RIP Brian Shul - Sled Driver

RIP. What a guy. Sled driver is a great read. Douglas Bader-like fight to get back in the air after being badly burned in Vietnam.

I'm going to Duxford in June and the first exhibit I will be visiting is the SR-71.

I loved the book and enjoyed his clips on YouTube. Massive respect to the man.

Sled Driver is a great book.

R.I.P.

Awww bugger.

His Youtube stories are superb.

"This is me and Walt, he is the one on the left."

Looking at the flight suit for the SR71/A12 missions got me thinking. How many of the astronauts that have been to the moon are still alive?

Answer just 4 of 12

Buzz Aldrin - remarkably, David Scott, Charles Duke, and Harrison Schmitt. Yeah, me neither. They're all in their late eighties /early nineties as well, so soon enough they'll all be gone.

This popped up on my news feed earlier. His Speed Check story is legendary. 😂
Sled Driver is a good book too. Out of print now but there are PDF copies in circulation online. He became a nature photographer in later life, some of his later talks showcase some of them and they're excellent.

End of an aviation era.

That's really sad. Would love to get a copy of his book, but they go for $$$ nowadays. Fascinating guy with some legendary stories.

I've seen a few SR71/A12/M12s in reality: The A12 on Intrepid in NYC, and the SR71 in Evergreen Museum in Oregon. You can get very close to both the SR71 and the A12 (ok you can touch their corrugated underside weirdness) and they are every bit as impressive as you'd imagine. They'd be amazing if they were produced today, the fact they're ~60 years old is astounding. The M12 in Seattle's Museum of Flight is on jacks allowing you to get a good peek at the start kart.

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A sad day for sure, cracking stories.
I walked all across Manhattan to go on the carrier, badly twisted my ankle in a pothole and got the the ship to find it closed due to Will Smith filming on it. I could see him thwacking golf balls off the bow.
Never did get back before it was moved.
Disliked Will since!

I remember seeing them at Mildenhall air show back in the late 80's doing their thing. Low pass (shaking the crowd), a trip to the Netherlands to turn around, then a low pass on burner one engine only and I swear the ground was jumping about a foot up and down. Utterly stunning aircraft.

Sled Driver is a good book too. Out of print now but there are PDF copies in circulation online.

great photos @hot_fiat

They are still in print, they do special editions every year but they are mega money 400 dollars plus

Downloaded ‘Sled Driver’ after reading the article on here, the speed check bit is truly the stuff of legend, just imagining the expression on the face of the fast jet pilot after that burn!

I saw an SR-71 at the RIAT at RAF Fairford years ago, parked on its own with a security fence all the way around, with a very large puddle of JP-7 underneath it.
There was a little concession stall selling merchandise, and I bought a little enamel Skunkworks logo pin. Still got it, but I’m afraid to wear it in case it comes off and I lose it. I wish now I’d bought a few more items as souvenirs.

I was there when a B-2 Spirit flew over with an escort of a pair of F-15 Eagles, which peeled away as they flew down the runway, leaving the B-2 to do a few low passes, then it landed and taxied away for the crew to meet a bunch of VIP’s, then it taxied back out, powered up and took off, just as the escorts came back in to formate either side.
Always a great weekend, haven’t been for quite a few years, now - it’s always a PITA to get into, and it’s not cheap; I used to get in for free, but all good things, etc. 😁