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[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E914]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE TO ROBERT J. GILLILAND
______
HON. STEVE COHEN
of tennessee
in the house of representatives
Friday, July 12, 2019
Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Robert J.
Gilliland, the first man to fly the world's fastest supersonic manned
aircraft--the SR-71 Blackbird--who died on Independence Day last week
at the age of 93. Mr. Gilliland, a native of Memphis, attended what is
now the Campus School at the University of Memphis and the Webb School
at Bell Buckle, Tennessee. He was a 1949 graduate of the U.S. Naval
Academy, where he took his commission in the newly created U.S. Air
Force. After patrolling the skies over post-war Germany, he won his air
wing's ``top gun'' competition. In the Korean War, he flew F-84s from
the Taegu Air Base with the call sign ``Dutch 51.'' Returning to the
United States, Mr. Gilliland got a plum assignment to the Air Force's
research and development group at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, but
soon left that post to help his father run the family's Memphis
commercial real estate business. After his father died, Mr. Gilliland
joined Lockheed as a test pilot for the F-104 Starfighter in
California, then as chief pilot for the European production of the F-
104 at Turin, Italy. In 1962, he got a call from Clarence L. ``Kelly''
Johnson, the chief of Lockheed's advanced research and development team
at what is called the Skunk Works outside Burbank, California. There,
he worked on the secretive SR-71 Blackbird, the first manned stealth
aircraft and the fastest of its day, sometimes at the super-secret Area
51 in the Nevada desert. On December 22, 1964, he piloted the
hypersonic SR-71 for the first time and continued testing an aircraft
that could attain speeds in excess of Mach 3.2 and climb to the edge of
outer space at 85,000 feet. Mr. Gilliland logged more test flight hours
at or above Mach 3 than any other pilot. His life is the subject of a
book due for release next year with a forward by Captain Chesley
``Sully'' Sullenberger, who landed a U.S. Airways flight on the Hudson
River in 2009. I want to extend my condolences to Mr. Gilliland's
daughter Anne Gilliland Hayes and her husband Richard; to his son
Robert J. Gilliland Jr. and his wife Kim; to his grandchildren Laura,
Nathaniel, Stuart, Scott and Heather; and to his brother, my friend
James S. Gilliland and his wife Lucia. Service was a family quality
that was instilled in Mr. Gilliland and he was a true hero whose
bravery was repeatedly demonstrated in the harshest possible
circumstances. He was the embodiment of the Air Force motto, ``Aim
High, Fly-Fight-Win.'' The nation owes him a debt of gratitude for an
American life well lived.
____________________
