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It's not the "aflockalyptic" fallout from a secret US weapon lab as some have theorized. But the government acknowledged Thursday that it had a hand in one of a string of mysterious mass bird deaths that have spooked residents in Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, South Dakota, and Kentucky in the last month. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) took responsibility for hundreds of dead starlings that were found on the ground and frozen in trees in a Yankton, S.D., park on Monday. The USDA's Wildlife Services Program, which contracts with farmers for bird control, said it used an avicide poison...

No. 1 via http://www.flickr.com/photos/lockheedmartin/1417846404/ No. 2 via http://www.flickr.com/photos/lockheedmartin/1038817987/ No. 3 via http://www.flickr.com/photos/lockheedmartin/1416958223/ No. 4 via http://www.flickr.com/photos/lockheedmartin/1038817887/ No. 5 via http://www.flickr.com/photos/lockheedmartin/4256659363/

So it was with great surprise, when at the end of one of my presentations, someone asked, "What was the slowest you ever flew in the Blackbird?" This was a first. After giving it some thought, I was reminded of a story that I had never shared before, and relayed the following.

As a former SR-71 pilot, and a professional keynote speaker, the question I'm most often asked is "How fast would that SR-71 fly?" I can be assured of hearing that question several times at any event I attend. It's an interesting question, given the aircraft's proclivity for speed, but there really isn’t one number to give, as the jet would always give you a little more speed if you wanted it to. It was common to see 35 miles a minute. Because we flew a programmed Mach number on most missions, and never wanted to harm the plane in any...

Lots of SR71 aircraft pictures with brief discriptions of various accidents that occured over the life span of the aircraft.

The flying days of the SR-71 Blackbird in the Antelope Valley are truly over, as one of the last vestiges of the aircraft's flight tenure in the Valley has departed. The only SR-71 simulator, housed at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, has been shipped to an aviation museum in Dallas. The simulator came to NASA when the flight test facility took control of three SR-71s when the aircraft were first retired from military service in 1989. Dryden used the aircraft for high-speed flight research, and NASA pilots trained on the simulator. The one-of-a-kind system was...

LANCASTER - It's all about "thrust" and "drag." That which makes you go, and that which holds you back. Steve Justice, from Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, essentially told more than 100 high school students Friday that the way to get ahead is to minimize drag and use everything they have to succeed. "Don't be bound by the limits of current knowledge," Justice said at the 24th annual Mathematics Field Day at Antelope Valley College. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics jumped on board two years ago in hopes of piquing interest in the fields of engineering and aerospace. Justice, who has been with...

Beginning this weekend, aircraft buffs will be able to stroll up to and touch about half dozen historic aircraft at the city's newest public facility, the Heritage Airpark. The airpark, at 25th Street East and Avenue P, is a memorial to the aircraft designed, built and tested at U.S. Air Force Plant 42 since the facility was established in 1951. The airpark is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays beginning Jan. 17. A formal ceremony marking the opening of the facility will be held in March, noted Mayor Jim Ledford. Meanwhile, volunteers will continue to prepare...

Spy plane that kept the enemy 'honest' is hereSaturday, May 3, 2003%%par%%BY BRUCE ROLFESPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE The only B-model Blackbird training plane in the world is now on permanent loan to the Kalamazoo Air Zoo. After arriving in Kalamazoo in late March in pieces on seven flat bed trucks, the SR-71B Blackbird has been assembled and moved inside the museum for the public to view. Kalamazoo Air Museum Executive Director Bob Ellis said he is thrilled to have the SR-71B training plane -- which was capable of flying three times the speed of sound -- available for public view....

PALMDALE - Many students spend spring break partying at the beach or on the slopes. However, a handful of Antelope Valley College airframe and powerplant students spent two days of their spring break restoring airplanes for display at Palmdale Plant 42 Heritage Airpark on Avenue P between 20th and 25th streets west. Jerry Shatzer, 46, and Betsy Luahiwa, 45, kept busy manufacturing a panel to cover an access panel near the tail end of a 1960s-era Navy A-4 Skyhawk, while Stephen Lopez, 39, Tim Gaines and James Dillard, 21, worked on the top of plane. "We're covering access panels no...

Blackbird secrets finally revealedLaurels group honors 'Best of the best'This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press April 29, 2002. By DENNIS ANDERSON Valley Press Editor LANCASTER - This story is TOP SECRET. If I tell you this story, I'm going to have to kill you. No, not really. Not like that. Not anymore. But that's the way it was. In recording the laurels of the fame and lore of the legendary Blackbird spy plane fraternity, Blackbird pilot yarns fall in the category of "Now it can be told." Now is about 10 years after the end of the Cold...