SR-71 Blackbird - The Secret Vigil"


Originally an episode of "Wings" on the Discovery channel, this 45-minute film from Aviation Week Video is a good overview of the SR-71 program. Includes video interviews with SR-71 crews (both current and "old school"), Pentagon and 9th SRW officials, Lockheed people (including both the late Kelly Johnson and Ben Rich), but most notably Viktor Belenko, former Soviet pilot who defected to the US by flying his Mig-25 Foxbat to a base in Japan. His recollections of the blackbird as seen from the other side steal the show. Most of the flying footage is stock from the National Archives and from Lockheed's 1987 film "Blackbird" (see above).