flag       COL. SAMUEL M. URSINI       AF Seal

USAF (Ret)

Fire Control Officer/ Reconnaissance System Officer

YF-12/SR-71

Colonel insignia
master navigator wings
Legion of Merit MedalDistinguished Flying Cross MedalAir Medal w/11OLCs

BIO

TARGET TARGETMACH/ALT     YF-12 MACH/ALT     LAUNCHRANGE RESULTS
Q2C .9/40K 2.2/65K 36NM Direct Hit
Q2C .8/20K 2.3/65K 36NM No Guide (lost power)
Q2C .8/20K 3.2/75K 34NM 6 feet Guide
Q2C .6/1.5K 3.2/75K 30NM 9 feet Guide
QB-47 6. /1.5K 3.2/75K 31NM Direct Hit
Q2C .6/20K 3.2/74K 35NM 99 feet Guide
QB-47 .6/500 ft over land 3.2/74K 33NM 45 feet Guide
AWARDS:
Michigan Aviation Hall of Fame
Legion of Merit
Distinguished Flying Cross w/oak leaf
Air Medal w/11 oak leafs
Master Navigator Wings

TOTAL FLIGHT HOURS: 3,900 - YF-12/SR-71: 305 hours

Click on images to enlarge


Me and Vern Henderson just before flight

Me, Joe Rogers and our elite ADC (Air Defense Command) maintenance personnel. The EM in white on the right are our (physiological) pressure suit experts.
Me and Vern Henderson - first military crew to fire a missile from the YF-12A
Me and Vern Henderson - first military crew to fire a missile from the YF-12A
YF-12 Story


Bio for the induction into the Michigan Aviation Hall of Fame

April 21, 2018

Col. Samuel M. Ursini
USAF, RET.-

Military Aviator, Experimental Flight Testing (SR-71) & (YF-12) Aviation Executive- Samuel Ursini was born in Detroit in 1933, and Graduated from the University of Detroit in 1955 as a ROTC Air Force second lieutenant. He was awarded Air Force Navigator wings in 1956 at Ellington Air Force Base,Texas and assigned as radar interceptor officer to the 84th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Hamilton AFB, California. In 1957, he was part of the first and only live firing of the nuclear Genie MB-1 air-to-air rocket, and was aboard one of four aircraft from his squadron that flew through the nuclear cloud to test crew nuclear susceptibility. Ursini graduated from Ground Weapons Controller training in 1961 and served as a Weapons Director for the San Francisco Air Defense Sector, Beale AFB, California.

In 1964 he was selected for Top Secret experimental flight testing of the YF-12 and SR-71 Blackbirds, at Edwards AFB Calif. and Area 51 in Nevada. Flying with pilot Jim Eastham in 1964 he was aboard for his first flight to Mach 3.2, 75,000 feet in the YF-12, and was the third aviator in the Air Force to exceed Mach 3 in the aircraft. He then was the first Air Force man to launch an AIM-47 missile from the YF-12, scoring a direct hit on a target drone 65,000 feet below. The YF-12 was flying at Mach 3.2 and 75,000 feet. He was the first man to test the YF-12 pulse doppler radar against an SR-71 flying at Mach3.2 80,000 feet with a successful intercept. The closing rate between the two aircraft was Mach 6.4... nearly 5000 miles per hour! He was one of the first to fly the SR-71 on a 10 hour mission duration. In 1970, he was transferred to Vietnam where he flew 190 combat missions in the F-4E Phantom with the 388 Tactical Fighter Wing. From 1971 to 1974 he was stationed at the Air Defense Headquarters in Colorado Springs as Plans &Programs Officer where he was promoted to Colonel. He retired in 1976 and joined Grumman Aerospace Corp. and then Fairchild Republic Corp. as Vice Pres. for Advanced Programs. Also in 1980, Colonel Ursini helped form a new company in SanDiego, which later merged with Lockheed. He retired from Lockheed in 1986.

Colonel Ursini earned 4,500 flight time and flew in more than twenty different aircraft types. He was awarded, the Legion of Merit, two Distinguished Flying Crosses, and eleven Air Medals.


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