I believe that the final nail in the SR71s coffin, after the program costs
and maintenence and all of that stuff, was simply that the information
coming out of the SR71 took too long to get a hold of, and was limited in
scope.

According to Bill Fox, Lockheed Skunkworks project coordinator for over 30
years (and the guy who donated all the stuff for our Blackbird Suite), the
final nail in the coffin was politics, pure and simple.

Clinton was having trouble cashing the mythic post-Cold War "Peace
Dividend" -- and the system that had over-flown the Soviet Union, China, and
every other hot spot on the planet with complete impunity was viewed as "war
surplus." It was thought that satellites alone could do the job, in a
"safer world."

Although the Air Force and CIA lost 15 (of 31?) Blackbirds, none were lost
to hostile fire. It was an incredibly dangerous plane to fly, but -- when
everything was working properly -- it was completely invulnerable. Even
the vaunted Soviet MiG-25 Foxbat, with all of it's Mach 3.3 muscle, simply
couldn't catch it.

I spent some time talking with Bill about the possibility of resurrecting
the Blackbird, and he sadly shook his head. The incredibly expensive
infrastructure -- a special fuel refinery; special ground and aerial
tankers; special support; special training; special EVERYTHING -- is all
gone. Worse, many of the SR-71s and YF-12s were actually cut up internally
in order to more cheaply transport them to museums.

Thus, although they may *look* intact, many, in fact, are not airworthy.
(One notable exception is the YF-12A at the US Air Force Museum in Dayton.
This plane was flown in to that little-bitty strip alongside the museum.
I've got a great picture of this, thanks to Bill.)

No, the Blackbird is gone forever -- and, from what I've read, so is Aurora,
although Bill would skillfully change the subject whenever asked. As
always, who really knows what's going on out in the desert?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"