a752@mindlink.UUCP (Bruce Dunn) (06/05/90)
From: a752@mindlink.UUCP (Bruce Dunn) > tmarshall01@cc.cut.oz.au writes: > I was wondering if someone could tell me what SR stands for > (as in SR-71. ) The naming of the SR-71 is covered in the excellent book "Deep Black" by William E. Burrows. The book (available as a Berkley paperback) details high-technology intelligence, including spy planes and satellites. On p. 153 of the paperback, Burrows writes: The third and final version of Johnson's reconnaissance plane was an improved A-12 called the SR-71*. (footnote to p. 153): * It was supposed to be named the RS-71A, for Reconnaissance/Strike, with the number 71 having been the next available after the naming of North American's B-70 Valkyrie bomber. When Lyndon Johnson announced the plane's existence, however, he mistakenly referred to it as the SR-71. Someone in the system apparently decided that it was easier to rename the plane, making SR stand for Strategic Reconnaissance, than to inform Johnson that he had committed a gaffe in public. Similarly, a press release went out of the Johnson White House on February 29, 1964, referring to the A-12 as the A-11, an error that has probably confounded any number of journalists and aviation historians. -- Bruce Dunn Vancouver, Canada a752@mindlink.UUCP