THE SLED DRIVER
STORY
By Author - Brian Shul
Every author hopes that his book is a
success, but I could have never predicted the widespread
popularity of my first book, Sled Driver, in 1992. Perhaps it
was because of the original photos, or the mystique of the plane
it honored, or maybe the first-person non-technical style of
writing. I rather think it was a bit of all three. But for
whatever reason, my simple account of what it was like to fly
the SR-71 went on to become the most coveted of all the
Blackbird books out there for nearly 10 years.
I originally wrote the book in 1991 as a
tribute to a magnificent aircraft that I had been privileged
enough to fly. I didn’t even own a computer when I wrote Sled
Driver, and wrote the book, page by page, on a small word
processor. I didn’t expect to sell the book in large numbers,
and wasn’t even sure that very many people would want to read
it, I just felt compelled to write it. As it was my first book,
I had nothing to fall back on for experience in knowing where to
say more, or less. And I could not possibly know if anyone at
all would appreciate or fully understand just what I was trying
to say, since I really didn’t know how people would respond to
my writing. Perhaps ignorance is bliss since, to this day, the
most frequent comment I get concerning Sled Driver is that
someone loved the “style of writing”. I guess there is some
merit to writing from the heart. I initially thought that the
people who had been associated with the program might want a
copy along with some hardcore airplane enthusiasts, but I was
surprised to see that there was a nation full of SR-71 fans out
there, eager to get a copy, and even more eager to write to me
and thank me for writing it. It was quite a rush for those first
few years as the popularity of the book was a bit overwhelming
at every book signing.
A year after the books release, I began
doing more slide shows at aviation and science museums across
the country, normally signing some of my books afterwards. I
began to get a clearer picture at just how widespread peoples’
love, devotion, and interest was for the SR-71. And even more
amazing to me was how many people were able to quote passages
from my book to me. It became such that if I didn’t deliver a
certain story or two in my slide show, someone in the audience
would mention it, or they would point out some clarification
from the book as if it were the authoritative source.
Considering that it was far from a technical reference, I found
this intriguing. At one show, I actually had a man come up to me
and tell me where I was incorrect in something I said because he
remembered it differently when he read the book. It was fun. The
Sled Driver book had captured the imagination of a majority of
all the SR-71 fans out there, which I began, lovingly, to refer
to as “Sled Heads”. And of course there was the 14 year-old
model builder who very accurately called to let me know that the
photo used for the cover shot on the book, had been reversed.
Now that cover shot has no discernable decaling on it, being
pastel in nature, and only a real expert would have caught the
fine detail of the small problem on the pitot boom being on the
wrong side. Of course he was correct. We did that to make the
plane go in a more natural book-opening direction of left to
right. He forgave us when we explained, but I learned that the
Sled Heads were watching, and I loved them for it.
Eventually, in 1995 I took the book out on
the air show circuit, even though I was told that I would have
little success with a $50 item at an air show venue. Within 4
years, I had gone through the remaining 10,000 books left in the
warehouse. My other three books sold well, but no matter where I
went, Sled Driver was always the most popular seller. With the
unfortunate demise of Mach 1 Publishing, further reprints were
not forthcoming, and the book sadly went out of print for a
while.
This was bad timing as the popularity of
the book seemed to be going through a resurgence right around
the turn of the century. I think this was due to several
factors. First, the jet had finally been retired, not only from
the Air Force, but from NASA too, and was now in numerous
museums around the country where millions of people had the
opportunity to see it. Secondly, the prodigious growth of the
internet served to spread the name Sled Driver further and
faster than ever before. In addition to being mentioned on
numerous book sites, there were three or four really good SR-71
sites that all touted the book as a prized addition to any
Blackbird collection. I was never more inundated with emails and
calls for the book, than in that first year when it went out of
print. Sled Driver had become somewhat of an icon for the
Blackbird mystique that was alive and well, and growing. The
book had won the Best New Aviation Book award from the American
Foundation of Writers, gone through four printings, and been
sold in 13 different countries, and it broke my heart to have to
tell people that there were no longer any copies available.
I remember selling the last one at the Reno Air Races and
feeling quite sad. Such was the public demand, that I actually
sold off all the demo copies, used ones, torn ones, defective
ones-people just wanted to have one. When I found a box of first
editions that we had overlooked in the store room, I sold those
last dozen for $200 apiece. They lasted less than a month. What
really gave me the impetus to obtain the publishing rights to my
book and finance a remake, was witnessing the list of people on
Amazon.com signed up for even a used copy. I actually saw some
prices over $500. Unbelievable.
Thus, the birth of the new Limited
Edition. I felt Sled Driver deserved a lavish printing worthy of
its long term fame. The book had long been the “must have”
Blackbird book for all Sled Heads out there and it was time to
print, and write the book the way I had always wanted to redo
it. (There is no anguish like that of an author reading his own
book, late at night, years after having written it, and wanting
to tear complete pages from the binding and re-write whole
sections). With the Centennial of Flight Year upon us, it just
seemed like the right time, and things started falling into
place. Few authors get a chance to completely redo their book
and improve it in every way, and I have fully immersed myself in
the task.
I feel this special Limited Edition will
surpass the original in every way. In essence, it is part of the
original. No Sled Driver II here, just the same title, same
basic story, many of the same photos, and oh so much more. I’ve
added some new stories that never made it to the original, and
expanded certain sections. There are also some new photographs
thanks to the participation of famed Lockheed photographer Eric
Schulzinger, and renowned aviation photographer George Hall.
Both men were inspirations to me when I was first getting
serious about my photography, and between the three of us, I
think this will be the definitive SR-71 photo collection outside
of government photos. I was lucky too, in being able to get the
three men whose signatures I wanted along with mine in the book.
Getting the first man to ever fly the plane, Robert Gilliland,
and the pilot of the final official Air Force speed record dash
across America, Ed Yeilding, was, I thought, an appropriate
coupling of the first and last. And of course, after years of
telling stories in my slide shows about my backseater, Walt
Watson, he simply had to be included. Many people are unaware
that Walt was the only African-American officer ever to fly as a
crewmember in this prestigious program. And yes, we hand signed
every single book, no digital signatures here.
Assigning a numbered book to each buyer,
has been interesting thus far, as people have already been
requesting a variety of different numbers of preference. And of
course, several numbers were reserved before the book was ever
finished. Book #1 had to be Bob Gilliland’s naturally, Walter
got #2, and I took #71, just to name a few. We also reserved
book #911 for President George Bush, which we hope to present to
him in September of 2003. We’ve received a lot of good comments
too, on the nice touch of embroidering each persons book number
on their individual patch. Extra work, but it makes each patch
one-of-a-kind. We’re still debating whether more people will
wear their patch, or frame it on their wall. Either way, we are
very proud of that design, as putting the Wright Flyer and the
SR-71 together symmetrically was no easy task, and it’s never
been done before.
How did we come up with $427 as a final
price? 427 degrees was the maximum SR-71 compressor inlet
temperature limit. Highly classified for years, it was the one
factor that determined the limiting Mach on any given day. I
knew the Sled Heads would appreciate knowing that. A portion of
the proceeds from the sale of the Limited Edition, will go to
Military Family Assist Programs. And as a point of interest,
that now famous cover shot, will not only be going in the
correct direction, but will, for the first time, be shown in its
original full frame horizontal perspective. We added some pages,
made the book larger in size, and spared no expense in putting
together what we think is a book very worthy of its pedigreed
name.
In the decade since the original book
first appeared, I have never ceased to be amazed at the depth
and widespread devotion that this plane elicits nationwide. I
have been very proud to keep the memory of this great plane
alive through the original Sled Driver, and now, the Limited
Edition. It is a plane worthy of remembrance. I was privileged
to have flown it, and have been privileged to share that
experience with so many great people across this nation.
Head Sledder
Brian Shul
Gallery One
SledLimitedEditionDriver
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