There are just two tickets left for this event so if you want to come please book now!
The Vulcan Restoration Trust are delighted to have secured a talk by Colonel (Retired) Richard Graham which will take place on the evening of 3 March 2010. Proceeds from the event will go towards the continued restoration of XL426.
Col. Graham has written three highly acclaimed books on the 2000mph Mach 3 SR-71 Blackbird ‘spy plane’ having spent much of his military career flying with, and commanding, SR-71 units within the United States Air Force. He also flew the F-4 Phantom in missions during the Vietnam War, and held a position in the Pentagon. Col. Graham retired from the Air Force in 1989 having been highly decorated for his service.
Col. Graham will be selling and personally signing copies of his book on the night so why not come along treat yourself to a signed copy!
The event will take place at the following location:
Whitmore Suite
Orsett Hall Hotel
Prince Charles Avenue
Orsett
Essex
RM16 3HS
Start time is 8pm and advance tickets cost £9 each plus booking fee and are available on-line by going to tickets.avrovulcan.com
Tickets for orders received after 12 noon on Friday 26 February will not be posted but will be available for collection on the door. We anticipate that there will be a small number of tickets remaining for sale on the evening.
More about Col Graham...
Colonel Graham was selected to enter the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird strategic reconnaissance program in 1974 at Beale AFB, California. After several years as a crew member, he was further selected to become an instructor pilot, and in 1978 was selected as the Chief, Standardization/Evaluation Division, which included the SR-71, U-2 and T-38 aircraft. In January 1980 he was selected to be the SR-71 Squadron Commander, 1st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, where he served until his assignment to Air War College, Maxwell AFB, Alabama in 1981. The SR-71 was the world's fastest and highest-flying operational manned aircraft throughout its career. On 28 July 1976, an SR-71 broke the world speed record for its class at 1,905.81 knots (2,193.17 mph; 3,529.56 km/h, Mach 3.3 – three times the speed of sound), and an "absolute altitude record" of 85,069 feet (25,929 m), which is well into the stratosphere and approaching the edge of space. SR-71 pilots wear outfits similar to spacesuits to enable them to survive at these heights. In 1981 Kelly Johnson of Lockheed announced that the SR-71 has had over 1,000 missiles launches against it, but none successful.
In June of 1986 Colonel Graham was selected to be the Vice Wing Commander, 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing (SRW), Beale AFB, California. In that capacity, he was able to fly all of the wing's aircraft: the U-2, T-38, KC-135Q, and SR-71.During the 1980s Detachment 4 of the 9th SRW operated from RAF Mildenhall in the UK using a small number of SR-71 and U-2 aircraft. From here these high flying aircraft carried out reconnaissance and information gathering missions over Soviet Bloc countries, and other ‘hot spots’ such as Libya and the Middle East. In June of 1987 Colonel Graham was selected to become the Wing Commander of the 9th SRW, where he remained until November 1988. As the Wing Commander, he was responsible for 10,000 personnel and their dependents on base, over 85 Air Force aircraft deployed around the globe, and a base of 22,000 acres in northern California. He was assigned to the 14th Air Division, Beale AFB, until he retired on 30 September 1989.
Col. Graham has recently published a third volume on the SR-71, entitled “Flying the SR-71 Blackbird on a Secret Operational Mission”. His first book, "SR-71 Revealed: The Inside Story", and a second tome, “SR-71 Blackbird: Stories, Tales and Legends” tell the crew's story of how they lived and flew the world's fastest and highest flying aircraft, the SR-71 Blackbird. A veteran of 15 years of assignments within the SR-71 community, he is uniquely qualified to tell their story.
Location map of the venue:
