SR-71 Books - Paul F. Crickmore

[Boatbuoy]

I was at Duxford yesterday for Remembrance Sunday and paid my usual visit to an aircraft that always fascinates me; the SR-71 in the American Air Museum.

Author Paul F. Crickmore was there selling & signing his various books, and giving a talk/tour of the aircraft. He came across very well and presented the technical aspects of the plane clearly for all to understand. It was very enjoyable but I can't say that I learnt much more than I'd already read elsewhere.

Has anyone read any of his books, and if so are they any good?

[NM62]

I have 3 that he has authored / co authored and all 3 are very informative.

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Manual: An Insight into the Design, Operation and Maintenance of the Secret US Cold War Reconnaissance Aircraft (Haynes Owner)

Amalgam of others but some new info.

Lockheed SR-71 Operations in the Far East (Combat Aircraft)
Interesting bits about how they got the nickname Habu and the operations from Japan.

Lockheed SR-71 Operations in Europe and the Middle East (Combat Aircraft)

This was my personal favourite as I used to venture down to Mildenhall a lot in the 70's & 80's and saw around 12-13 different aircraft. It covered the hanger that they operated out of that was specifically built for them ( opened at both ends to allow roll in & roll out ).

We had a pilot and RWO come to our aviation society at Leeds Bradford from Detachment 4 and most of what was in the books was also explained by them (the only bit they couldn't mention was where they actually went) - one other interesting point - Someone asked "How Fast really" , They said "If the Russians go faster we have plenty in store" and the eluded to the fact that they had been significantly faster than the Record Speed that they currently held.

I also bought the following and would highly recommend it.

The Complete Book of the SR-71: The Complete Book of the SR-71 Blackbird/The Illustrated Profile of Every Aircraft, Crew, and Breakthrough of the World - VERY informative ( even lists all crew members who ever flew it ).

[Eric Mc]

I have always assumed that they could fly significantly higher than publicly admitted too.

[NM62]

They did allude to that also when asked "Were you ever scared of been intercepted by plane or missile", their response was "We could go Higher and Faster should we need to". They were often limited by fuel as the SR-71 was quite thirsty!

[Boatbuoy]

Paul (the author) was saying the new book (or new edition of one of the previous books - I wasn't quite sure) has quite a bit more information in it that has been made public in the time since previous publications, including destinations and mission photography. In fact he said he now has access to almost every detail surrounding the Blackbird family that has been de-classified, but during the talk he did not allude to anything about going higher or faster than previously stated figures.

[RichGault]

Beyond the secret missions(2nd edition) is a very good read.

[NM62]

Boatbuoy said:

Paul (the author) was saying the new book (or new edition of one of the previous books - I wasn't quite sure) has quite a bit more information in it that has been made public in the time since previous publications, including destinations and mission photography. In fact he said he now has access to almost every detail surrounding the Blackbird family that has been de-classified, but during the talk he did not allude to anything about going higher or faster than previously stated figures.

I'll keep an eye out for any re works as I would love to see some of the declassified stuff.