Stephen James wrote...

Perhaps this is a good time to dredge up these gems...

In his book,"Sled Driver" SR 71 Blackbird Brian Shul writes I'll always
remember a certain radio exchange that occurred one day as Walt (his
backseater) and I were screaming across Southern California, 13 miles
high.

We were monitoring various radio transmissions from other aircraft, as
we entered Los Angeles airspace."

"Though they didn't really control us, they did monitor our movement
across their scope. I heard a Cessna ask for a readout of its ground
speed. "90 knots" Center replied.

Moments later, a Twin Beech required the same. "120 knots," Center
answered.

"We weren't the only ones proud of our groundspeed that day.. as almost
instantly an F-18 smugly transmitted, "Ah, Center, Dusty 52 requests
groundspeed readout." "There was a slight pause, then the response, "525
knots on the ground, Dusty".

"Another silent pause. As I was thinking to myself how ripe a situation
this was, I heard a familiar click of a radio transmission coming from
my backseater. It was at that precise moment I realized Walt and I had
become a real crew, for we were both thinking in unison.

"Center, Aspen 20, you got a groundspeed readout for us?" There was a
longer than normal pause...."Aspen, I show 1,742 knots."

"No further inquiries were heard on that frequency"

And...

In another famous SR-71 story, Los Angeles Center reported receiving a
request for clearance to FL 60 (60,000ft).

The incredulous controller, with some disdain in his voice, asked, "How
do you plan to get up to 60,000 feet?

The pilot (obviously a sled driver), responded, "We don't plan to go up
to it, we plan to go down to it."

He was cleared...

Oh, to save those wanting to search for the origins of this, below is the header
from the original message that I saved these stories from.

========================================================================
Newsgr: aus.aviation
Date: Sun, 09 Feb 2003 12:38:39 +1100
From: Aztec
Addr: richard@tequila-frenzy.com
Subj: Humourous Stories/Jokes...
------------------------------------------------------------------------