Remarkable People

SR-71 Blackbird pilot Brian Shul: My life at Mach 3.5

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Self portrait: Brian Shul in his space suit, visor down as he flies the SR-71 Blackbird
Brian Shul/US Air Force
Sled Driver Brian Shul, left, with New Atlas's Loz Blain, Reno Air Race 2016
Joe Salas/4theriders.com
SR-71 Blackbird pilot Brian Shul with his book, Sled Driver
Joe Salas/4theriders.com
SR-71 pilot Brian Shul chats with New Atlas's Loz Blain at the Reno Air Race, 2016
Joe Salas/4theriders.com
The view of Earth from a Blackbird cockpit, 83,000 feet up
Brian Shul/US Air Force
SR-71B Blackbird, NASA 831, slices across the snow-covered southern Sierra Nevada Mountains of California after being refueled by an Air Force tanker during a 1994 flight. SR-71B was the trainer version of the SR-71. The dual cockpit to allow the instructor to fly. Note the streaks of fuel from refueling spillage
Judson Brohmer/US Air Force
Self portrait: Brian Shul flies the SR-71 Blackbird
Brian Shul/US Air Force
Self portrait: Brian Shul in his space suit, visor down as he flies the SR-71 Blackbird
Brian Shul/US Air Force
Water vapor is condensed by the low-pressure vortices generated by the chines outboard of each engine inlet
Michael Haggarty/US Air Force
A pair of beasts: Two SR-71 Blackbirds on the tarmac
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin's awesome SR-71 Blackbird, the fastest, highest and most extreme aircraft ever flown by man. Pictured here at the National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC.
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Some people live truly extraordinary lives, and US Air Force pilot Brian Shul is certainly one of them. Shot down and burned half to death over Cambodia, he worked his way back to the top of the game, eventually flying the most extreme aircraft ever built.

We're closing in on 20 years since the outrageous SR-71 Blackbird made its final flight in 1999, and many of its speed and altitude records are still intact. Until the SR-72 finally flies sometime in the 2020s, the Blackbird will remain the most extreme aircraft ever flown by man, doing three and a half times the speed of sound and hitting a maximum altitude of over 85,000 ft; the pilots had to wear space suits to handle such heights.

A small, select group of men had the privilege of flying the SR-71, chiefly on surveillance missions where its ability to flat-out run away from fighter planes and surface-to-air missiles gave it a perfect record – none of the 32 built was ever shot down.

Water vapor is condensed by the low-pressure vortices generated by the chines outboard of each engine inlet
Michael Haggarty/US Air Force

And of this small group of pilots, one stands out – not for his flying skills, but as a superb storyteller. You've probably already read Brian Shul's hilarious story about trolling a fighter pilot with ground speed tower checks, and maybe you've also heard about the slowest SR-71 flyover ever attempted. Both are terrific, go read them if you haven't.

Also a first-rate photographer, Shul spent a couple of years putting together a couple of absolutely extraordinary books on his experiences as a pilot. The most memorable of these is Sled Driver: Flying the World's Fastest Jet, about his experiences in the SR-71. The speed check story is directly lifted from its pages.

One thing the book doesn't touch on in great detail is the extraordinary journey Shul himself took to get behind the stick of the Blackbird. Overcoming massive injuries and burns from being shot down over Cambodia, Shul wasn't expected to be able to fly again at all, let alone make it into the ultra-exclusive Blackbird program.

We ran into Shul at this year's Reno Air Race, and he spoke with us about his journey, the experience of flying the world's fastest jet, and his books. We'll let Brian take it from here in his own words.

SR-71 pilot Brian Shul chats with New Atlas's Loz Blain at the Reno Air Race, 2016
Joe Salas/4theriders.com

Shot down and left for dead

I was just a regular airforce pilot. I was flying special ops during the end of the Vietnam war down near Cambodia. I got shot down, I was forced to ride an airplane down into the jungle. Blew up, was given up for dead.

The helmet helped save me when I was stuck in that burning cockpit – I had a helmet and visor, but my visor started to melt. If I'd been in there a few more seconds it would've melted into me and I would've lost my eyes.

Special forces guys rescued me, medevac'd me to Okinawa – they didn't want to ship my body across the Pacific. They figured I was gonna die, so they sent me to Kadena. They flew a burns team out from Texas just to take care of me.

But I didn't die. I lasted those two months of intense emergency care, and I went from 180 lb to 119 (82 to 54 kg). So it took everything my body had to survive.

Then they shipped me back to Fort Sam, Houston, Texas, which is the main burns center. I spent a year there going through 15 surgeries. The Air Force said, wow, you're lucky to be alive.

It was very traumatic, but my training paid off. Got out of hospital, and I was able to pass a flight physical, which shocked the world. But the Chief of Aerospace Medicine gave it to me. He said "I'm really interested in your case, and if I pass you, nobody will question it, because I'm the highest authority in the Air Force."

So he gave me a two day physical, and they were real hard on me, and they came out and said, "we can't flunk you." I've got a steel pin in this finger, but the regulations just said I needed to be able to grip. So they couldn't flunk me.

So I went back, I flew the A10, A7, F5, and then I applied to fly the SR-71. By then everyone said, "OK, he's a big story, but now you've gotta pass an astronaut physical to get in a space suit to fly that thing."

I did very well, passed the physical. The guy said, "wow, you've got one of the highest scores we've ever seen." I was very strong internally, even if I looked like hell on the outside.

SR-71B Blackbird, NASA 831, slices across the snow-covered southern Sierra Nevada Mountains of California after being refueled by an Air Force tanker during a 1994 flight. SR-71B was the trainer version of the SR-71. The dual cockpit to allow the instructor to fly. Note the streaks of fuel from refueling spillage
Judson Brohmer/US Air Force

Flying the SR-71 Blackbird

I ended up flying the Blackbird for four years, I carried a camera – photography was my big passion – and I ended up with the world's rarest collection of Blackbird photos. The airplane still holds every speed and altitude record.

You did six months in the simulators, six months before they'd let you fly the airplane. So you're very prepared. Technically speaking, nothing is surprising you. Except, nothing can prepare you for the acceleration and everything happening at once, it's like "holy shit!"

The guy says, "ok, we're gonna climb, and I want you to level at 25,000, subsonic at about 400 knots. Start leveling at 17, you don't wanna overshoot." And I'm thinking 17?!? Are you nuts? I'll start leveling at 23 like I normally do…. well, at about 30,000 he's yelling at me… I just couldn't believe the acceleration, you're behind the jet a bit.

Those big burners, well sometimes they lit simultaneously. But otherwise there's a little jog sideways. And within seconds you're doing 210 knots (242 mph/389 km/h), pulling the nose back, and things are a blur, blue sky and gauges are just spinning, and you're at full burner, it's like … wowwwww.

A pair of beasts: Two SR-71 Blackbirds on the tarmac
Lockheed Martin

It's impressive. The jet would just humble you, scare you, and thrill you simultaneously every flight. But she always had your back. We called it the lady in the long black dress. She would only dance with a few, but you better know the steps. She was a very proud airplane, a very reliable airplane, she wanted a firm hand on the stick but don't you manhandle. You need to be a real pilot. It was a living, breathing thing. You never flew it enough to get completely comfortable with the thing.

I had 2,000 hours, it became like part of you. And still, with this jet, it was like, "excuse me, I'd like another date." But when the chips were down and people were shooting at you, that jet knew, and it performed. It was just a magnificent airplane.

SR-71 Blackbird pilot Brian Shul with his book, Sled Driver
Joe Salas/4theriders.com

On his books

The books have become kind of a cult thing on the internet. No-one has ever done a book like that. I flew it, wrote it, took all the pictures. And all of the world's most top secret, least photographed jet.

To take an emotional experience with an incredible jet like that, and turn it into a readable, plausible, intelligent conveyance of that feeling… it was the hardest thing I've done. When you sit in front of a blank computer screen, you've got all this excitement about writing this book. The first paragraph I wrote, I showed it to my girlfriend,and she said "OK, you've used the word 'magnificent' seven times in the first paragraph." Haha! That's terrible!

So I started just talking, and recording myself and writing it down, then editing and re-writing. It took me a year. It reads great now, I'm not afraid to say that. But if you knew how much work it took. It's the hardest thing in the world. Makes you really admire guys like Steinbeck, Hemingway, people who can just write and make you feel like you're there.

It's a solitary vision. Just me and a couple other guys. We published it, designed it, did it right. I'd sit in the library and just write it and read it over and over and over. Pretty soon you get it shaved down to the point where I wouldn't change a thing.

Self portrait: Brian Shul flies the SR-71 Blackbird
Brian Shul/US Air Force

On the speed check story

When I'm doing a talk, if I don't tell that speed check story, they run me out of town. I tried that one year, I thought, I've been speaking at this air museum for 10 years now, I'm gonna change it up this year. People lost their minds. I realized hey, Elvis has to sing Love Me Tender at the end of every show, I gotta tell that story no matter how many times I tell it.

And there's always people who've never heard it. I told it at an FBI conference the other day, out of 800 people I swear 700 had never heard it, and they were falling out of their chairs.

Check out Brian's extraordinary books, complete with gorgeous photos, over at Sled Driver. Thanks to Joe Salas and Mo Bessier for their assistance on this story.

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13 comments
David Whyte
Great article Loz, you're a bloody lucky bugger mate, you get to ride the best bikes and meet some of the best people! Good on ya!
CorvetteRacer
To the article author, yes, the SR-71 was a very unique and special aircraft, especially when you consider sustained flight. But have you forgotten about the X-15 (Mach 6.7 and 354,200 feet altitude), Apollo spacecraft, Space Shuttle, or even the F-35? Referring to it being the most extreme aircraft ever built is a bit over the top.
CzechsterMarek
What a great story and an exceptional person. Got to love it.
Michael Shewell
Fun article. I'll go back and read the "speed check" story now. I did pass one of these plane in the air once flying from Willow Run to LAX. The pilots (I was flying dead head in the cockpit of a DC-8) called the tower to confirm. It was indeed a Blackbird, flying at well over 1000 mph.
VirtualGathis
@CorvetteRacer: I think it is a matter of definition. The Blackbird was an aircraft. You got in it to pilot it, you flew it for many hours, you were in control. Most of the vehicles you cite are not really aircraft the way most people think. The X-15, Apollo, and Space Shuttle are all classed as rockets in the hearts of people because you aren't "flying" them, mostly they fly you, it is a quick burst and done. I'm not sure I'd vote it as "The most extreme flying machine ever" but I'd definitely vote it among the most iconic along with the B52 and A10.
On the subject of the F35, it is one of those vehicles that had great expectations, but the implementation isn't there. Perhaps time will tell a different story, but as of right now it the F35 has yet to be proven, is subject to tremendous controversy because real world tests are causing it to fail many of its mile stones, much less its proclaimed capabilities. If it ever achieved the proclaimed objectives it would be an awesome fighter craft, but not really in the same league as the SR-71 was in being ahead of its time and providing unique capabilities. China and Russia both have fifth gen fighters that can equal or exceed it's capabilities moving to full production while we are still testing and failing the F35, so the F35 doesn't really bear mentioning as an extreme machine since it can barely pass a standard flight test without cracking the bulkheads. The F35's best use seems to be as an example of how not to run an engineering contract.
If we are going to include vehicles that aren't really production flying in the list of competitors the Skylon would be in the same league and a competitor for most awesome aircraft ever built, if they ever bring it from drawing board to reality.
MLGLAW
Sirs, " ...none of the 32 built was ever shot down." (Paragraph 3 of article.) I wonder whether Gary Francis Powers would agree with this statement. MLGLAW
RonWalsh
While in the Marine Corps and stationed on Okinawa, I got to see the Habu take off and land almost every day, and on my second tour there I was stationed at Camp Courtney. This base had an excellent view of the SR-71 taking off with it's escorts and when she would come home hours later. I have had the pleasure of actually touching an SR-71 and having a close (not too close) view of this amazing aircraft. Finding a copy of Sled Driver is almost impossible these days, and I really hope that Major Shul will have the book reprinted. I was able to find a copy online, and it is an amazing read for anyone who is a fan of the worlds fastest aircraft. Semper Fidelis.
J4rH43d
@MLGLAW Gary Powers flew the U-2 Dragon Lady, not the SR-71 Blackbird. Both from Lockheed Skunkworks, both high-altitude, but a 2,000 mph difference in mission speed.
eMacPaul
@MLGLAW, Powers was in a U2.
IlyaJenkins
I'm fairly sure Powers was in a U2... still LM though. Anyway if anyone is interested, I hand make lego kits of SR-71s here.. facebook.com/toptablemodels