SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 2017
5 B
M ILITARY H ERITAGE C HRONICLES
Winged cloak and dagger
W
hen one thinks of
Cold War elements
like cloak and dag-
ger or spy-vs-spy, we often
It reached that target of higher
and faster: it flew at speeds in
excess of Mach 3 while reach-
ing altitudes of 80,000 feet.
Although this resulted in the
plane being able to simply fly
higher and faster than any
threats, some stealth features
were a bonus from its design as
well.
The service life of the SR-71
ran from 1967 until its final
retirement in 1991, although re-
activation was considered dur-
ing the early and mid ’90s due
to unease in the Middle East
and North Korea.
During its time in service,
while none were lost by being
shot down, 12 Blackbirds were
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lost in accidents, resulting in
the death of only one test crew
member.
One of the factors contribut-
ing to its retirement was the
increasing use of satellites to
conduct strategic reconnais-
sance. Another was the intro-
duction UAVs — Unmanned
Aerial Vehicles.
While both alternatives still
require significant dedication
of man-power to launch and
monitor, they don’t put the
flight crew in harm’s way as
with the SR-71, which still
required one pilot and one sys-
tems specialist. Col. Jay
Murphy, USAF (Ret) is one of
those pilots who flew the
Blackbird and knows firsthand
those dangers — not just hos-
tile threats but also technical
failures, such as the loss of both
engines while on a Korean
reconnaissance mission flying
Mach 3 at 74,000 feet.
As a tribute to some of the
sophisticated
technological
systems developed for the air-
craft, he was able to get an
engine re-started and land in
South Korea and survive the
harrowing experience.
Now retired and living with
his wife Dayle here in
Florence, Col. Murphy would
go on after his retirement from
the Air Force to become the
Program Manager at Lockheed
PeaceHealth presents Palliative Care Program
On Thursday, April 20, from
10:30 to 11:30 a.m., the
PeaceHealth Peace Harbor
Medical Center Palliative Care
program will present the 2017
Forum on Aging in Rural
Oregon, hosted at Best Western
Plus Hood River Inn.
Stephen Kerner, DO, and
Donna Becker, Medical Social
Worker, will be discussing the
new palliative care program in
Florence and the successes and
challenges they have encoun-
tered in the community thus far
while implementing the plan.
Palliative care programs
serve patients who have been
diagnosed with a life-limiting
illness and desire alleviation of
symptoms — whether social,
physical, emotional or spiritu-
al.
Patients can receive pallia-
tive care at any time and at any
stage of illness, whether termi-
nal or chronic.
Though both palliative care
and hospice care programs
focus on pain and symptom
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2150 Hwy. 101 • Florence
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www.TheSiuslawNews.com
for the Blackbird.
He will be the Oregon Coast
Military Museum’s speaker at
this month’s Military Heritage
Day at the Florence Municipal
Airport on April 22.
He will share with us some
of the sophisticated systems of
the aircraft, nuances of flying
one and experiences while
piloting it on missions.
To RSVP for this limited-
seating event, visit the muse-
um’s new website www.oregon
coastmilitarymuseum.com.
The
museum,
2145
Kingwood St., is open
Thursday through Saturday, 10
a.m. to 4 p.m.,
management, palliative care
programs also include treat-
ment options.
Also this month, the
Palliative Care program is
hosting a series of classes
designed to train prospective
volunteers to work directly
with palliative care patients in
the community.
The trainings will be held at
Lane Community College and
include an overview of pallia-
tive care, the role of the pallia-
tive care team and the volun-
teer, and communication and
spirituality.
Patient support volunteer
classes will be limited to 18
members, and are held every
Monday through May 1, from
8:30 a.m. to noon.
Anyone interested in becom-
ing a palliative care volunteer,
or for more information, con-
tact Donna Becker at dbeck-
er@peacehealth.org or call her
at 541-902-6734.
Breaking news,
photo galleries
and MORE!
Visit the new
Siuslaw News website
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Tuesday 4/4
Marcia Robinson
Donna Riggs
Florence
Florence
Safeway/Florence
Safeway/Florence
Wednesday 4/5
Steve Condley
Steven Pfeifer
Florence
Florence
Beachcomber
Copeland Lumber Yards
Thursday 4/6
K K Crutcher
Ray Bray
Florence
Florence
Safeway/Florence
True Value
Friday 4/7
Pattie Panther
Maureen Moore
Florence
Florence
Firehouse Restaurant
Grocery Outlet
Saturday 4/8
Donna Graves
Pat Sullivan
Florence
Florence
Grocery Outlet
Safeway/Florence
Sunday 4/9
Jeremy Romero
Cheryl Jordan
Florence
Florence
Safeway/Florence
Safeway/Florence
Monday 4/10
Diana Taplin
Sharon Fruzza
Florence
Florence
Safeway/Florence
Grocery Outlet
CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
B Y C AL A PPLEBEE
Special to the Siuslaw News
think in terms of people.
However, there have been
numerous technological ele-
ments over the years that figure
prominently in the Cold War as
well, and one of those is the
iconic spy plane built by
Lockheed’s legendary Skunk
Works: the SR-71 Blackbird.
Work on the series began in
the late 1950s with a primary
goal of developing an aircraft
which could fly faster and high-
er than the U-2 spy plane then
in use, thus keeping it out of
harm’s way.
Several initial variants were
designed and produced which
culminated in the SR-71 which
first flew in December of 1964.