On October 9, 1999, the SR-71 Blackbird made its final flight, but its legacy continues to soar. It remains one of the most iconic and admired aircraft in aviation history. Born out of Cold War necessity and renowned for its unmatched speed and reconnaissance technology, the SR-71’s story is a mixture of triumphs and challenges. Political debates, operational hurdles, and shifting military priorities punctuated its career, but from its creation to its last mission, the SR-71’s journey was as thrilling as the aircraft's legendary supersonic flights.
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October 9
1635 - Religious dissident and Rhode Island founder Roger Williams was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1888 - The Washington Monument was opened to the public.
1910 - A coal dust explosion at the Starkville Mine in Colorado left 56 miners dead.
1930 - Aviator Laura Ingalls became the first woman to make a solo transcontinental flight across the United States.
1962 - Uganda won autonomy from British rule.
1963 - A mega tsunami triggered by a landslide at Vajont Dam in northern Italy destroyed villages and caused approximately 2,000 deaths.
1967 - Marxist revolutionary guerrilla leader Che Guevara, age 39, was executed by the Bolivian army a day after his capture.
1975 - Soviet scientist Andrei Sakharov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end the nuclear arms race.
1985 - Strawberry Fields in New York's Central Park, a memorial to former Beatle John Lennon, was dedicated.
2009 - Despite being newly elected to office, President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize for what the Norwegian Nobel Committee called "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."
2010 - A drill broke through into an underground chamber where 33 Chilean miners had been trapped for more than two months.
Birthdays
22 - Ben Shelton (tennis player)
22 - Any Gabrielly (singer)
24 - Maddy Cheary (model)
27 - Jharrel Jerome (actor)
27 - Megan Moroney (singer)
28 - Bella Hadid (model)
31 - Scotty McCreery (singer)
31 - George Kittle (football player)
32 - Tyler James Williams (actor)
37 - Melissa Villasenor (actress/comedian)
40 - Marie Kondo (author/TV personality)
43 - Zachery Ty Bryan (actor)
45 - Brandon Routh (actor)
49 - Sean Lennon (musician)
54 - Annika Sorenstam (golfer)
55 - Steve McQueen (director)
55 - P.J. Harvey (singer)
60 - Guillermo del Toro (director)
66 - Mike Singletary (football player)
70 - John O'Hurley (TV host/actor)
70 - Scott Bakula (actor)
71 - Tony Shalhoub (actor)
72 - Sharon Osborne (TV host)
73 - Robert Wuhl (actor)
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Today in Sports History - October 9
1915 - Woodrow Wilson becomes the first U.S. president to attend a World Series game.
1919 - The Cincinnati Reds won the World Series. The win would be later tainted when eight members of the Chicago White Sox were charged with throwing the game. The incident became known as the "Black Sox" scandal.
1928 - The New York Yankees sweep the St. Louis Cardinals to win the World Series.
1934 - The St. Louis Cardinals defeat the Detroit Tigers in seven games to win the World Series.
1944 - The St. Louis Cardinals defeat the St. Louis Browns in six games to win the World Series.
1949 - The New York Yankees defeat the Brooklyn Dodgers in five games to win the World Series.
1958 - The New York Yankees defeat the Milwaukee Braves in seven games to win the World Series.
1961 - The New York Yankees defeat the Cincinnati Reds in five games to win the World Series for the 19th time.
1966 - The Baltimore Orioles sweep the Los Angeles Dodgers to win their first World Series.
1974 - The Washington Capitals played their first NHL game.
1991 - The San Jose Sharks defeat the Calgary Flames 4-3 to win their first NHL game.
1997 - North Carolina men's basketball coach Dean Smith announces his retirement.
2002 - The Los Angeles Kings retired Wayne Gretzky's #99.
2012 - Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was sentenced in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, to 30 to 60 years in prison following his conviction on 45 counts of sexual abuse of boys.
Is that at the Udvar Hazy [sp?] facility out by Dulles Airport? It's been ages since I've been to the Air & Space Museum, Udvar Hazy or on the mall in DC.
I saw a Blackbird in person in the late 80's during an air show at Andrews Air Force Base [now Joint Base Andrews]. The 'star of the show' at the time was the F-117 "Nighthawk" Stealth Fighter, which was pretty cool, but for me it was all about the "Habu."
I had an SR-71 Estes rocket. It would go up a hundred feet, flatten out horizontally and fly 500' away from the launchpad in a random direction. The parachute would deploy just in time to smash into the ground, tearing the fins off. I don't think it was designed to do that but I thought it was the coolest thing ever.
