11 May 66: First flight. 7/66: TOS USAF and assigned to the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, Beale AFB, CA. While deployed to RAF Mildenhall in England, on 18 Jan 90 it departed there for the last time and flew 4.5 hrs to Beale AFB. 20 Mar 90: Ferried to Offutt AFB, NE, for display at the SAC Museum. In June 1997 it was transported to the new museum facility in Ashland, NE.

On its way to the runway of Mildenhall, what a sight!!

An early morning, foggy and cold war, departure of a 9th Strategic Reconaissance Wing / Detachment 4 Blackbird from its detachment homebase Mildenhall.

Seen on the approach of Mildenhall, so returning to its detachment homebase, after a cold war mission.

This Blackbird first flew on 1st May 1966 and was subsequently assigned to the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale AFB, CA. It was retired in January 1990 then and ferried to Offutt AFB for preservation, with third highest flight hours of the whole SR-71 fleet. It now hangs in the foyer of the Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum at Ashland.