Fighter Pilot, Brian Shul, Dies at 75
Brian Shul Dies at 75; Fighter Pilot Who Flew World’s Fastest Plane [SR-71]
Brian Shul, a retired Air Force major who modestly described himself as “a survivor” rather than a hero, after he was downed in a Vietnamese jungle, where he nearly died before rebounding to pilot the world’s fastest spy plane, died on May 20 in Reno, Nev. He was 75.
The cause of his death, in a hospital, was cardiac arrest, said his sister and sole survivor, Maureen Shul, a former mayor of Castle Pines, Colo. He had collapsed as he finished regaling the annual gala of the Nevada Military Support Alliance with his aerial adventures.
Major Shul flew 212 combat missions during the Vietnam War before his T-28 Trojan ground attack aircraft was struck by small-arms fire and crash-landed near the Cambodian border in 1974, as the war was nearing its end.
He underwent 15 operations and spent well over a year as, he once put it, “119 pounds of blood and gauze,” recuperating from burns that covered half of his body and left his hands and face disfigured. But two days after being released from the hospital, despite doctors telling him that he would never walk again, Major Shul was back in an Air Force cockpit.
Click here, to read the full article free.
Though major Shul was not a member of the VAHS, he was well respected by those who knew him.
“Super Shul” was indeed a super pilot!! God bless Major Shul as he goes West!
~ Frank Wickersham III
—
Story credit: The New York Times; https://www.nytimes.com/ and thank you to Kenneth Peppard for sharing the article with us.