Being in the USAF and working on the flight line a lot, installing communications my first encounter with the SR was in 1973. It went right by me on the runway I prob could have touched it! That was a great time as we wound up drinking with the pilots. and when that baby took off the next it was like nothing ever seen before! 5 secs and it was a speck in the sky!
Something that civilians don’t realize, is how many incredible sights and sounds members of all branches of the military experience and see, regardless of the decade, military people get to see cool stuff that isn’t available elsewhere in life.