Customer Reviews

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird

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Well, it may be not so bad for a newbie, but for a real SR-71 fan it is a waste af time and money. But that happens, when a book is a series book-it is just nice to have a book about Blackbird there. There are two or three excelent things-part of A-12 log written by Kelly himself and articles about SR-71( Kelly) and J-58 ( Mr Brown). The rest is low quality-known facts, to many and to big pictures instead of text. Description of pictures glorify the plane instead of giving sharp technical and historic data!! And what really made me angry. There are several the same photos that appear several times in the book!! And what even worse, the descriptions below these photos say that these are different photos,even when they are not. Book not worth its price. Better buy Paul Crickmore book.

Many books on the Blackbirds have been published since the 1980s and they don't all agree on the details. Partly this is due to different approaches to research and scholarship but mostly the discrepancies stem from more and more material becoming declassified over time. The writers of the early books had very limited access to technical and especially operational information. It wasn't until 1982--15 years after CIA operations terminated--that the first photos and basic details were released. By the time Pace wrote this book, 2004, the Blackbirds had been retired for good and a large amount (but by no means still not all) of the sort of material a diligent researcher would want access to had moved into the public domain. Between 2000 and 2010 more than a dozen Blackbird books came out and of those Pace's is among the few general-overview type of books whereas most of the others focus on operational or very specific technical issues.

The specialist reader will find in Pace's book several new and unusual items: an abridged version of Lockheed VP Advanced Development Projects Kelly Johnson's A-12 project log from April 1958-Jan. 1967; details on numerous unbuilt Blackbird variants, many of which were intended to carry weapons; the Tagboard project: M-21 mothership and D-21 drone; lists of first flights, world records, flight hours, serial nos., production summaries, timeline; lots of data snippets such as missile ejection tests and live firings

The creation of Blackbirds A-12, F-12, M-21, YF-12 and SR-71 along with their respective variants makes up the core of the book. Attention is given to ancillary subjects such as the Convair F-106 and the Falcon missile. CIA projects are covered, a hypothetical F-12B intercept scenario is described; separate chapters present mini bios of key personnel, a basic overview of SR-71 systems, the J58 engine (with diagram of inlet positions/airflow patterns) and NASA missions, and Pace also records the whereabouts of 30 surviving planes. There are several general arrangement drawings and BOTH front and rear cockpit panels are diagrammed and annotated.

Many of the photos in the 8-page color section are duplicates of the b/w ones, which seems so pointless given the vast number of available photos. Among these is the well-known shot of 11 Blackbirds artfully arranged on the apron at Beale AFB and it is most annoying to note that one is dated mid 1968 and the other, wrongly, Dec. 1983.

Full review at <speedreaders.info>. Copyright 2010, Sabu Advani

Was so pleased to get this book. Crowood Aviation series puts out some amazing titles. I even paid the full price without hesitation when I cold have bought 2 other books for this price. Imagine my surprise when I opened it to find it printed on poor quality paper. The book in itself is excellent but if one is paying a more than higher price than other titles from this publisher, I would have expected a better quality paper. It's probably a stupid point really but it ticked me off. Aviation Magazines don't print anymore on this quality of paper.

Excellent book though.