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Anyone know the story with the SR-71 stab at San Diego Air and Space Museum?


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I'm stumped and I am hoping a resident Blackbird guru has a satisfying answer...

 

We just visited the San Diego Air and Space Museum and they had a Blackbird rudder on display - it is heavily worn, slightly damaged, with tail number 17955, and the Skunkworks skunk on it.  The museum plaque only said it was "removed after being damaged." The thing is, 17955 is on display at Edwards (with rudders) and the one at SDASM looks like the one that showed up on eBay in 2012 for $1M by a dude who normally sold crochet needles.

 

I can't find any other info beyond the 2012 eBay offer - What is the rest of the story??

 

Thanks!!

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  • 2 weeks later...

There were a stack of old SR-71 rudders in the DRMO (Scrapyard) at Norton AFB to be sold off for scrap when the program closed down. A few made it to private hands. The majority of them were composite rudders that had a limited lifespan compared to the metal rudders used for most of the program. The one in San Diego likely came from this selection of scrap rudders.

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It was definitely composite, so it makes sense that it would have been in that batch - thanks for adding some breadcrumbs to this trail! I can't believe they didn't just destroy all of them; I know that's not where all the secrecy and tech was hiding, but it still seems like something that they wouldn't want out in the open.

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