July 11, 2019
Hero's Goodbye: The Emotional Video of the Final SR-71 Spy Plane Landing
Mission accomplished.
by Dario Leone
Noteworthy Blackbird operations, except training flights, were officially terminated in November 1989, having been eliminated from the FY1990 Defense Department budget.
Taken in March 1990 the emotional video in this post shows the arrival of the iconic SR-71A Blackbird at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force (USAF). During its career, this aircraft accumulated 2,981 flying hours and flew 942 total sorties (more than any other SR-71), including 257 operational missions, from Beale Air Force Base, Calif., Palmdale, Calif., Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, and RAF (Base), Mildenhall, England.
Moreover on Mar. 21, 1968 in this aircraft, Maj. (later Gen.) Jerome F. O’Malley and Maj. Edward D. Payne made the first operational SR-71 sortie.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/heros-goodbye-emotional-video-final-sr-71-spy-plane-landing-66326
