Habu Pressure Suit

This pressure suit was worn by Major Lee Shelton while piloting the Habu or SR-71 Blackbird. Good to at least 85,000 feet or so!

A habu is a Southeast Asian venomous pit viper. Local residents on Okinawa believed the Blackbird resembled this snake when the sleek, black jet first arrived on the island. The name was picked up quickly by military personnel and even used on the service patch.

Interesting blurb on the Blackbird Flight Simulator:

In 1965, when the first Beale AFB Instructor Pilot/RSO crew (in civilian attire) visited the Flight Simulator during USAF checkout and acceptance trials at Link’s upstate New York facilities, they were surprised to park in front of a busy, active grocery store and then be escorted to a side door that led to a hidden, rear portion of the building that was Link’s classified "Skunkworks" type facility for the Blackbird program. Secrecy was so complete that no one in the township was aware of what was happening behind the busy checkout stands selling groceries. — Wikipedia

For an awesome resource with tons of history and facts about this plane/program, please visit: www.blackbirds.net/sr71

Chuck and the secret lair beneath the Burbank Buy More aren’t so far-fetched! 🙂

More images from this adventure…

See this and other items in map view…

Posted by Cygnus~X1 – Visions by Sorenson on 2010-03-09 19:20:47

Tagged: , 2009 , 50d , Strategic Air and Space Museum , air force , ashland , black , blackbird , blue , canon , craig sorenson , ef-s 17-55mm f/2.8 is usm , eos , flight suit , go west , habu , july 31st through august 16th , lee shelton , major lee shelton , nebraska , orange , pilot , pressure suit , red , sr-71 , summer , usa , usaf , white , United States , museum , sr-71 blackbird , sr-71a