Arlington and the Hurricane.
I just returned form a Thursday/Friday business trip to Washington, DC.
We got there just in time to get to our hotel and hunker down for the night on emergency generator. Our briefing was canceled on Friday morning so we were lucky and caught our early evening scheduled flight out of BWI.
Of course the Tombs of the Unknown soldiers are at Arlington. They are guarded by Infantrymen of the 3rd Infantry 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. When the hurricane came in the guards were told to seek shelter for the first time in history. The Sergeant of the guard relieved his men and stood the post in their place. He said that was his duty. The Tombs have still never been left unguarded and therefore all our men who rest in Arlington have never been left.....
In his book, Sled Driver, SR-71 Blackbird pilot Brian Shul writes: "I'll always remember a certain radio exchange that occurred one day as Walt (my backseater) and I were screaming across Southern California 13 miles high. We were monitoring various radio transmissions from other aircraft as we entered Los Angeles airspace. Though they didn't really control us, they did monitor our movement across their scope. I heard a Cessna ask for a readout of its ground speed."
"90 knots" Center replied.
"Moments later, a Twin Beech required the same."
"120 knots," Center answered.
"We weren't the only ones proud of our ground speed that day as almost instantly an F-18 smugly transmitted, 'Ah, Center, Dusty 52 requests ground speed readout.'
"There was a slight pause, then the response, 525 knots on the ground, Dusty".
"Another silent pause. As I was thinking to myself how ripe a situation this was, I heard a familiar click of a radio transmission coming from my backseater. It was at that precise moment I realized Walt and I had become a real crew, for we were both thinking in unison."
"Center, Aspen 20, you got a ground speed readout for us?" There was a longer than normal pause.... "Aspen, I show 1,742 knots"
"No further inquiries were heard on that frequency"
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In another famous SR-71 story, Los Angeles Center reported receiving a request for clearance to FL 60 (60,000ft). The incredulous controller, with some disdain in his voice, asked, "How do you plan to get up to 60,000 feet? The pilot (obviously a sled driver), responded, "We don't plan to go up to it, we plan to go down to it." He was cleared...
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ There's a story about the military pilot calling for a priority landing, because his single engine jet fighter was running "a bit peaked". Air Traffic Control told the fighter jock that he was number two, behind a B-52 that had one engine shut down. "Ah", the fighter pilot remarked, "The dreaded Seven Engine approach".