[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 117 (Friday, July 12, 2019)]
[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.

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