Originally Posted by
megan
Airbubba, I put the Jack Mecaham/SR-71 story in the same class as the myth that the guy who designed the P-51 also worked on the Bf-109 design. Some like to massage their history, not the P-51 designer in this case, that story was put about by others, the very fact that Merchams name does not appear on the list of crew members tells all.
I'm not so sure. The area around the Air Force Museum is infested with military and ex-military pilots from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base who would know what an SR-71 is. Could a 'poser' really give lectures about the plane over the years with a phony claim that he had flown it? I wouldn't have even remembered meeting this guy if he hadn't claimed to have flown the A-12, YF-12A and SR-71.
Like you, over the years I've encountered folks with stories that didn't quite check out. I flew commuter planes decades ago with a guy who claimed that he was a former Army Cobra pilot. As a Navy guy I was a gullible listener. I ran into a friend who flew helos in Vietnam (Dustoff medevac Huey's) on a layover and the three of us had a meal together. Afterward, my medevac friend said that my copilot was actually a gunner on the AH-1 from the answers he gave about his training and lack of a commission or warrant.
Of course, sometimes inaccurate stories about our background are started as rumor and we get tired of correcting them. When I was in Navy flight training there was an admiral with a name very similar to mine and word got out that I was 'junior'. No actual relationship of course, but on a mischievous whim I took one of those yellow phone message notes and stuck it to my mailbox behind the BOQ front desk. On it I scribbled 'To: ENS Airbubba From: ADM Airbubba Message: Call Dad.' I left the note up for a few days and spent the next few years making weak denials of my family status as a flag officer legacy.