"...By Far this is my favorite..." Published July 11, 2016 By Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Schultze 9th Reconnaissance Wing Public Affairs BEALE AIR FORCE BASE, California -- "I joined the Air Force in 1966, I found out during tech school I had orders to Beale. I said where the heck is Beale? I had never heard of it. Later I reported into the squadron with the other new Airmen and they introduced us to our leadership and briefed on what we would be doing. We were in hangar two out on the flight line and the Chief took us down a hall way opened up the hangar door and said that's what you're going to be working on. All we could see is about 5 feet of the aircraft, all black and we're going what is it? And he said you don't need to know, and for the next two months we did odd jobs around the base until we obtained our security clearances. Throughout my time on the SR-71 most of it was spent as a Crew Chief and Phase Maintenance Inspector. I loved working on the airplane, during my 22 years I worked on five airframes, by far this is my favorite." Retired Master Sgt. Floyd Jones Flight Test Inspector Hometown: San Francisco, California