The story of Marta Bohn-Meyer, the only woman to fly in the SR-71 Blackbird as a crewmember

The only other woman to have flown aboard the legendary SR-71 Blackbird was Congresswoman Beverly Byron who rode as a VIP guest in 1985.

The photos in this post features Marta Bohn-Meyer, the only woman who flew aboard the legendary SR-71 Blackbird as a crewmember.

Born in 1957, Marta Bohn-Meyer began her work in aerospace as a student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York in the late 1970s. According to Cosmosphere Blog, for three years, she participated in a cooperative research and education program the school held at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

When she finished school, she joined NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center (then Dryden) as an aeronautical research and operations engineer. She would eventually rise to the post of chief engineer after 22 years at this same location, after a series of roles with increasing responsibility, including:

• Project manager for the F-16 XL Supersonic Laminar Flow Control
• Deputy director of aerospace projects
• Director of safety and mission assurance
• Director of flight operations

In 1991, Bohn-Meyer became the first woman to crew the triple-sonic SR-71 Blackbird. She was assigned as NASA flight engineer and had been with NASA twelve years by then. Her role was to help NASA obtain high-speed, high-altitude data to improve future aircraft design. The only other woman to have flown in the famously fast plane was Congresswoman Beverly Byron who rode as a VIP guest in 1985.

Bohn-Meyer (who was married to NASA test pilot Bob Mayer) not only flew the Blackbird as Reconnaissance Systems Officer (RSO) but she also had time in the SR-71B with the stick piloting the iconic HABU.

Widely known as a precision aerobatic pilot, Bohn-Meyer died on Sep. 18, 2005, when the Giles G-300 she flew in an aerobatic practice routine crashed near Oklahoma City.

Retired NASA deputy administrator Fred Gregory recalls being first assigned to mentor her when she began at Langley as a student:

“She was smart, detail-oriented, opinionated and professional well beyond her age.”

Kevin Petersen, director for Dryden (now Armstrong) Flight Research Center at the time of her passing, remarked on Bohn-Meyer’s “strength and her commitment to all she pursued.”

“We committed lives to this person’s judgment every day; she was the last line of defense against complacency. And she never let me—or Dryden—down.”

Be sure to check out Linda Sheffield Miller (Col Richard (Butch) Sheffield’s daughter, Col. Sheffield was an SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer) Facebook Pages Habubrats and Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder for awesome Blackbird’s photos and stories.

Photo credit: NASA