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Guest announcement Colonel Rich Graham


Dave Phillips
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We are pleased to announce another great aviation guest for Autographica.

Colonel Rich Graham is one of an elite group of pilots who have flown the Blackbird SR71.

His record speaks for itself.

 

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Thailand from March 1971 to March 1972. he flew 145 combat missions over North Vietnam and Laos in the F-4C/D aircraft.

 

 

 

In September 1972, until February 1973, Colonel Graham was deployed with his squadron to Korat RTAFB, Thailand, to augment F-105 "Wild Weasel"

aircraft. At Korat he flew 60 combat missions, suppressing enemy surface-to-air missile sites in North Vietnam.

 

 

Colonel Graham was selected to enter the SR-71 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.

 

 

 

 

Following Air War College in June of 1982, he was assigned to the Headquarters USAF (Pentagon) to work in Programs and Resources as a strategic force programmer. In April 1984, he was selected to work in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower, Reserve Affairs and Installations. As the Director of Program Integration, he worked Air Force budgetary matters closely with the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Air Staff.

 

 

 

n 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. In June of 1987 he 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.

 

 

 

 

Colonel Graham was a command pilot with more than 4,600 military flying hours. His military decorations and awards include the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross with three oak leaf clusters, Air Medal with 18 oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award wtih "V" device and one oak leaf cluster, Air Force Organizational Excellence Award, Combat Readiness Medal with one oak leaf cluster, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with four service stars, Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with palm, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.

 

 

 

 

 

Upon retirement from the Air Force he joined American Airlines in Dallas, Texas. He flew with them for 13 years, and in August 2002 he retired as a Captain on the MD-80 aircraft amassing 7,500 hours.

 

 

Col. Graham has recently published a second volume on the SR-71, entitled SR-71 Blackbird: Stories, Tales and Legends. His first book, "SR-71 Revealed: The Inside Story" tells 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. Col. Graham frequently speaks about the SR-71 program at aviation events across the United States.

 

 

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I believe he has done a signing at IWM Duxford, for his book. There's a suspended Blackbird amongst the crush of the USAF hangar there. (Also a chunk of the fabled Iraqi SuperGun).

 

In the plaque for the plane, it suggests less people are qualified to fly these than in the Apollo program...

 

 

I met Col Graham at Duxford: terrific guy...

As a matter of fact, the Duxford SR-71 is 'wheels down', not suspended

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I believe he has done a signing at IWM Duxford, for his book. There's a suspended Blackbird amongst the crush of the USAF hangar there. (Also a chunk of the fabled Iraqi SuperGun).

 

In the plaque for the plane, it suggests less people are qualified to fly these than in the Apollo program...

 

 

I met Col Graham at Duxford: terrific guy...

 

Glad to hear this, I'm really hoping he will be doing a talk at the show

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