Message posted by RickB on March 10, 2012 at 12:07:56 PST:

I'm from Illinois and once while visiting my brother in Sacramento back in the early 1980's, I drove up to Beale AFB hoping maybe to get a peek at one of our favorite aircraft. I didn't see much of anything that day (it may have been on a Sunday).

But I always wondered....on average, how often did an SR-71 takeoff from Beale during a typical week back in its heyday? Was it maybe once a day, once or twice a week or maybe just a handful of times over the course of a month?? Just curious if anyone knows...

I guess the same question could be asked about the SR-71 activity while it was based at RAF Mildenhall in England.

Interestingly, my brother, although not an airplane buff, said he saw an SR-71 one day flying low right over his house on approach to land at McClellan AFB.

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