Barksdale AFB To Acquire SR-71 Next Month

It should happen any day now. An SR-71 Blackbird should arrive at Barksdale AFB (LA), near Shreveport, where it will be put on permanent display along with the base's growing number of vintage military aircraft.

"We’re shooting for a mid-November arrival," said Buck Rigg, museum director. "We’re having it trucked in from Edwards Air Force Base."

Worldwide Aircraft Recovery is handling the move and will reassemble the Blackbird once it gets to Barksdale. The total cost of the move, $140,000, will come from government grants and donations to the Eighth Air Force Museum Association.

The Air Force retired its fleet of SR-71s in January 1990.  The Pentagon cited a tightened defense budget and the high cost of operating the Blackbirds. It cost as much as $100,000 an hour to fuel and fly the airplanes and almost as much to suit its crew members.

The SR-71 at Barksdale will be positioned just off the nose of the Eighth Air Force Museum's B-47. There, museum director Buck Rigg says, "people can photograph it well." The Blackbird display is expected to open December 17th, as America celebrates the centennial of flight.

FMI: www.8afmuseum.net