61-7950 SR-71A Lost, 10 January 1967 61-7951 SR-71A Pima Air & Space Museum (adjacent to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base), Tucson, Arizona 61-7952 SR-71A Lost, 25 January 1966 61-7953 SR-71A Lost, 18 December 1969 61-7954 SR-71A Lost, 11 April 1969 61-7955 SR-71A Air Force Flight Test Center Museum, Edwards Air Force Base, California 61-7956 SR-71B Air Zoo, Kalamazoo, Michigan 61-7957 SR-71B Lost, 11 January 1968 61-7958 SR-71A Museum of Aviation, Robins Air Force Base, Warner Robins, Georgia 61-7959 SR-71A Air Force Armament Museum, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida 61-7960 SR-71A Castle Air Museum at the former Castle Air Force Base, Atwater, California 61-7961 SR-71A Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, Hutchinson, Kansas 61-7962 SR-71A American Air Museum in Britain, Imperial War Museum Duxford, Cambridgeshire, England 61-7963 SR-71A Beale Air Force Base, Marysville, California 61-7964 SR-71A Strategic Air and Space Museum (adjacent to Offutt Air Force Base), Ashland, Nebraska 61-7965 SR-71A Lost, 25 October 1967 61-7966 SR-71A Lost, 13 April 1967 61-7967 SR-71A Barksdale Air Force Base, Bossier City, Louisiana 61-7968 SR-71A Virginia Aviation Museum, Richmond, Virginia 61-7969 SR-71A Lost, 10 May 1970 61-7970 SR-71A Lost, 17 June 1970 61-7971 SR-71A Evergreen Aviation Museum, McMinnville, Oregon 61-7972 SR-71A Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Washington Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, Virginia 61-7973 SR-71A Blackbird Airpark, Air Force Plant 42, Palmdale, California 61-7974 SR-71A Lost, 21 April 1989 61-7975 SR-71A March Field Air Museum, March Air Reserve Base (former March AFB), Riverside, California 61-7976 SR-71A National Museum of the United States Air Force, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio 61-7977 SR-71A Lost, 10 October 1968. Cockpit section survived and located at the Seattle Museum of Flight. 61-7978 SR-71A Lost, 20 July 1972 61-7979 SR-71A Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas 61-7980 SR-71A Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California 61-7981 SR-71C Hill Aerospace Museum, Hill Air Force Base, Ogden, Utah (formerly YF-12A 60-6934)
SR-71 Timeline: The SR-71 timeline here is a compilation of important dates pulled from many sources. It has been updated to add important dates not contained in any of the sources listed at the bottom of this presentation.
24 December 1957: First J-58 engine run. 1 May 1960: Francis Gary Powers is shot down in a U-2 over the Soviet Union. 13 June 1962: SR-71 mock-up reviewed by Air Force. 30 July 1962: J58 completes pre-flight testing. 28 December 1962: Lockheed signs contract to build six SR-71 aircraft. 25 July 1964: President Johnson makes public announcement of SR-71. 29 October 1964: SR-71 prototype (#61-7950) delivered to Palmdale. 7 December 1964: Beale AFB, CA announced as base for SR-71. 22 December 1964: First flight of the SR-71 with Lockheed test pilot Bob Gilliland at AF Plant #42. 2 July 1967: Jim Watkins and Dave Dempster fly first international sortie in SR-71A #17972 when the INS fails on a training mission and they accidentally fly into Mexican airspace. 3 November 1967: A-12 and SR-71 conduct a reconnaissance fly-off. Results were questionable. 5 February 1968: Lockheed ordered to destroy A-12, YF-12, and SR-71 tooling. 8 March 1968: First SR-71A (#61-7978) arrives at Kadena AB (OL 8) to replace A-12s. 21 March 1968: First SR-71 (#61-7976) operational mission flown from Kadena AB over Vietnam. 29 May 1968: CMSGT Bill Gormick begins the tie-cutting tradition of Habu crews neck-ties. 3 December 1975: First flight of SR-71A #61-7959 in "Big Tail" configuration. 20 April 1976: TDY operations started at RAF Mildenhall in SR-71A #17972. 27/28 July 1976: SR-71A sets speed and altitude records (Altitude in Horizontal Flight: 85,068.997 ft. and Speed Over a Straight Course: 2,193.167 mph). August 1980: Honeywell starts conversion of AFICS to DAFICS. 15 January 1982: SR-71B #61-7956 flies its 1,000th sortie. 22 November 1989: Air Force SR-71 program officially terminated. 21 January 1990: Last SR-71 (#61-7962) left Kadena AB. 26 January 1990: SR-71 is decommissioned at Beale AFB, CA. 6 March 1990: Last SR-71 flight under SENIOR CROWN program, setting 4 world records. 25 July 1991: SR-71B #61-7956/NASA #831 officially delivered to NASA Dryden. October 1991: Marta Bohn-Mayer becomes first female SR-71 crew-member. 28 September 1994: Congress votes to allocate $100 million for reactivation of three SR-71s. 26 April 1995: First reactivated SR-71A (#61-7971) makes its first flight after restoration by Lockheed. 28 June 1995: First reactivated SR-71 returns to Air Force at Detachment 2. 28 August 1995: Second reactivated SR-71A (#61-7967) makes first flight after restoration. 19 October 1997: The last flight of SR-71B #61-7956 at Edwards AFB Open House. 9 October 1999: The last flight of the SR-71 (#61-7980/NASA 844). September 2002: Final resting places of #956, #971, and #980 are made known.
