How did it all work to get you to the SR-71 to start with?

Well, I was stationed at Nellis Air Force Base in the Fighter Weapons School flying several different models of the F-4 Phantom.

And I felt like I had reached a point where I need to start looking at a future for a transition.

It's a voluntary assignment and force, so to speak.

And I was at a position in my career where I wanted to move on and fly something else and be in a good place to get promoted in rank.

And one of the pilots where I was stationed at Nellis Air Force Base was an F-105 pilot and he knew a lot about the SR-71 and he had volunteered for it.

And the 105 Wild Weasel pilots were considered a critical resource.

And most of this, once you got up in the air, was it hand flying up to altitude, or when did you use autopilot coming and going?