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Colonel Richard H. Graham, USAF (ret.)
“was a command pilot with more than 4,600 military flying hours. His military decorations and
awards include the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross with three oak leaf clusters, Air Medal with 18 oak leaf clusters,
Air Force Commendation Medal, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award wtih "V" device and one oak leaf cluster, Air Force
Organizational Excellence Award, Combat Readiness Medal with one oak leaf cluster, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces
Expeditionary Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with four service stars, Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with palm, and the
Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.” (habu.org)
Colonel Richard H. Graham is
the author of Flying the SR-71 Blackbird: In the Cockpit on a Secret Operational Mission; SR-71 Revealed: The
Inside Story; and, SR-71 Blackbird: Stories, Tales and Legends.
According to the book description of
SR-71 Revealed: The Inside Story, “Put your pressure suit on and strap yourself in for a Mach
3 ride! Former SR-71 Wing Commander Rich Graham tells the amazing inside story of the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. Graham provides
a detailed look at the entire SR-71 story beginning with his application to be an SR pilot through commanding an entire wing.”
One reader of Flying the SR-71
Blackbird: In the Cockpit on a Secret Operational Mission, “This is a great book! It's exactly what
the title says it is -- a pilot's inside the cockpit explanation of flying the SR-71, in expansive detail. The author
is perfectly qualified for the task as a former SR-71 pilot, instructor pilot, chief stan/eval and commander of the 1st Strategic
Reconnaissance Squadron. There are 80 pages of original SR-71 checklists, there are detailed cockpit pictures, and there is
explanation of every switch you'd see in a complete mission. Make no mistake, this is not a pretty picture book, this
is for true pilot nerds who want to do what is now impossible -- climb inside the Blackbird and take it flying at Mach 3.2
and FL 780.
The foreword correctly states the book,
"provides the missing link among the many Blackbird volumes that have been written over the past quarter century. While
many nuts-and-bolts references have been written covering the aircraft's development, flight test, and operational history
in minute detail, none, until now, have addressed the subject of flying the mission from the perspective of the pilot."
It includes illuminating discussions about abnormal and emergency procedures, as well as some sidebars with tales of specific
flights. It also includes a few pages of color pictures. The SR-71 was a stunning thrill-ride, and also a hugely complex techno-social
system. Graham has written a quality tribute to the airplane and the thousands of people that made the system work."
One reader of SR-71 Blackbird:
Stories, Tales and Legends said, “Colonel Graham has put together unique memories of 19 former pilots
and RSOs for the 3 Blackbirds, (A-12, YF-12 & SR-71) in chronological order from the first A-12 ejection through the retirement
of the SR-71, (both times). Most of the chapters deal with the SR-71 at it's two deployment detachments, Det 1 at Kadena
AB, Okinawa and Det 4 at RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom.
These are fabulously interesting insights
into the lives and times of the best men in the US Air Force who were chosen to fly the best plane in the US Air Force, the
titanium wonder-bird, SR-71. It doesn't provide much in the way of facts, figures, drawings and detailed photographs,
but that was not the intent of this book. It is one of the most interesting books I have ever read. All profits from the book
go the J.T. Vida memorial fund to help maintain SR-71 # 17972 at the Smithsonian Museum at the Dulles Air Port west of Washington,
DC. Lt Col Vida spent 16 years as an RSO and amassed nearly 1400 hours in the SR-71, the most of any crew member. He was the
RSO for 972 on it's record breaking flight from LA to DC in March of 1990.”
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