I walked into the future on a February morning in 1961. I had an exciting career in which I had the privilege of working on all of the BLACKBIRD aircraft. These aircraft were so sleek, so futuristic, so far beyond any other aircraft I had ever seen. There I was, standing in the future of Aviation. The airplane called the A-12 was the predecessor to the SR-71. This airplane was so secret that only a very select few people would know of her presence. The SR-71 would be a follow on of the A-12 and the whole world saw her for the first time on September 1, 1974 in a speed run from New York to London. The world speed record would be one hour and fifty four minutes. The SR-71 was already being used to bring pertinent information from all over the world back to the U.S. concerning the current political situation.