61-7955
955 last flew on Thursday, January 24, 1985. At that time, the Air Force had come to the conclusion that she had been modified so many times that she no longer represented the SR-71s that were being flown out of Beale. The higher-ups figured that it would cost about $5 million to bring her up to the fleet standard. In spite of what you hear about defense spending and budget overruns, the Air Force decided it wasn't worth the cost to modify the airframe, and chose instead to take the next aircraft due in for maintenance at the Palmdale facility and make it the new Skunkworks test bird. This is how 972 came to be graced with Señor Skunk on her tail.
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