Bob Gilliland - Speed

Bob Gilliland spent his entire career pushing lifes boundaries. In Speed we see him play a pivotal role as the Blackbird dramatically extended the aviation frontier. Youll love this thrill ride into the life of a legendary test pilot. This book brings you so close to the action that you can feel the excitement and smell the jet fuel.

Gen. Steve Ritchie, the only U.S. Air Force fighter pilot ace of the Vietnam War

This fascinating book puts you in the cockpit with Bob Gilliland.

Jim Lovell, astronaut and commander of Apollo 13

I wholeheartedly recommend this book! It gives great insight into the story of one of Americas greatest test pilots and his crucial work in making the Blackbird program successful.

Ed Yeilding, SR -71 pilot, Smithsonian flight speed record holder

Bob had an exemplary military career and was a consummate test pilot.... He didnt just pave the way for future test pilots; he trailblazed new roads courageously, safely, and without a scratch. Bob was truly a heros hero.

Dick Rutan, commander, Rutan Voyager

Super read! There exists a Circle of Aviators, all truly great ones. Bob Gilliland remains the highest, the fastest, and most respected.

Dan Pedersen, founder of the U.S. Navys Top Gun program

Bob Gilliland and Keith Dunnavant

Foreword by Chesley Sully Sullenberger

Potomac Books

An imprint of the University of Nebraska Press

2021 by Robert J. Gilliland Jr.

Foreword 2021 by the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska

Cover designed by University of Nebraska Press; cover image is from the interior.

All rights reserved. Potomac Books is an imprint of the University of Nebraska Press.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Gilliland, Robert J., 19262019. | Dunnavant, Keith, author. | Sullenberger, Chesley, 1951 writer of foreword.

Title: Speed: the life of a test pilot and birth of an American icon / Bob Gilliland and Keith Dunnavant; foreword by Chesley Sully Sullenberger.

Description: [Lincoln, Nebraska]: Potomac Books, an imprint of the University of Nebraska Press, [2021] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020044096

ISBN 9781640122680 (hardback)

ISBN 9781640124677 (epub)

ISBN 9781640124691 (pdf)

Subjects: LCSH : Gilliland, Robert J., 19262019. | United States. Air ForceBiography. | Test pilotsBiography. | Air pilots, MilitaryBiography. | SR -71 Blackbird (Jet reconnaissance plane)History.

Classification: LCC UG 626.2. G 534 A 3 2021 | DDC 358.40092 [B]dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020044096

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

For all the test pilots who soared off into the distant skies,

looking for the future, and never came home.

Chesley Sully Sullenberger

Over the last century, thanks to the work of some very dedicated and gifted professionals who learned to harness the wonders of science, air travel has evolved from risky to routine. Most of the passengers who regularly cruise from city to city at 600 miles per hour, six miles above the earth, do so with a confidence approaching certitude. After all, flying in an airliner is now much safer than other forms of transportation.

Of course, sometimes things go wrong.

On January 15, 2009, when I was sitting in the captains seat of an Airbus A 320 climbing away from New Yorks LaGuardia Airport, multiple bird strikes caused the loss of both engines. Suddenly U.S. Airways Flight 1549 was crippled. As we glided above Manhattan, the silence of those usually roaring engines was eerie. With only seconds to react to this catastrophic failure, First Officer Jeff Skiles and I quickly worked the problem.

Making the decision to head for the Hudson River, rather than try to return to LaGuardia or plot a course for a New Jersey airport, I knew it was merely the best of several bad options. But thankfully, everything went right, and we saved the lives of all 155 passengers and crew, turning a potential tragedy into a triumph that captured the imagination of the American public.

The so-called Miracle on the Hudson profoundly changed us all, and it was humbling to be hailed as a hero. But that moment of working through pit-of-my-stomach anxiety was merely the culmination of many years of preparation. After forty-two years of making small, regular deposits in a bank of experience, education, and training, fortunately, the balance was sufficient for me to make a very large withdrawal.

This is an idea Bob Gilliland understood very well.

As an elite test pilot working in the shadows during the Cold War, Bob dealt with many emergency situations.

He knew how it felt to lose an engine.

He knew how it felt to have a stick go dead in his hands.

As an Air Force Academy graduate who spent several years flying the F -4 Phantom, one of the greatest fighters of its time, I have always admired the SR -71 Blackbird. What a tremendous technological achievement. In this book you will learn all about Bobs leading role in developing the worlds fastest airplane, which played such a vital role in our intelligence gathering for a quarter century.

Especially during his days as the chief test pilot of the SR -71, Bob regularly flew off in an unproven machine to demonstrate the power of the great Kelly Johnsons masterpiece while dealing with a long list of unknowns and potential perils. This was a dangerous business, and it took a skilled and gutsy pilot to ride that cutting edge.

Often things went wrong, but somehow, while negotiating an environment of unprecedented heat, speed, and altitude, Bob always leaned on his accumulated knowledge and experience to find his way home.

This is an important book about a remarkable pilot who helped extend the frontier of American aviation.

One morning in early 1965, a tall man wearing dark glasses pulled up to the main gate at Edwards Air Force Base. The guard waved him right through. Driving onto the sprawling outpost in Californias high desert, into a realm of legends and ghosts, Robert Jordan Gilliland, known to one and all as Bob, could not wait to get back in the air. How he loved going high and fast.

By the time the Lockheed test pilot parked his Mercedes Benz 220 next to the cavernous Skunk Works hangar, Dick Miller was already in his office.

We still doing this thing?

Miller nodded and they started looking over the days flight plan.

When they walked out into the glaring sun beating down on the desert like a blow torch, wearing specially designed silver pressure suits nearly identical to the familiar nylon shells worn by the NASA astronauts racing the Russians to the moon, Gilliland and his reconnaissance systems officer stepped into a sleek black aircraft. It cast a futuristic aura, like something out of a science fiction film.

Within minutes they were streaking through the stratosphere at Mach 2.82.8 times the speed of sound. Only a select few aviators had ever gone so fast in an air-breathing jet. They were headed for a majestic view only a select few had ever glimpsed, terrestrial blue melding with heavenly black.

But something happened on the way to the top of the world.

While working through a series of scheduled tests, the stick became unresponsive in Bobs hand. He lost control of the aircraft. Suddenly, he and Miller were trapped inside a titanium bullet, and he knew he had a matter of seconds to avert disaster.