Presidential Aircraft Announcemnet

[jujoos]

looking for the answer to this question. rather desperate. please help.

Once, when a president of the US was announcing that a new plane had been developed, he messed up and said the name of it wrong in the press conference. In order to save the president face, the developers simply changed the name of the aircraft to what he had said it was. Which plane was it, and which president made the historical blunder?

[hotshot]

It was Lyndon B. Johnson(B. did NOT stand for brains) who made the announcement to the world that the USA had a new aircraft to be utilized for information aquisition, named the "SR-71". The actual designation up to that point was, I believe, RS-71, but I will check on that and post the correct original i.d. after some research. The military P. R. people at that time were not pleased but did not want to contradict the President, even such a sorry excuse for a President as Johnson, so they allowed the designation to stick and changed the anacronym to Surveillance/Reconnaissance.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdanna, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by jujoos:
looking for the answer to this question. rather desperate. please help.

Once, when a president of the US was announcing that a new plane had been developed, he messed up and said the name of it wrong in the press conference. In order to save the president face, the developers simply changed the name of the aircraft to what he had said it was. Which plane was it, and which president made the historical blunder?

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Safe Driver

[jujoos]

thank you so much. this helps tons! i'm glad there was someone out there who knew the answer.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdanna, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by hotshot:
It was Lyndon B. Johnson(B. did NOT stand for brains) who made the announcement to the world that the USA had a new aircraft to be utilized for information aquisition, named the "SR-71". The actual designation up to that point was, I believe, RS-71, but I will check on that and post the correct original i.d. after some research. The military P. R. people at that time were not pleased but did not want to contradict the President, even such a sorry excuse for a President as Johnson, so they allowed the designation to stick and changed the anacronym to Surveillance/Reconnaissance.



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[pilot_wannabe]

Clarification of Information - On July 25,1964, President Johnson announced the existence of a new Air Force airplane called the "SR-71". He was supposed to have said "R/S-71" - for recce/strike. Rather than correct the President, the Air Force explained tha "SR" stood for "strategic reconnaissence", and the airplane has had the designation SR-71 ever since.

[jujoos]

thank you so much for the help. it was a lifesaver. and anyone who actually just knows things like that deserves a cookie.