Funny!

Brian Shul - Sled Driver

My last year in the AF, we had a weekend airshow at Barksdale AFB in northwest Louisiana. We hosted one of the first public SR-71 displays. After the show, the crew fired the aircraft up by placing the left engine inlet immediately behind the outermost engine of a KC-135. The pilot increased throttle on that engine until the SR's engine started, which permitted the pilot to fire up his right engine. The SR took off with one of its show stopping vertical climbs and disappeared into the clear afternoon sky in right at 20 seconds. A few seconds after that, the SR pilot requested clearance for landing at his home base in SOCAL (undisclosed). That request meant he was 45 minutes from home.
 
Family Circus (I think) cartoon. Kid ask other kid what he wants to be when he grows up.
"An architect. I've got all kinds of great ideas I want to try out."
"Like?"
"Well, for one thing, a special room as part of a house that you can park your car in."
"You mean like a garage?"
"Yes, only for cars."
 
My last year in the AF, we had a weekend airshow at Barksdale AFB in northwest Louisiana. We hosted one of the first public SR-71 displays. After the show, the crew fired the aircraft up by placing the left engine inlet immediately behind the outermost engine of a KC-135. The pilot increased throttle on that engine until the SR's engine started, which permitted the pilot to fire up his right engine. The SR took off with one of its show stopping vertical climbs and disappeared into the clear afternoon sky in right at 20 seconds. A few seconds after that, the SR pilot requested clearance for landing at his home base in SOCAL (undisclosed). That request meant he was 45 minutes from home.
We use to call that a buddy start.
 
This is the transcript of a radio conversation of a US naval ship with Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October, 1995. Radio conversation released by the Chief of Naval Operations 10-10-95.

Americans: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision.
Canadians: Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.
Americans: This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course.
Canadians: No. I say again, you divert YOUR course.
Americans: This is the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln, the second largest ship in the United States' Atlantic fleet. We are accompanied by three destroyers, three cruisers and numerous support vessels. I demand that YOU change your course 15 degrees north, that's one five degrees north, or countermeasures will be undertaken to ensure the safety of this ship.
Canadians: This is a lighthouse. Your call.
 
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