WELL, WELL, WELL. The missing Blackbird apparently has a job waiting for her. Remember NASA 844? The SR-71 that mysteriously disappeared from its display at Armstrong after 26 years? Aviation Week is now reporting that NASA has been contacting former SR-71 personnel and asking them to help put her back in the air.
Not preserve her. Not move her to another museum. Return her to flight.
NASA 844 is the last SR-71 ever built and the last Blackbird ever flown. Her final flight was October 9, 1999: Mach 3.21 at 80,100 feet. Bringing her back after nearly 27 years would be an extraordinary engineering undertaking. The aircraft is only one piece of the problem. NASA would effectively have to reconstruct portions of an entire support ecosystem that disappeared with the Blackbird program.
Yes, I am doing the happy dance.
Somewhere Kelly Johnson just looked over at Ben Rich and said, “See? I told you they’d need her again.”
aviationweek.com/defense/air…