Originally posted on: 15 January 1997
Last updated on: 15 January 1997

INTRODUCTION:

This article is written from a maintenance guy's prospective, and is designed to give a better idea of what it was actually like to work in the Recce world. All comments and statements made here are from my own experiences and perceptions, and in no way reflects the official view of any agency or organization. It's simply how a Blackbird Crew Chief saw it!

I was assigned to the 9th Reconnaissance Wing (9RW) at Beale Air Force Base (BAFB) California for about twelve and a half years. I spent the first six years on the SR-71 as a Crew Chief, Expediter, and Shift Chief. The next four years were spent on the U-2 as an Expediter, Production Supervisor, and Production Superintendent. Then a year and a half as the SR-71 Maintenance Superintendent for the Reactivation and finished up the last year as the Chief Operations Group Inspector for Quality Assurance (QA). I will not discuss the SR-71 Reactivation here, as I've written a specific article on that subject, and is also available on this site for viewing. Over 90% of this article deals with the SR-71, with just a few reflections on the U-2 program. For more information on my assignments, a brief biography is also available here.


Introduction     Acronyms& Abbreviations     SR-71 Maintenance     A Typical SR-71 Maintenance Process

SR-71 Deactivation     The U-2 World     War Stories     SR-71 vs U-2     Conclusion     My Biography



© Christopher W. Bennett


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