Autographs, Letters, Photos, Patches, News Articles
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What Is It?
A UFO?
Visitors from Alpha Centauri?
No, although it may look like something out of Project Blue Book or The UFO Files it is actually a D-21 from the (above top secret program) called USAF Project Tagboard. Vintage 1960’s. See story board below.
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Rare Lockheed poster, 25th anniversary, Signed by Lockheed Chief Tech Rep at Beale.
Fred Carmody's office was directly on the other side of the wall from my office.
Always a perfect gentleman, Fred and his team were always willing to give assistance at a moments notice.
1986 D. M. Davies photo 14" X 23", notice the fuel soaked hanger floor
One of the last maintenance awards in the Blackbird program, Oct 89.
August 21, 2002
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Louis Wellington Schalk Jr., 76, original chief test pilot for the A-12 Blackbird spy plane built by Lockheed's storied "Skunk Works" in 1962, died Friday in a hospice in Arlington, Va. The cause of death was complications of leukemia.
A native of Alden, Iowa, Schalk graduated from West Point and served with the 86th Fighter Bomber Wing in Germany. He later completed flight instructors school and taught at Laredo Air Force Base in Texas.
After graduating first in his class at the Air Force Experimental Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California in 1954, Schalk became an Air Force test pilot under Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager, flying such aircraft as the F-104 Starfighter.
Schalk joined Lockheed in 1957 and two years later was chosen as Kelly Johnson's chief test pilot for the secretive "Skunk Works."
Schalk personally helped design the cockpit of the Blackbird and then on April 26, 1962, took the plane on its first test flight out of Area 51 at Groom Lake, Nev. After four more days of working out problems, Schalk took the Blackbird aloft again on April 30 for its first official flight. For many years, the Blackbird reigned as the fastest plane in the skies.
In 1999, Schalk's name was added to the Aerospace Walk of Honor in Lancaster.
Click this link> http://home.att.net/~jbaugher1/f12.html
1971 Air Force Recruiting Pamphlet, The front cover depicts “The YF-12A” AF Art Collection painting by Ken Ottinger. Notice the Psychedelic theme, the booklet is filled with “way out” verbiage, photos and drawings with colorful distortion effects.
Original SAC Model KC-135 Q Original paint, Strategic Air Command Decals and 9th SRW tail markings.
Photo by Brian Shul, SR-71 Pilot
T-38 Talons over the coast line, Beautiful white paint schemes, 9th SRW tail markings,
Photo by Brian Shul, SR-71 Pilot
Intent seems to play down the fears of sonic booms.
Here is an interesting Air Force Vinyl Album and a matching Pamphlet,
Prepared by HQ SAC, Directorate of Information,
"The Remarkable SR-71"
No reference to the name "Blackbird"
No date is on the pamphlet or album.
Our group photo. 9th Field Maintenance Squadron
This is a very rare document and probably the only blank one in existence.
The coveted "Royal Order of HABU Fixers" Award.
These documents were printed on textured antique parchment and measure an odd 12-3/8" x 9-1/2".
Joe Plummer Print, 1989
Col. Richard H. Graham, SR-71 Pilot, Squadron Commander, 9th SRW Commander.
Dan,
I just got back from a week at Oshkosh and found your package. Thank you very, very much for that special piece of titanium with our crew names on it. It will hold a special place among my Blackbird memorabilia here at the house to show others. Rich
Glenn R. Chapman, Original U-2 Maintenance Crew, Author
Measuring nearly 2 feet across, This hand painted Dragon Lady Shield was LASER cut from high quality birch ply.
Here is a great photo from the base paper, The title says 9th OMS, but Jet Shop is part of the 9th FMS.
The last Blackbird says goodbye to Team Beale
Six years later, a NASA Blackbird Returns for a short visit. 154,500 people come to see her.
Here is a big thanks to the Beale Bandits, The ruddervators actually move. one for unleaded and one leaded.
Col. Sarvada was impressed!
Double hearing protection is a must during the J58 test runs.
Check out this link showing the last J58 test run at Edwards AFB September 12, 2002.
http://www.enginehistory.org/p&w_j58.htm
This is a great example and historical photo record of the Blackbird Program's back shop areas of the 9th SRW, 9th FMS, Fabrication Branch, Machine Shop, Welding Shop, & Structural Repair Shop.After the Blackbird program the names changed to the Fabrication Flight. The Machine Shop / Welding Shop to Metals Technology.Our uniforms also change from the old style green fatigues to the BDU, Battle Dress Uniform.This is where we rebuild and fine tune the forward by-pass doors.All of the SR-71, U-2, KC-135-Q, & T-38's are repaired here. This includes airframes, subsystems, and any other metal repairs.
As far as a Machine Shop / Welding Shop goes, this is a Metal Fabricators Dream.
Best Aircraft Machine Shop in the Air Force.
Talk about tool control!
The Blackbirds required a complete set of secondary tool kits which were marked, tested, and certified as being Cadmium Free.
Cross contamination by using tools on cadmium plated parts from other equipment was eliminated in that way.
For the back shops this made our work in tool control, equipment management, inventories, and dilegence twice as difficult.
Tool control was top priority, the lock box on the wall was our way of assigning each person numbered (chits) which were used to identify who had a missing tool or key. Every tool no matter how small had to have a chit if removed from its place in the tool box or the shadow board.
The SAC MSET Chief gave us a Blue Star / Outstanding!
This is the INERT GAS WELDING CHAMBER, for welding SR-71 Blackbird titanium.
Thanks, Dan!
I didn't go down far enough to see the Metals Processing (Weld) Shop. I especially enjoyed seeing the argon bubble again...it looks the same as it did in the '60's! I spent many hours with my hands in that thing, welding up "turkey feathers". The shop is still in the same building as it was back then. Larry Fry
Only 4 SR-71 Shelters remain at Beale. I wonder whats inside this trailer?
Made of SR-71 Titanium from aircraft 617972
A typical Air Force aircraft lap belt harness.
This is the bomb display stand that I made in the early nineties for the AMMO school after they came to Beale AFB.
This is one of the older 15th AF certificates.
>>>>>GLOBAL HAWK<<<<<
"The Hunter"
"The Seeker"
"The Destroyer"
Beale Air Show "2009"
These C-17 Globemaster powerplants can sure move some air!
This crew out of March AFB literally blew the crowd away when they throttled up her reverse thrusters.
Watching this aircraft perform was amazing.
Patch Collection
Cygnus (The Swan) It is told that A-12, CIA, Pilot Jack Weeks came up with the idea of this patch.
Cygnus is the name of the constellation of stars located in the northern hemisphere between Pegasus and Draco in the Milky Way galaxy.
It features a prominent asterism known as the Northern Cross and an X-ray source cause by a nearby Black Hole.
The constellation is represented as appearing as a wide winged, long neck bird in graceful flight. In legend, the Greek God, Zeus disguised himself as a swan to seduce Leda, who gave birth to Gemini, Helen of Troy, and Clytemnestra.
You can read the story about the one and only, mysteriously missing A-12, Blackbird #60-6932 and her CIA Pilot Jack Weeks at this link-- http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/loss_3.htm
Triad Pamphlets???
At the Beale Flightline, atop the Avionics Maintenance building once had a message written with white rocks in Russian.
"YOU SEE US - WE SEE YOU"
A high altitude shot of Beale, I guess sometime back in the 60's or 70's.
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