Military Funeral Honors are Conducted for U.S. Air Force Capt. Robert Gilliland Sr in Section 72 of Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, June 4, 2026 - 2

Airmen from the U.S. Air Force Honor Guard and a bugler from the U.S. Air Force Band’s Ceremonial Brass conduct military funeral honors for U.S. Air Force Capt. Robert Gilliland Sr. in Section 72 of Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, June 4, 2026. Following the funeral service, Gilliland was inurned in Columbarium Court 9. Gilliland entered the U.S. Naval Academy during World War II and graduated in 1949. However, he was offered and accepted a commission into the recently established Air Force. He flew fighter jets during the Korean War and afterwards, flew the supersonic F-104 jet as a test pilot. His skills as a pilot caught the attention of Skunk Works engineer Kelly Johnson and following his separation from the Air Force, Gilliland joined Lockheed Martin as Johnson’s chief test pilot. In this role, Gilliland became the first person to pilot the supersonic SR-71 Blackbird. He would also test almost every SR-71 that came out of the factory, logging more test flight hours at Mach 3 than any other pilot in the world. (U.S. Army photo by Elizabeth Fraser / Arlington National Cemetery / released)

Date

2026

Photographer / author

Arlington National Cemetery

Archive

Wikimedia Commons

Type

photograph

Original size

7,612 × 5,075 pixels

Need photos for a whole script? Add Find Any Photo to Claude and ask for this one by its id: 51933.