May 6, 2025 • 7 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, the late Major Brian Shul shares his legendary “LA Speed Check” story—an absurd and unforgettable moment from the cockpit of the fastest plane in the world, the SR-71 Blackbird.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib, and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
and some of our favorite stories are about the men
and women who serve our nation in uniform. Throughout its
nearly twenty four year career, the Lockheed SR seventy one
Blackbirds spyplane remained the world's fastest and highest flying operational aircraft.
(00:33):
From eighty thousand feet, it could serve a one hundred
thousand square miles of Earth's surface in a mere hour.
SR seventy one pilot Brian Schule recalls in his book
Fledg Driver, Flying the world's fastest jet. There are a
lot of things we couldn't do in an SR seventy one,
but we were the fastest guys on the block and
(00:55):
loved reminding our fellow aviators of this fact. Here's Major
Shool with his legendary story known today as the LA
Speed Check.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
It's called the LA Speed Story, and it was just
a story about one day. It was really cool being
SR seventy one pound Walter and I were doing a
training mission around the United States where you just were
building up hours in time, and we take off that
Bill hit a tanker in Idaho, rip on up to Montana,
zip across Danver, hang a right turn in Albuquerque, out
over Los Angeles, up to Seattle, back in the Sacramento
(01:28):
two hours, twenty one minutes. And you just do that
and then you do it backwards, so you hit a
tank or too. It was just just to gain crew coordination.
Get bill your hours. We're on our last training mission.
We're over Tucson. I can see downtown LA. From Tucson.
We're at eighty nine thousand feet. I can see the
whole Western United States bathed in a warm October fall glow.
(01:51):
I can see the chain of rocky mountains from Canada
to New Mexico. I could just see the most beautiful
picture laid at my feet in the air, smooth as glass,
not a gay moving in the cockpit. It was perfect.
Now I'm thinking we bad. Now. I feel sorry for
Walter because he has to monitor five radios in the
back seat. So I flipped the switch up just to listen.
(02:12):
And LA Center is controlling. They control all when you
fly Southwest Air. There, the guy's controlling everybody. But we're
above controlled their space, so they have us on their scope,
but they're not talking to US. Now, there's controllers all
over the country Jacksonville Center, Chicago Center, Seattle Center. You
know it's the same guy. They all talk the same
(02:33):
and it's really cool the way they talk because he
makes you feel important as a pilot. They don't just
say yeah, okay, here's your thing. They make you feel
really cool. So sure enough to this was pre GPS day.
Some SASNA guy has to know his ground speed. LA
Center says, noa November tangle off, you got a ground
speed readout for us? Now? Center would like to say,
who cares? Get our free? But no, he'll talk to
(02:55):
him like he's John Glynn sas November ethill we'll show
you ninety nine. It's nice zero knots on the ground
and they do that sing song. Boy, that's how they talk,
and it makes you feel kind of cool. Right after that,
a twin Bonanza came up to pimp the guy for speed,
I guess and LA Center Twin Beach whatever, you got
a ground speed right for us and centered like sikats Friday,
(03:16):
why me, God, please just get off free. But he's
gonna talk to him like he's Air Force one. Twin Beach.
Shall we show you one twenty one two's zero knots
on the ground. And right after that, a Navy F
eighteen out of Lamore popped up on frequency, and you
knew as a Navy guy because he talked really slick
on the radio center dusty five two speed check. And
(03:42):
I'm thinking, wait a minute, Dusty five to two is
a ground speed indicator and had million dollar F eighteen
cockpits right there and the head's up display. Why is
he calling center to broadcast his speed? I get it.
We had just the meanest, baddest, fastest military jet in
the valley. Only two day. We're taking our little horna
jet over Mount Whitney and ripping across Death Valley, and
(04:05):
we want everyone from Fresno to the coast to know
what real speed is. And you can almost hear a
little glee in the controller's voice, like we have put
an end to this Testy five two, well show you
six twenty six two zero knots across the ground. And
it was that across the ground, see that little knife like,
I hope nobody else has the nerve to get on
(04:27):
frequency now. And there wasn't an airliner from Seattle to
San Diego that wanted to be next on Freak. It's
sort of an etiquette thing amongst flyers. And a twelve
year old was reaching for the mic bike and I thought,
oh no, wait, Walter's in charge of the radios. I
flew single seat all those years, but I'm in the
family model now and I want it. No, it's a
(04:50):
navy that has dying. They must die now. And I
thought no, But if I do, use Walter, and I
want us to be a good crew. And at that
moment I heard a click of the mic, and in
the back seat, ladies and gentlemen, Walter and I became
a crew. At that moment, his best innocent voice, la Center,
(05:10):
Aspen three zero, have you got a ground speed right off?
For us? You could almost hear a collective gasp on Freak,
like all the poor fools didn't hear the previous transmissions.
Oh they got crushed.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Like a grape.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
It's just a pilot thing. But Center had to give
you that same voice Aspen threes. There we show you
one nine ninety two knots across the ground. When I
know is going to like Walter a lot is when
he came back said Center, we're showing a little closer
to two thousand, Ladies and gentlemen, we did not hear
(05:46):
another transmission on that frequency all the way to the coast.
The King of speed lived, the Navy had been flamed
and a crew had been formed for just a moment.
It was absolutely fun and being the fastest guys on
the block.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
And you've been listening to Major Brian Schule his story
of the SR seventy one Blackbird doing a little speed
check to show off just a little bit. By the way,
a little about Schule. He flew two hundred and twelve
combat missions and was shot down near the end of
the Vietnam War. Unable to eject, he was forced to
(06:23):
ride the plane into the jungle. He was rescued by
Army special forces and was so badly burned that he
was given next to no chance to live. Bryan spent
a full year in the military hospital, where he underwent
fifteen medical procedures and was told he would never fly again.
Bryan miraculously returned to full flight status, flying the A seven,
(06:46):
then the A ten, and went on to be an
instructor at the Air Force's top gun school. By the way,
he's a real life people, folks, real life people. His
career culminated in flying the SR seventy one Blackbird. Brian
was the pilot who provided President Ronald Reagan with detailed
photos of the Libyan terrorist camps in nineteen eighty six.
(07:08):
Major Brian Schules SR seventy one Blackbirds story the LA
Speed check here on our American Stories.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Folks.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
If you love the great American stories we tell and
love America like we do, we're asking you to become
a part of the Our American Stories family. If you
agree that America is a good and great country, please
make a donation. A monthly gift of seventeen dollars and
seventy six cents is fast becoming a favorite option for supporters.
Go to our American Stories dot com now and go
(07:51):
to the donate button and help us keep the great
American stories coming. That's Our American Stories dot Com.
This is Lee Habib, and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
and some of our favorite stories are about the men
and women who serve our nation in uniform. Throughout its
nearly twenty four year career, the Lockheed SR seventy one
Blackbirds spyplane remained the world's fastest and highest flying operational aircraft.
(00:33):
From eighty thousand feet, it could serve a one hundred
thousand square miles of Earth's surface in a mere hour.
SR seventy one pilot Brian Schule recalls in his book
Fledg Driver, Flying the world's fastest jet. There are a
lot of things we couldn't do in an SR seventy one,
but we were the fastest guys on the block and
(00:55):
loved reminding our fellow aviators of this fact. Here's Major
Shool with his legendary story known today as the LA
Speed Check.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
It's called the LA Speed Story, and it was just
a story about one day. It was really cool being
SR seventy one pound Walter and I were doing a
training mission around the United States where you just were
building up hours in time, and we take off that
Bill hit a tanker in Idaho, rip on up to Montana,
zip across Danver, hang a right turn in Albuquerque, out
over Los Angeles, up to Seattle, back in the Sacramento
(01:28):
two hours, twenty one minutes. And you just do that
and then you do it backwards, so you hit a
tank or too. It was just just to gain crew coordination.
Get bill your hours. We're on our last training mission.
We're over Tucson. I can see downtown LA. From Tucson.
We're at eighty nine thousand feet. I can see the
whole Western United States bathed in a warm October fall glow.
(01:51):
I can see the chain of rocky mountains from Canada
to New Mexico. I could just see the most beautiful
picture laid at my feet in the air, smooth as glass,
not a gay moving in the cockpit. It was perfect.
Now I'm thinking we bad. Now. I feel sorry for
Walter because he has to monitor five radios in the
back seat. So I flipped the switch up just to listen.
(02:12):
And LA Center is controlling. They control all when you
fly Southwest Air. There, the guy's controlling everybody. But we're
above controlled their space, so they have us on their scope,
but they're not talking to US. Now, there's controllers all
over the country Jacksonville Center, Chicago Center, Seattle Center. You
know it's the same guy. They all talk the same
(02:33):
and it's really cool the way they talk because he
makes you feel important as a pilot. They don't just
say yeah, okay, here's your thing. They make you feel
really cool. So sure enough to this was pre GPS day.
Some SASNA guy has to know his ground speed. LA
Center says, noa November tangle off, you got a ground
speed readout for us? Now? Center would like to say,
who cares? Get our free? But no, he'll talk to
(02:55):
him like he's John Glynn sas November ethill we'll show
you ninety nine. It's nice zero knots on the ground
and they do that sing song. Boy, that's how they talk,
and it makes you feel kind of cool. Right after that,
a twin Bonanza came up to pimp the guy for speed,
I guess and LA Center Twin Beach whatever, you got
a ground speed right for us and centered like sikats Friday,
(03:16):
why me, God, please just get off free. But he's
gonna talk to him like he's Air Force one. Twin Beach.
Shall we show you one twenty one two's zero knots
on the ground. And right after that, a Navy F
eighteen out of Lamore popped up on frequency, and you
knew as a Navy guy because he talked really slick
on the radio center dusty five two speed check. And
(03:42):
I'm thinking, wait a minute, Dusty five to two is
a ground speed indicator and had million dollar F eighteen
cockpits right there and the head's up display. Why is
he calling center to broadcast his speed? I get it.
We had just the meanest, baddest, fastest military jet in
the valley. Only two day. We're taking our little horna
jet over Mount Whitney and ripping across Death Valley, and
(04:05):
we want everyone from Fresno to the coast to know
what real speed is. And you can almost hear a
little glee in the controller's voice, like we have put
an end to this Testy five two, well show you
six twenty six two zero knots across the ground. And
it was that across the ground, see that little knife like,
I hope nobody else has the nerve to get on
(04:27):
frequency now. And there wasn't an airliner from Seattle to
San Diego that wanted to be next on Freak. It's
sort of an etiquette thing amongst flyers. And a twelve
year old was reaching for the mic bike and I thought,
oh no, wait, Walter's in charge of the radios. I
flew single seat all those years, but I'm in the
family model now and I want it. No, it's a
(04:50):
navy that has dying. They must die now. And I
thought no, But if I do, use Walter, and I
want us to be a good crew. And at that
moment I heard a click of the mic, and in
the back seat, ladies and gentlemen, Walter and I became
a crew. At that moment, his best innocent voice, la Center,
(05:10):
Aspen three zero, have you got a ground speed right off?
For us? You could almost hear a collective gasp on Freak,
like all the poor fools didn't hear the previous transmissions.
Oh they got crushed.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Like a grape.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
It's just a pilot thing. But Center had to give
you that same voice Aspen threes. There we show you
one nine ninety two knots across the ground. When I
know is going to like Walter a lot is when
he came back said Center, we're showing a little closer
to two thousand, Ladies and gentlemen, we did not hear
(05:46):
another transmission on that frequency all the way to the coast.
The King of speed lived, the Navy had been flamed
and a crew had been formed for just a moment.
It was absolutely fun and being the fastest guys on
the block.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
And you've been listening to Major Brian Schule his story
of the SR seventy one Blackbird doing a little speed
check to show off just a little bit. By the way,
a little about Schule. He flew two hundred and twelve
combat missions and was shot down near the end of
the Vietnam War. Unable to eject, he was forced to
(06:23):
ride the plane into the jungle. He was rescued by
Army special forces and was so badly burned that he
was given next to no chance to live. Bryan spent
a full year in the military hospital, where he underwent
fifteen medical procedures and was told he would never fly again.
Bryan miraculously returned to full flight status, flying the A seven,
(06:46):
then the A ten, and went on to be an
instructor at the Air Force's top gun school. By the way,
he's a real life people, folks, real life people. His
career culminated in flying the SR seventy one Blackbird. Brian
was the pilot who provided President Ronald Reagan with detailed
photos of the Libyan terrorist camps in nineteen eighty six.
(07:08):
Major Brian Schules SR seventy one Blackbirds story the LA
Speed check here on our American Stories.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Folks.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
If you love the great American stories we tell and
love America like we do, we're asking you to become
a part of the Our American Stories family. If you
agree that America is a good and great country, please
make a donation. A monthly gift of seventeen dollars and
seventy six cents is fast becoming a favorite option for supporters.
Go to our American Stories dot com now and go
(07:51):
to the donate button and help us keep the great
American stories coming. That's Our American Stories dot Com.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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