And on the subject of Jack Mecham, he seems to give talks about his past flying and is consistently billed as a former SR-71 pilot. It doesn't seem to be a journalistic misunderstanding. I wish I had listened more carefully when I was chatting with him but I was uneasy (but thrilled 
) about being in the X-plane hangar without an escort and was afraid that maybe he was coming to boot me out. I think that I was allowed into the hangar by mistake when someone thought that I was a straggler from a veterans group who missed the bus back across the runway to the main Museum.
I'm still puzzled that Jack doesn't seem to show up on the published lists of Blackbird flyers years later.
WACO Adult Lecture Speaker Jack Mecham on February 15
January 30, 2012 WACO Adult Lecture Speaker – Vietnam Veteran Jack Mecham will share his experiences of CIA missions flown during the war
The WACO Air Museum will host guest speaker Jack Mecham on Wednesday, February 15 at 7:00 p.m. He is a 20-year Air Force veteran who logged more than 12,100 flying hours on 20 different aircraft including the SR-71. During his tour of duty in Vietnam, he was solely responsible for planning and issuing frag orders for the missions flown by the 20th Helicopter Squadron. Additionally, he flew more than 100 combat missions, mostly in support of top secret CIA operations in Laos, Cambodia, and North Vietnam. Mr. Mecham will share his experiences, as well as, explain the origin of the “Black Mariah” helicopter that now resides in the National Museum of the Air Force at Wright Patterson Air Force Base.
WACO Adult Lecture Speaker Jack Mecham on February 15 Newsome Team Realtors
From a post on the Thailand-Laos-Cambodia Brotherhood forum about the 2017 reunion:
Jack Mecham spoke in the morning about his experiences in Thailand and Laos flying the 'Black Mariah'. Jack has experience in every thing from Piper PA-18's to the SR-71, with some rotary wing thrown in.
2017 Reunion Report
From August 20, 2004 in the
Dayton Daily News:
11:30 am Saturday; "Museum's Aerospace Adventure," designed for families with children featuring former SR-71 pilot and Distinguished Flying Cross recipient Jack Mecham discussing the SR-71 "Blackbird," 1:30 pm Saturday, Carney Auditorium, U.S. Air Force Museum, on Springfield Pike, one mile from the Harshman Road exit off Ohio 4.
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/410764499/