> Here is a very interesting account of remembrances of a former pilot about
> the SR-71 and it's capabilities. The pilot's name, the author of this
> account, is unknown.
>
> In April 1986, following an attack on American soldiers in a Berlin disco,
> President Reagan ordered the bombing of Muammar Qaddafi's terrorist camps
> in Libya. My duty was to fly over Libya and take photos recording the
> damage our F-111s had inflicted. Qaddafi had established a "line of
> death," a territorial marking across the Gulf of Sidra, swearing to shoot
> down any intruder that crossed the boundary. On the morning of April 15, I
> rocketed past the line at 2,125 mph.
>
> I was piloting the SR-71 spy plane, the world's fastest jet, accompanied
> by Maj. Walter Watson, the aircraft's reconnaissance systems officer
> (RSO).
After reading this fascinating story yesterday - and I agree it seems to be an amalgam of several crews' experiences - I looked up Brian Shul and Walter Watson in the index of 'Beyond the secret missions'. According to this book, they were launched as backup SR71 for several of the BDA missions over Libya but I'm not sure they ever had to complete the primary mission themselves. Assuming no problems with the primary aircraft, they had a point at which they would turn away before overflying the target area. I wonder if this is the turn mentioned in the story, whose rather florid prose style suggests that the ghost writer was suitably impressed!
Not that it matters ... they were all incredible men in an amazing aircraft.