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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Ms. Patricia M. Hedrick

Master Sergeant Warren A. Hedrick, USAF, Retired. Career high point: Charter member of the Autoflight Programming Branch of the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale AFB, California from October 1965 through December, 1970. Sergeant Hedrick was one of the four original 'blue suiter' programmers who designed and created the software used to generate mission flight plans that were loaded into the Astro Navigation System (ANS) aboard the SR-71 'Habu' reconnaissance aircraft before each mission was flown. Using the generated flight plans, the ANS and subordinate systems automatically controlled all aspects of the mission, including speed, altitude, turns, sensor on/off points and other critical factors necessary to the operation of this revolutionary aircraft. The software also produced printed mission itineraries for the pilot and the RSO, as well as materials for plotting and annotating strip maps for the crew. Sergeant Hedrick wrote a significant portion of the software and served three four-month overseas TDY tours in support of the operation of the SR-71 during a time when the intelligence it provided was critical to national leaders in making tactical, strategic and policy decisions regarding the use of American military resources. Of particular satisfaction to each of the original programmers was the fact that within six months of the beginning of the software project, missions were being flown using the products from their programs.