This is a wonderful video which conveys a lot of important SR-71 information in a clear and straightforward manner. MSgt David Burns is a great example of the expertise and sheer talent held by all of the military maintenance personnel who were chosen to work on the SR-71. Although Dave hasn’t worked on this aircraft in more than 40 years, his instant recall of specific facts is a testament of his depth of knowledge. Dave Burns was the crew chief of the SR-71 when I first flew the airplane, and I was always confident in his integrity and skill!

I was fortunate enough to have worked on the J-58 engine. I actually went to school on the engine in East Hartford, CT because the Air Force did not have schools set up yet. My classmates and I wore civilian clothes and stayed in hotels for that trip. I had already been to SR-71 classes at Lockheed in Burbank, CA. I was one of the first few men in the 4200 SRW at Beale AFB back in January 1965. We got our first SR-71 in January 1966 and had changed our unit number to the 9th SRW. We learned something every day on that bird and engine package. Been a long time.

I think the SR-71 was so successful because the crews, pilots and engineers were so passionate about what they were doing!

It was a pleasure to work with Dave at Kadena from 1980 to 1981! Great guy and a top-notch crew chief.

He knows the blackbird inside and out and it's awesome. I've never heard the aircraft talked about in this much detail

I swapped to Beale in 1985 to work on my dream aircraft, SR-71. Worked test cell on the J58, have a lot of awesome pictures of the engine glowing cherry red in full afterburner on the cell. We had night runs, people would come out to watch the engine run, show and tell. The engine shop forgot to put in the #5 bearing seal, during the run in afterburner, the #5 bearing cover, Nick name spaghetti strainer melted as the missing seal caused the hot gases to go thru, not around it and melted it. The hot metal went over the blast fence and started a grass fire. Windy that day, so we ended up burning 2000 acres of grass. Nice aerial photo on the local paper showing the burned grass. A lot of great memories. Got orders to Kunsan Korea once they announced the SR-71 retirement on 1989. Still have a polished 1st stage compressor blade, going away gift.

The lore of this plane is really amazing. The SR-71 it´s more than just a flying machine, it is an aviation icon. Built to fly higher and faster than any other aircraft, which has pulverized all records to date. Put together with real ingenuity, when the economic cost was less important than proving that you could do it while others don´t. A trully masterpiece of engineering of the Cold War.

I can listen to this all day the amount of information that is not covered in any of the SR-71 BlackBird documentary’s out the and to get it first hand for someone with such a high level of experience on the aircraft is amazing. Thanks The Air Zoo.

Mr. Burns and all other people working on this airplane are and were extremely intelligent and talented individuals! They had to resolve thousands of problems and challenges! And all this in the 60s and 70s without the aid of modern CAD and computer simulation! My highest respect! I can not understand how they were able to accomplish this! Super-humans! And now he explains all this in a modest and huble way! This is fantastic! Thank you for sharing this interview!

I worked on them I think about 1975. I was an autopilot tech. Were you there when they broke a naval anchor chain while doing a max engine run? That was pretty wild. The autopilot has two functions. The first was SAS or stability augmentation system. It dampened high rate vibrations sort of like a shock absorber. The actual autopilot had a number of features. Basically when you turned it on what ever atitude, altitude, and heading was configured by the pilot was engaged. The computer had three channels. Two active and not monitor channel. If a active channel differed from the monitor channel it would it would be disengaged. The switch would physically click to the off position. If the monitor channel went bad both active channels would kick off and your day went to hell instantly. You lost you SAS and AP. It happened once and the pilot was fighting the stick with both hands and so couldn't flip the switches back on. The pilot fought it down to an altitude and air speed he could control it. To fix the issue they moved the switches to the resource operators location. Fail safe fail operational. The internals were both electrical mechanical and transistors. This was early sixties tech. An operational check was done after parts were replaced. It took eight hours with your supervisor watching every thing. You ran a pressure line and vaccuum line to the inlet tubes and observed where the indicator told you was the right altitude and air speed. The indicators were a three foot long u shaped tube of glass with a colored liquid in it. They were called manometer. Very accurate but lab equipment. Hey it was state of the art and leading edge technology at the time. It was also quite reliable.

It is, simply put, the most beautiful machine man has ever made.

I love hearing stories from people that had to maintain them! You only hear stories from the pilots. There are 2 stories that need to be told.

As a tanker pilot refueling the Habu, this crew chief’s tour was spot on. I didn’t know all the details about the aircraft, but he confirmed things I had always wondered about. Great video, well orchestrated and executed.

Wow, I have personally seen your work in action. I lived next to Beale AFB from 67 to 75 and saw SR71s in the air very often. Seeing a Blackbird in full Afterburner at dusk is a sight that I will never forget. Thanks for your service.

I worked with dave at midcoast at KCPS. Great guy. I was 21 and dumb. Took me under his wing and taught me a lot of things. We even used to talk about the black machine some. Would love to meet up and talk to him again. Im 37 now and still remember working titanium screws on challenger floor boards with him

Fascinating video! Some years ago a neighbor of ours had been on SR71 ground crew, but she was sworn to secrecy and wouldn't talk about it at all. I particular got a kick out of hearing the phrase "poke the bear". My dad piloted USAF refueling tankers in the late 1950s, flying out of England and doing 8 to 12 hour missions over Finland, near the Russian border. They were there to refuel the NATO aircraft patrolling the area. At least one tanker was in the air there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Much of their time was spent just flying a large lazy loop or figure 8 waiting for someone to need fuel. Occasionally when they got really bored they would "accidentally" stray over the border a little ways into Soviet airspace, causing the Russians to scramble interceptors. He called it "poking the bear", too.

Bro is a National Treasure. My respects to him! Also excelent video it's great to see not only the history being preserve but also the tales and experiencies of those behind it!

Thank you for taking the time to create this video. As this airframe ages, so does the hard working men and women that made her fly. We need to document and cherish these amazing people as the airplane will be around long after they are gone. Thank you for your service Dave Burns!

Did some construction work on the SR-71 hangers at Beale AFB in the mid 80's. Really enjoyed watching the SR-71 come and go and meeting many of the Pilots at the Tower Snack Shop

Love visiting the Air Zoo and petting the SR-71.

This guy does a phenomenal job of explaining all these systems in such an easily understandable way.

I was fortunate to see one of the operational units fly back in the early 80's. I was at an airshow at NAS Pt. Mugu on the CA coast in Ventura County and it so happened there was an Air Force airshow happening at the old George AFB near the CA high desert about 200 miles east/southeast. The pilot was kind enough to radio over to Pt.Mugu and asked to do a quick demo at Pt. Mugu before he scooted home back to Beale AFB in NorCal, a totally unscripted event that was a surprise to the show. The Blackbird came in on a very long extended final and just cruised by a few hundred feet off the deck. He did it again while holding a knife edge on the next pass so we could view the entire top of the aircraft and again so we could view the entire bottom. Then he did several high speed passes and really got jiggy wit it as he flew by. His last pass was right down the centerline a couple hundred feet off the deck and about half way down the runway's length, went completely vertical and just absolutely put the throttles to wood! The noise was incredible and unbearable and he held his attitude in the unrestricted climb into the clear sky and literally disappeared from sight, straight up over our heads. You could hear the aircraft roaring for a solid several minutes after it disappeared. NO idea what altitude he achieved on that last maneuver but the whole thing was incredibly BITCHIN! and I will never forget it as long as I'm alive! I never had the opportunity to see it again after that event.

I was so fortunate to have been stationed at Kadena AB 82-83 ( 961st AWACS)as a ECS technician near the SR-71 on the SAC side of the base so I had a very close relationship with the Habu during my tour because our AWACS planes was parked on the same side of the reventments. I will never forget the very first time I watched it go AB on my way to work on the shuttle bus and the beautiful blue afterburners of the SR-71 . A truly amazing aircraft.

Someday I am going to have to get up to Michigan. As a former F-117A Crew Chief, I'd love to see how the Air Zoo put Shaba back together and relay a few fun stories of my many years on F-117A's with the staff.

Great to hear from an SR crew chief. I’ve watched all the interviews on YT with the pilots that I could find (Rosenberg, Thomas, Shelton, Murray, Graham) and I still learned a lot of new things. That mixer assembly is like a beautiful Swiss watch!!

What a tremendously brilliant man.I was privileged to see one in person in aircraft museum. It was an incredible machine.

I absolutely love that this guy just seems like a good ole boy. He's so intelligent and a gifted presenter, but you can tell he's humble and would be great to sit down and have a beer with! Men like him are what made this country so great.... Thank you for your service sir.

So much has been written and filmed about the pilots and the missions, none of which would have happened without the “maintainers.” The mechanics and crew chiefs don’t fly the plane, but the plane doesn’t fly without the essential work they perform. Good video!

Started at P&WA in '78 at 19 yrs. old. Proud to have been an inspector for several different parts. Turbine shaft, burner can, diffuser case and inlet case. Knowing that I helped the world's fast jet

"You can go a long way in 12hours"......AMEN TO THAT, fantastic interview thank you.

I flew OA-37's at DM. Thanks to dedicated men like MSgt Burns I never had an a/c abort.

I refer to myself sometimes as an SR71 Orphan. My Dad worked for the Lockheed Skunk Works from the end of WWII until his retirement in the mid 1970's. He would leave Burbank Monday morning and return Friday afternoon. That went on from when I was in about 6th grade to until I got out of the Army years later. During that time I never knew where he went or what he was working on. Only knew that he was going to "The Area." One tell-tail sign was that he would come home with silver dollars. Humm, where would one get silver dollars then? Neighbors would mention that "Government Men" would ask them questions about us.

I saw one of these in person at the Smithsonian in DC. The size and design of this thing was unreal. Couldn't believe the altitude and speed these things operated in, all 60 years ago 🤯

About 1985, an SR 71 lost an engine over the Gulf of Mexico, and landed at Alvin Calendar Field, Naval Air Station, in Algiers, LA. At the time, I had several engineering design projects at the NAS, and the NAS project manager called me late one afternoon, excitedly exclaiming, " I NEED YOU to come make a job inspection NOW !" I replied that I had a full commitment now, but could come in the morning. "NO, I NEED YOU HERE NOW", he INSISTED. "Tomorrow will be too LATE !". I said, "I cannot get there today, see you in the morning at 7 am"..... the front page headlines in the next morning's paper read "SR71 Blackbird loses engine, replaced at NAS overnight". I called the NAS project manager and calmly asked, "Is todays headline what you needed me there for yesterday ?" .... "Yes...... I could have gotten you a close look in the cockpit, and a talk with the pilot. They left two hours ago". .... I have kicked myself several thousand times since then.

A honour to hear MSgt David Burns talk on this icon of powered flight. Thank you Sir.

When I was based at Kadena 75/76, I loved the startup sound when they had the 2 V8 engine starter. It sounded like a drag race, and then you heard jet noises. Ahh, those gloryous days of yester year.

The most beautiful bird ever built and a marvel of engineering before computers and although not economical it would still be in my mind the greatest of all time .

The pride and enthusiasm for this amazing aircraft is clearly evident.

What a fantastic and unique view of the SR-71 from a man who maintained it. Sooo awesome! He even dropped some of the nickname for parts of the plane his crew probably used. Like the Go Fast aka the throttle. Thank you

I’m so glad I found these videos cause next month I’m going to the Intrepid Air and Space Museum Aircraft Carrier to see an SR 71

I could listen to a man like this all day any day.

He choked up when he said "this is my baby, this is my hog" and walked back, I felt that

The start carts were built by a small company in Glendale. In the early 70's I worked in a small engine rebuilding show where one day a pickup truck full of Buick heads showed up for us to rebuild. They were to be spares for these old start carts.

Incredible aircraft and the JP 58 also had unique metal. The turbine had a metal with all the crystal structures facing the same direction. Making the part superior in the direction of the crystal structure.

Thank you Sir for your service . It was a privilege watching and listening to your presentation about the Mighty Blackbird.

Every person involved in the oral history of this aircraft...crew chief, technician, pilot, designer, engineer or tech from P&W or Lockheed...all contribute greatly to the body of knowledge about its history...well done, Chief!

So great to hear from those that actually worked with these beautiful planes. I could listen to these stories all day.

🇺🇸🇵🇪🇵🇷😎 thanks for sharing great video..I was lucky enough to be working in a KC135 on UTIPOU Thailand in 1968 when a SR-71 came to visit..It was a thrill to behold..

You know you've got a manly engine when it takes two 454's to start it!

thank you Sir...favorite plane for 30 yrs... I've never seen such an intimate review loved the peek into the mechanical feedback system for the piolet ... the machining was almost organic... amazing what they were getting done back then... so cool, i come from line of maintainers ... appreciate ya.... cant imagine the grin you had touching those birds in the middle of the night...

Made the pilgrimage to see the SR71, Would love to go again. Went to the Smithsonian downtown Washington, Arlington and all the other Iconic sites I could. sR71 was pretty cool.

I was a sensor system tactical avionics technician in the Air Force for 23 years. I never got to work on the SR-71, so found this extremely interesting. Thank you.

What an excellent video! I enjoyed every second of dialog this gentleman so gracefully provided us with. It is a true honor to hear these types of details from someone so intimately familiar with this truly historic aircraft.

wow from 0A-37 to the SR-71, I worked aviaoncis on the OA-37B.

Guys like this are a national treasure!

Thank you MSgt Burns! Excellent brief on the Blackbird.

This was arguably the best presentation of the SR-71 I've ever seen or heard. The Air Zoo was so incredibly fortunate to have this man as a docent for this exhibit and how incredible fortunate we all are that you recorded and posted it online. There's so much nonsense, myth and guesswork online about the Blackbird family of planes and this video went a long way to correcting a lot of falsehoods. Thanks.

Wow retired. but you can tell by his great attitude this plane was a BIIIIG part of his life impressive

HA HA " ... and it's a good airplane" Understatement of the CENTURY !!! People like this Gentleman are the Real Wealth of a Nation !

One of the most amazing things of the SR, is how ahead of it’s time it was, watching video of that plane roll out of the hangar from the 60’s it looked like it rolled off the production line the day before. Then you see the cars of the day to distinguish when it was recorded. Most people still don’t know what that plane is to this day, so if you put it back into service tomorrow they’d swear they’ve never seen anything like it. Incredible

This is the most beautiful aircraft in EXISTENCE

Thanks for the video. I was stationed at Kadena in 1985/86; my first base. I remember hearing them being started. I did not know that there was two motors in the starting unit; no wonder they were so loud. One time I seen one take off at night. The blue rings, seven I think, were cool to see. It looked like he went vertical right after take off. I worked on the F-4's and F-15's.

You can’t beat the knowledge of the Crew Chief! Great video, thank you for sharing!

This is amazing. Thanks for such a detailed account from such an experienced person!

Fascinating video. Thanks so much to MSgt Burns. I could read all day about stats and figures and what not about this airplane, but I wouldn’t learn half of the day to day what it’s like to live and work with it. Thanks again for filming him and just letting him talk about the airplane and his time with it.

Likely the most beautiful machine ever built.

Cool beans. A Cold War Warrior from the same time-frame as me, 71-95. A maintenance guy like me (electronics), TACumcised. Fascinating and informative talk. Kudos.

#956 memories, Always bumping my head on those darn lower stabilizers. Getting hot feet climbing on a hot post flight.

Wow! I grew up near Kalamazoo and was stationed at Futenma - 1st Marine Air wing HQ- on Okinawa in 1981-82. I remember looking out my barracks window and seeing a Blackbird coming into Kadena. I still remember that moment of WHAT IS THAT? Glad to know that you were "just down the road" keeping these beautiful beasts in the air. Thanks, David.

Holy cow! This guy has an amazing memory.

A 30ton bird built with light weight materials. Incredible machine!

I watched every moment of this. That man is a genius and humble. Respect to him

A terrific look into this extraordinary airplane. I viewed a whole lot of high altitude recce film of N Vietnam taken by the SR-71. He did an excellent job taking us through this.

Absolutely fascinating. Thanks for the walkaround, Master Sargent!

THE SR 71 WAS THE ULTIMATE FLYING MACHINE FOR THAT TIME!!!!

I would pay a lot for a tour like this. Amazing

I love how so many procedures are familiar when you get down to the nuts-and-bolts level of a complex machine like this.

I was lucky enough to talk with a SR71 pilot, the whole time my jaw was on the floor. He said the plane went from an idea to a working prototype in 18 months!

That was just wonderful. I could listen to those stories for hours.

Good lord my guy worked on like 8 different planes, that’s insane lol. That’s awesome!

Another behind the scenes hero with the sr71. I wish I could hear more of the stories he has experienced

I would have loved to service this aircraft. What an amazing job. 👏

I’m loving all this SR-71 content. Would love to visit one day!

19:58 the Buick wildcat engine was a 400 cubic inch and the Chevy was 454 cubic inches.

Hey DAVE BURNS or should I say HABU1. It is an honor to know this man. He can talk about this and other things forever and you always learn something from him if you just listen. One of the smartest men I ever met. He is great guy to set around a campfire with. Great to see you MSgt. HUZZAH! edit, I had to dig thru some old photos of you Dave with my kids years ago. They have kids of there own now.

Thankyou for your service sir ! You had my dream job ......that thing is just plain awesome.

Just think all built before super computers. Just amazing

„It‘s a good airplane.“ - The understatement of the century 😅

*_Amazing how this ol' boy retained the details on this Bird._*

Dude I slept under the wing of this beautiful plane in cub scouts! Great to see it online.

I think the way they start these engines is incredible

One very important and easy to forget when changing the noses - there is a magnet pack that lives in the forward canopy that has to be put in when putting on the radar nose. The electronics for the side-looking radar (CAPRE) lived in the top of the nose. There was a diagnostic box in the nosewheel well that was supposed to identify which component was faulty when things broke. It wasn’t very reliable though. The transmitter had a 100,000 watt klystron that was strong enough to affect the magnetic compass - there were compensating magnets in the pilots canopy. If we forgot to remove it when swapping to a ballast or camera nose, we also had to replace or remove the magnets. That would lead to a ground abort and typically a fairly severe punishment (loss of a stripe if it was a Pentagon mission). Another gotcha was when we loaded the map strips in both cockpits. Every now and then the film (35mm film strip) would be put in backwards. That too caused a lot of trouble for the airman that made that mistake. I was at Beale in 1983. After a year there I went to Osan AB in Korea and Zweibrucken in Germany to work of a different kind of recon (tactical vs strategic) on RF-4Cs. That was completely different but also very gratifying.

So I’ve seen multiple videos of SR pilots give a tour. But this crew chief I learned way more about the airplane. (Naturally, most pilots know very little about the aircrafts workings). This is awesome! Great video! Love the crew chief tour.

It is always a joy to listen to a 'knowledgeable enthusiast' about any topic... This topic I really am fascinated by! :) Appreciated.

This was amazing!! The SR is my favorite plane!

Thank you for making an Ole man smile again..... Holy cow I love this mistress.

You're a gem, sir. Amazing explanations, God bless you, and thank you for your service.

I can tell you as an avionics guy working on the SR-71 was a pain in the azz! I much preferred the U-2. That being said nothing more exciting than riding in the launch truck at zero dark thirty and watching her take off from the hammerhead area!! This was after I assisted in getting 3 "Q" model KC-135 tankers in the air for that first aerial refueling he talked about. (@Beale AFB 76-78)

That man really knows his stuff

Great work Crew Chief, you know your stuff!