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How do you make a 2,193-mph Blackbird even more interesting? Add the folks who flew it and kept it running! Warner Robins’ Museum of Aviation is bringing visitors face-to-face with SR-71 veterans for Blackbird Days. 🤩
The three-day program began Thursday, September 24, and continues through Saturday, September 26. Aviation veterans, families, students and enthusiasts are gathering around the aircraft’s history and technology. That’s a pretty good reason to put the museum on your radar! 🗓️
41NBC’s Thursday reporting included SR-71 pilot Lt. Col. Don Watkins and crew chief Master Sgt. David Burns sharing their experiences. The airplane has the speed record; these folks have the stories! 🎙️
The museum’s schedule includes expert panels and smaller conversations about operating and maintaining the Blackbird. Friday lists aircraft tours and cockpit viewings. A chance to peek where the pilots sat? Yes, please! 👀
Saturday’s Family Aviation Day is scheduled to include National STEM Academy activities, a panel discussion, poster signing, WWII reenactors and opportunities to explore aircraft. Got a how-does-that-work kid in the house? There’s plenty on the schedule to feed that curiosity! 🧪
And the local aircraft has quite the résumé: SR-71A serial number 61-7958 recorded 2,193.167 miles per hour over a measured course in July 1976. That’s a speedometer requiring considerably more ambition than the one in your driveway! ⚡
It was flown to Robins for display February 23, 1990. Now Houston County families can pair a close look at the aircraft with veteran accounts of the engineering and human effort behind it. Come for the fast airplane, stay for the people who made it possible! 🛠️
Sources: Museum of Aviation; 41NBC / WMGT; Museum of Aviation