A new mission for former Blackbird personnel.
Taken on Jan. 26, 2016 the following interesting pictures feature former Blackbird Maintainers cleaning the SR-71 static display at Beale Air Force Base, California.
The aircraft must be cleaned from the dirt caused by birds, weather, wind and dust; these are all contributing factors that lead to the Blackbird getting an occasional bath.
Master Sgt. Floyd Jones (ret.), who worked on the SR-71 for nearly 20 years, periodically spot clean the aircraft alongside a local group of former Blackbird Maintainers
“It’s a rare plane, we have to take care of it for future generations to cherish,” Jones says.
Noteworthy, Beale retired the last SR-71 on Jan. 26, 1990: the Blackbird was an advanced, long-range, supersonic strategic reconnaissance aircraft that called Beale Air Force Base home from Jan. 1966 to Jan. 1990.
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Of the 32 Blackbirds built, none was ever lost to enemy action.
Image credit: U.S. Air Force
