Undoubtedly one of the world's most recognizable aircraft was the SR-71 'Blackbird'. I say was as this futuristic 1950s design aircraft is now only to be seen in museums. Designed as a replacement for the subsonic U-2, the SR-71 was a development of the CIA's A-12 aircraft that operated in great secrecy during the early/mid 1960s. Able to overfly any 'denied' airspace in the world with impunity, the aircraft was both able to sustain very high mach speeds and had superlative optical equipment as well.

In this book for Osprey, author Crickmore concentrates on the aircraft's Far East operations from its home base at Kadena. Of course, no book on the Blackbird would be complete without a complete development history and that is just what you get with this one. The first two of six chapters is devoted to this and well told it is. When operating out of Kadena, it did most of its flying over North Korea and North Vietnam with a few incursions into the PRC as well, I'm sure. Often fired upon by SAMs but never hit, the SR-71 was able to get its photos and get out. The type also was set up to operate out of Diego Garcia and made one mission from that island base in mid 1979. I was fortunate enough to be based there at the time and got a few photos of this historic and never repeated event.

As the years went by, funding for operations became less and less. Attempts at using the GD-21 drone were mostly miserable failures and dangerous to boot. Eventually, operations in the Far East ceased in 1990 with the aircraft returning home for minimal additional use before a brief stint with NASA and finally retirement to museums around the world.

What makes this particular book such a great read is the depth of information provided on operations of the time. The accounts of the pilots and others involved adds much to making this such a fascinating book. Add to that the great choice of photos and several pages of well drawn profiles and you have a book that I know you will enjoy.

December 2008

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