes online, that's been in testing since around 2016.

This is not your average glossy coffee-table book. It is glossy, and it is a coffee-table book, but it is best read cover to cover. The author was himself an SR-71 pilot, and eventually 9th SRW Commander at Beale AFB. Part of the fun of the book is reading about his path through the program. What an extraordinary individual... Anyway, the book: The A-12 and YF-12 chapters at the beginning provide useful context for the origin of the plane, but the book really shines in its accounts of day-to-day operations and, especially, what it *felt* like to be there. The pilot selection process was incredibly difficult, and the best part was that, even after a pilot made it in, they still had to make it through ten months of training, and they could flunk out of the program at any point over that period. Colonel Graham's descriptions of the staggering physical, intellectual, and emotional demands left me slack-jawed. The people chosen to fly these planes were just as singular as the planes themselves.The fun doesn't stop there! On to the pressure suit, the cockpit, loads of technical details about the plane's capabilities, and many many accounts of what it was like to fly. The author does a wonderful job of showing the scope of the operations, involving hundreds of people, and the sequence of events that took place leading up to, during, and following every single flight of an SR-71. Utterly amazing.Highly recommended.

Most informative information obtainable on the Blackbird. This plane has never been bested even today in speed and altitude for manned aircraft