Flying the SR-71 Blackbird: on a Secret Operational Mission: On a Secret Operational Mission [Illustrated] (Hardcover)

HAVE YOU EVER WANTED TO FLY AN SR-71? Well there are two things you need, one is this book, the other, well an operating aircraft. That I can't help you with, but I can suggest you should get this book! Rich Graham was an instructor pilot on the SR-71, and his infinite knowledge of operating the Blackbird is laid out in the step by step procedures of flying the aircraft. Each check list item is described and laid out to explain it in terms you can understand. This is Col Graham's third book, and 'Flying the Blackbird' like the others is a must for the Blackbird fan. This book is unique in that it tells you the complex cockpit procedures of this marvel of aviation. No other book or writer could give you the insight that Col. Rich Graham does. --John Freedman;This is a great book! It's exactly what the title says it is -- a pilot's inside the cockpit explanation of flying the SR-71, in expansive detail. The author is perfectly qualified for the task as a former SR-71 pilot, instructor pilot, chief stan/eval and commander of the 1st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron. There are 80 pages of original SR-71 checklists, there are detailed cockpit pictures, and there is explanation of every switch you'd see in a complete mission. Make no mistake, this is not a pretty picture book, this is for true pilot nerds who want to do what is now impossible -- climb inside the Blackbird and take it flying at Mach 3.2 and FL 780. The foreword correctly states the book provides the missing link among the many Blackbird volumes that have been written over the past quarter century. While many nuts-and-bolts references have been written covering the aircraft's development, flight test, and operational history in minute detail, none, until now, have addressed the subject of flying the mission from the perspective of the pilot; It includes illuminating discussions about abnormal and emergency procedures, as well as some sidebars with tales of specific flights. It also includes a few pages of color pictures. The SR-71 was a stunning thrill-ride, and also a hughly complex techno-social system. Graham has written a quality tribute to the aeroplane and the thousands of people that made the system work. Buy the big picture books by Brian Shul for glossy photographs and fluid descriptions of the feel of flying the SR-71. Buy the various history books for the development story and technical details. But for the this-switch-does-that (and why) (and when) detail of actually flying faster than a bullet, you need to buy this book. --Dave English;If you are interested in knowing every minute detail about the SR-71 Blackbird, this is the book for you. I have seen the Blackbird up close, sat in the cockpit, and have spent many hours flying the SR-71 on Microsoft Flight Simulator (SR-71 sim available online). Now, with this book, I am learning all of the Blackbird's intimate secrets. The author l --John Freedman. This book is slightly different from the usual 'pilots stories' concerning the rise from student pilot to being fully operational. Although Colonel Graham served with distinction in Vietnam, it is only his involvment with this aircraft that is covered. But that is not the only diffrence, this book is a mixture of personal recollections and technical notes and this is what makes it interesting - you are flying this aeroplane. Afetr readinf it there will be little you do not know about flying the Blackbird. The description of the equipment starts with the basics, the pressure suit and just how a small problem with this can be fatal. --Pacific Flyer Magazine

A mixture of personnel recollections and technical notes ... after reading it there will be little you do not know about the Blackbird ... a remarkable book, and considering this was a secret aeroplane a few short years ago, there is more detail in it than those on many more mundane machines. This is definitely one for the aviation enthusiast who likes flying from his armchair. --Model Aircraft Monthly

For anyone who has ever wondered what it's like to fly the SR-71 on a secret Mach 3 reconnaissance mission, Flying the SR-71 Blackbird has the answer. Retired SR-71 pilot and squadron leader Graham takes readers along on an operational mission that only a few Air Force pilots have ever experienced...Graham offers a rare cockpit perspective on how regular Air Force pilots and navigators transformed themselves into SR-71 Blackbird cres, turning their unique avation talents to account in an unprecedented way. Arguably the world's foremost expert on piloting the Blackbird, Graham details, as no one else could, what an SR-71 mission entails, from donning a pressure suit to returning to base...Flying the SR-71 Blackbird is the ultimate play-by-play journey into what is involved in an operational mission of one of aviation history's most prized, and top secret, aircraft -- --Pacific Flyer Magazine

Forty years after it was first flown, the SR-71 is still the fastest jet plane in the world, and when operational could survey 80,000 square miles with its advanced camera and recon equipment.