Mailinglist Archive: opensuse (4570 mails)

[Damon Register <damon.register@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

James Knott wrote:

> Incidenatally, it should have been called the RS-71, but President
> Lyndon Johnson goofed, calling it the SR-71 and no one wanted to correct
> him.  So all the designers had to go back and rename all their blue
>  
I was too young to remember that stuff first hand but you got me
curious enough to look up on my own.  I am certainly familiar with
the SR-71 but this was the first time I ever heard the story of the
RS-71 switch.  I found some interesting links suggesting the
above is not correct.

http://www.designation-systems.net/usmilav/nonstandard-mds.html#_MDS_SR71

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SR-71

The USAF <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USAF> had planned to redesignate 
the R-12 aircraft as the RS-71 (Reconnaissance-Strike) as the succsessor 
to the RS-70 Valkyrie <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RS-70_Valkyrie>, 
which had two test Valkyrie's flying at Edwards AFB, California. 
However, then USAF Chief of Staff Curtis LeMay 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_LeMay> preferred the SR designation 
and wanted the RS-70 to be named SR-70. Before the Blackbird was to be 
announced by Lyndon B. Johnson 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyndon_B._Johnson> on February 29 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_29>, 1964 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_in_aviation>, LeMay lobbied to modify 
Johnson's speech to also read SR-71 instead of RS-71. The media 
transcript given to the press at the time still had the earlier RS-71 
designation in places, creating the myth that the president had misread 
the plane's designation.

Damon Register