my sis got me this guys autograph

Whilst working in a high end tea rooms in York my sister greets and seats a guy at a table,she spotted the logo of the F117 stealth on a pin badge on his lapel,knowing I'm a huge fan of all things such as this she asked him about it, well she said "hey that's a F117 isn't it? My brothers always on about this stuff" the guy then goes on to say who he was where he worked what he worked on and he was over in the UK maybe York for a birthday of a friend.
The man in question? None other than Alan Brown director of engineering at skunk works Lockheed Martin.
Of course she got me an autograph which I'm having mounted with some cool stealth diagrams my sis got me from the USA.
Just thought I would share as I thought it was very cool!

Text www.eaa119.org...

I love that sort of stuff; I'm a big fan of signed first edition books. Congratulations on your score. Too bad you didn't get some juicy conspiracy info as well....

a reply to: stealthyaroura

Cool! What does the sig look like and did he say anything?

Also have you had any interesting fly-bys since this?

One more thing, keep your eyes pinned to the skies, you never know when there could be a followup! Your Sis must be very goodlooking and easy to approach.

Good for you

a reply to: notmyrealname
Oh I imagine I would of started asking questions way out of bounds like " so does the b2 really have a positively charged leading edge thus enabling less drag?"
Or worse still........aliens? Lol
But yeah cool or what

a reply to: antar
The Sig is just written in ball point pen on a piece of paper my sister must of had probly an order pad.
She said he was really well dressed and talked quite freely about why he had the lapel badge and thus who he was.
My sis knew I would of never let her forget about it if she never got me any info from an actual skunk works legend!

Don't get to see to many flybys here, the odd typhoon and AWACS was above York once a few years ago.
I want to see the SR71 before i die,bucket list thing.

Edit for putting SR21 instead of sr71

a reply to: stealthyaroura

I was stationed in Japan in the mid 80's on an Air Force base (I was Army). Due to the nature of our work we were told the SR 71 would be in the general area (we were tasked with watching for reaction to it). As I walked out of the barracks that morning, I heard something that made me think the building behind me just imploded. The ground actually shook (which wasnt uncommon in Japan) and I could feel it in my stomach. I looked up and briefly saw the fastest object I've ever witnessed in the sky. Had I blinked, I wouldn't have seen it. Now that was an SR 71. I know you said SR 21 but that's a gun so I'm thinking you meant SR 71, even though its been replaced i believe by the SR 72. Anyway, That was my experience with what was a secret aircraft at the time, at least I think it was secret as we weren't allowed to talk about it.

Also wanted to add as far as a loved one getting an autograph, at 16 I stood in line all day to see Adam Ant at a first come, first serve venue. Because I was under age, my Dad accompanied my friend and I to get us in, however he did not have to stay with us. He ended up at the bar inside and don't you know Adam Ant came walking thru there before the show. For some reason, my Dad had my Mom's pay check stub and got his autograph on that and actually chit chatted with him. I still have it to this day and I'm almost 50!

a reply to: megabogie
Haha cheers for the heads up on the typo on the 71 (how embarrassing lol)
But yeah what a plane! Those engines what a design by Kelly Johnson how did he even come up with the thing it's an absolute work of art and still looks years ahead of its time and still a record holder.
I will only get to see one on the ground if lucky unlike yourself,that must of been something!
Museam pieces now, but absolutely epic. My favorite plane of all time.
Cool on the Adam ant auto also

a reply to: stealthyaroura

You never know in life when you might meet a famous person! Nice thread!

I'm starting to feel like Brian williams but it just occurred to me I've seen another famous plane. I was in Moscow in 1992 and I saw the remnants of the U-2 plane that Francis Gary Powers flew over the Soviet Union! It's on display in a museum there and I actually touched it! When you mentioned museum pieces it reminded me of that.

I know! Imagine what the guy must have been privy to see at places like area51 etc.
I did joke to my sister that he most likely had a security attachment descreatly following him in case of kidnap
For all the secrets in his amazing mind.
Do you think i was getting a bit carried away with the cloak and dagger stuff ? Lol
a reply to: Quantum12

Oooooooooooooo... coool. A real brush with rare knowledge!

That's one guy I'd love to dope with scopolamine, or some safe truth serum, and have an extended truthful chat with... with perhaps Zaphod looking on for back up questions.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the resultant report would be roundly ridiculed, though.

a reply to: stealthyaroura

LOL, I bet there was a team around him.

Baddogma: Zaphod needs to chime in here!

a reply to: Baddogma

Would be hard to report anything from solitary confinement at Guantanamo.

a reply to: stealthyaroura

Very cool! I met Alan Brown once at Edwards Air Force Base. He is a really nice, down-to-earth guy.

It's true that you never know who you might meet. I used to work for an airline, so I spent nine years at Burbank Airport and about a year at Los Angeles (LAX). As a result, I met lots of well-known people including actors (Jimmy Stewart, Ernest Borgnine, Delta Burke, Tom Selleck, Annette Funicello, and many more), comedians (George Burns, Sinbad), musicians (John Denver), and political figures (Henry Kissinger, Oliver North, Lt. Gen. Forrest S. McCartney). But I was more interested in talking to the astronauts (Alan Shepard, Neil Armstrong, Tom Stafford, T.K. Mattingly, Sally Ride), cosmonauts (Alexei Leonov, Valeri Kubasov), and test pilots (which brings me to a fun story).

One day at Burbank, I was taking my lunch break in the back office, which had a large window facing the runway, the edge of which was a mere 180 feet away (I know, it doesn't sound plausible, but the window glass was literally the only thing separating me from the southern edge of the taxiway and there was only a 50-foot gap between the north edge of the taxiway and the south edge of the runway; you can check it out on Google Earth). It was a great place to watch the Janet 737 flights fly in and out on their runs between the Skunk Works and Groom Lake. So, the phone rings and it's a guy telling me he just flew in from San Diego and didn't get his luggage. He had to get going immediately, and asked if he could file a report with me. I said, "Sure, first I need your name." He responded, "Louis W. Schalk." Of course, I recognized the name of the first man to fly the Lockheed A-12 at Area 51, so I blurted out, "Lou Schalk, the test pilot?" He seemed surprised at my reaction and said, "How did you know?" Since he was staying nearby, with the widow of another famous test pilot, I promised to personally deliver his bag after it arrived. On the way, I stopped at home to pick up a photo of the A-12 for him to autograph. Lou also gave me an autographed commemorative bottle of wine that had been specially labeled for an event at the Blackbird Airpark in Palmdale.

Another time, I delivered a bag to a bigwig inside the Skunk Works Engineering building, a windowless multi-story structure that looked as if it was probably surrounded by a built-in Faraday cage. I didn't get any further than the front lobby, but it was still pretty cool.

a reply to: Shadowhawk

I really enjoyed your story! You never know who you will meet!

a reply to: Shadowhawk

That set of gems takes some beating ! Thats way cool,talk about being in the right place at the right time.
And the blackbird story,well what can I say? Outstanding.my favorite bird. Very cool

a reply to: Baddogma

Haha baddogma thats a crazy idea but yeah,imagine what the guy has seen out in them test areas!
I did have to Google him and when I saw the guys bio I was blown away! Cool clever and by all accounts real nice fella.

a reply to: Shadowhawk

We need a picture of your memorabilia room man.

a reply to: stealthyaroura

The Kansas Cosmosphere has a SR71 right inside the entrance.

That's the only time I've ever seen one....I think I could probably touch it now that I'm an adult....not when I was a child and last saw it, though.