5Feeling Our Way

“...a thread of melody running through the succession of our sensations.”

Charles Saunders Pierce 1

“It was easy compared to the Operational Missions that we flew,” claims retired U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Harold (Buck) Adams of his 1974 record-breaking 3 hour and 47 minute flight from London to Los Angeles with Reconnaissance Systems Officer (RSO) William Machorek in a SR-71 “Blackbird.” “And,” he hastens to add, “We could have really done this in just over three hours—to beat this, someone will have to build a new plane.”

The remaining Lockheed SR-71s, renowned as the world’s fastest and highest-flying operational manned aircraft, are now retired and on display in a number of museums in the United States. The one flown ...

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