Sr71 Brian Shul - Retired United States Air Force (USAF) Major Brian Shul travels across North America known as "the sled driver," a term synonymous with supersonic speed, sensory overload, overcoming the impossible, and life in the fast lane
Coined a "sled" by the pilots who graced its controls, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird lives vicariously in the minds of all aviators; an Everest-sized dream, except for a lucky few.
Sr71 Brian Shul
Shul flew the Blackbird for four years and provided "photos of Libyan terrorist camps to President Reagan during the Libyan crisis." Then, in 1986, he became the only SR-71 pilot to fly three missions in three consecutive days.
Spy Pilot Chronicles An Evening With Sr 71 Crew Brian Shul And Walter Watson , Harris Center/three Stages At Folsom Lake College, November 5 2022
Today, as one of America's most sought-after speakers, Shul has cultivated a knack for descriptive storytelling and recreated his narrative so that his audience leaves feeling like they, too, have been empowered to do and be anything they dream of . possible
Part of what makes the former fighter pilot's tale so compelling is that Shul admits there was a time when the motivation to stand on his own eluded him.
Brian Shul earned a place in history as one of the 89 men who flew the SR-71 Blackbird. Photo courtesy of Brian Shul
"I quit and I wanted to die," he said. "So I prayed and said, 'God, I can't do this anymore'. Let's get this over with."
File:view From The Sr 71 Blackbird.jpg
As much as his accolades, his sense of humor and genuine authenticity win over audiences. And apart from modest jokes, he admits that he is also often amazed by his own life story, which unfolds like a well-executed novel, full of adventures, hardships and life lessons.
"I haven't spoken in Canada in 25 years," he admitted when he took the stage at the Canadian Business Aviation Association Convention and Exhibition in 2022. "I have three [speaking engagements in Canada] this year. The hospitality couldn't be better."
A slide show accompanied her more personal experiences, feelings and insights, taking the audience into her themed stories of hope.
"But I don't want you to mistake me for anyone famous, important, or heroic today. What I am is the luckiest man you'll ever see on a podium at a conference," he proclaimed.
Maj. Brian Shul (the La Speed Check Pilot) & One Of His Rides
Shul, who spent two decades as a USAF fighter pilot, graduated from East Carolina University in 1970 with a degree in history and anthropology. And it wasn't long after his graduation hat was thrown into the air that he took to the air as a Foreign Air Adviser.
His notoriety began when his luck waned, landing him a year-long stint in a burn unit at a military hospital after his North American T-28 Trojan was shot down during the Vietnam War. Unable to dislodge himself, Shul described dragging his wounded body into enemy territory to a hiding place where he could safely camouflage himself. As with 18,000 other men who fought in that war, he expected to die.
A rescue mission took Air Force Special Operations Command's rescue team directly into enemy hands. And despite the unlikely success of the rescue mission, Shul was flown to a nearby US base, where he received intensive care at the military hospital in Okinawa.
Shul, who flew more than 210 combat missions before the end of the Vietnam War, was transferred to the Surgical Research Institute at Fort Sam Houston, where his medical team predicted he would never fly again.
Major Brian Shul's Sr 71 \
He admitted that his vitality had been depleted by enduring more than 15 reconstructive surgeries and countless hours of physical therapy.
"You can go days without water, your brain will still last a few minutes without oxygen, but the moment you lose hope, it's over," he said.
A change in his thinking happened one day when he saw children playing football outside the hospital window. The radio serenading the air with Judy Garland's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," mixed with the sound of children's laughter.
"My turning point was kind of simple," he said. "I heard [the kids] laughing and I thought about how I was one of those kids. And then I heard Judy Garland come on the radio.
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Just two days after being released from the hospital, he returned to full flying status with the USAF, flying the LTV A-7 Corsair II. He was then one of the pilots involved in training the first Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II squadron, which led to instruction at the USAF fighter training school.
His page-turning journey culminates in an opportunity that Shul described as his rebirth. With childlike naivety and determination, he volunteered and earned a place in history as one of the 89 men who flew the SR-71, the fastest plane on the planet. Inside the "Mach 3+ long-range, high-altitude strategic reconnaissance aircraft" operated by the USAF, Shul was reborn.
If you've been lucky enough to get a seat in a room with Shul, you'll know that he stays on a specific flight path and instinctively know how much time he has left (down to the second). As he guides his audience through his life story while painting a living piece of art, the story often varies. Still, there's always a place for his famous speed control story: an audience check involving a comical moment in which the SR-71 blasts an F/A-18 Hornet out of the water during a radio speed check
As his time on the CBAA convention stage ended, Shul reflected on the extraordinary life of the Blackbird, how the plane crossed the United States "in 68 minutes and set eight official speed records, averaging 2,100 miles per hour."
Sled Driver: Flying The World's Fastest Jet: Amazon.co.uk: Shul, Brian, O'grady, Sheila Kathleen: 9780929823089: Books
An eerie silence enveloped the room as his fascinated audience wondered what else he had to offer.
"Remember one day an SR-71 took the runway at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa," Shul said. "The long black nose went out and waited for its exact time to take off. And the pilot of the plane that day could see out of a small side window on a 15-degree course for 2.1 miles. He could see the roof of the hospital he sat there all his life
"And legend has it that during takeoff that day, the SR-71 didn't go up into the South China Sea to be an oil tanker. [Instead] it made a left turn at the end of the runway, full burner, 300 feet (some say a lot lower) to buzz over a specific football field.
"And at that moment the pilot knew what Einstein meant when he said, 'Imagination is far more important than knowledge'."
I'm Flying Over Tucson And I Can See Downtown La
Shul retired from the Air Force in 1990 with 5,000 fighter hours. Today, he runs his photography studio in California and admits that his best days are spent lost in nature, photographing birds in flight. He has published seven books and is the first SR-71 pilot to put his stories on paper, illustrated with his photography.
He is the "only man in America to have flown extensively with US Air Force Thunderbirds and US Navy Blue Angels" while writing and photographing his unique experience for publication.
And if you don't think he's "the luckiest guy you've ever seen on a podium, you haven't been paying attention."
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Brian Shul Sr71 Pilot
Brian Shul (born 1948) is a Vietnam War attack pilot and retired major in the United States Air Force (USAF). He flew 212 combat missions and was shot down near the end of the war. He was so burned that he gave him almost no chance to live. After surviving, he returned to full flying status and flew the SR-71 Blackbird. Major Shul completed a 20-year career in the Air Force. He has written four books on aviation and operates a photography studio in Marysville, California.
Brian Shul was born in Quantico, Virginia on February 8, 1948. He graduated from Radford High School in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1966 and from East Carolina University in 1970 with a degree in history. That same year, he joined the Air Force and attended pilot training at Reese AFB in Texas.
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Shul served as a foreign air adviser in the Vietnam War and flew 212 close air support missions with Air America. Near the end of hostilities in 1973, his T-28 aircraft was shot down near the Cambodian border. It could not be dismissed
Sledebestuurder Die 's Werelds Snelste Jet Usaf Sr 71
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