Stormy Boudreaux

Lionel Paul Boudreaux III grew up in New Orleans, the son of Lionel Paul Boudreaux, Jr., a Pearl Harbor survivor known as Bubba.  Lionel Paul Boudreaux, Sr., Stormy’s grandfather, is shown above.  

So how did Lionel Paul Boudreaux III come to be known as Stormy? Bubba had been in the Navy during World War II and was stationed aboard the Medusa in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.  At the time, there were many navy tall tales and songs about AB Stormalong, or Stormy, for short.  Bubba started to call his son Stormy at three weeks old, and it stuck.

Stormy was a track star in high school at St. Aloysius High School and later at Tulane University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in biology and education.  Later, he earned his Master of Science in aeronautics from Embry Riddle University.  But he always knew he wanted to fly.

Stormy’s younger brother Wayne also became an Air Force Pilot.  Wayne died in 1990 while piloting a non-military aircraft in the Philippines.  

Stormy served 24 years in the US Air Force, as Command Pilot, Standards and Evaluation Pilot and Functional Test Pilot.  He flew the F-4, T-38, and T-33, before he flew the U-2 and the SR71.  

In 1970, while he was in training in the F-4, Stormy was interviewed by the San Bernardino County Sun.  https://www.newspapers.com/clip/53761175/worlds-best-fighter-pilots-in-training/

During the Vietnam War, he earned the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Stormy flew the U-2 both before and after he flew the SR71.

Stormy survived the "crash" of a U2 once!  Here is a synopsis of the story:  https://www.blackbirds.net/u2/u2_photo_gallery/u2_pic_pages/80-1084.html

The U2 involved in the "crash" had tail number 1084.  Stormy's name was painted on this plane, something he never knew until August 2020 when he saw a picture of the plane that was found in Lockheed's archives. Photos of the plane can be seen on the Photos/Videos tab.

Stormy is one of only twelve pilots who flew operational sorties in both the U2 and the SR71.  

With 680 hours combat time, Stormy was a combat veteran of Vietnam, Lebanon, Granada and Desert Storm operations. He retired from the US Air Force in 1992, after commanding the U-2 detachment at Howard AB, Panama.

Here is what Stormy had to say about flying the SR71 with one engine.  

Following military retirement, for several years he owned and operated an art gallery in Yuba City CA, and then was employed by Northrop Grumman for work on B-2. 

In 1995, he began work with Lockheed Martin’s “Skunk Works”, primarily on the U-2 program, where he was part of 3-man team that designed, integrated and then tested the “glass cockpit” for the U-2 and was the “chair” of the U-2 Cockpit Working Group.

In 2003, he transitioned to Lockheed Martin Fort Worth on the F-35 Lightning II program. He is currently a member of Lockheed Martin’s Simulator and System Integration Laboratory Pilot-Vehicle-Interface Team, which has responsibility for the design of the F-35 cockpit. Since the design is nearly solid, his current primary position is Test Director and F-35 Instructor Pilot in the Partner Manned Tactical Simulation, teaching the F-35 Block 3 capabilities to US, Partner nation, and Foreign Military Sales pilots.

He is married to Darlene Montgomery Boudreaux and enjoys time with their grown children and nine grandchildren.

Stormy and his wife Darlene visit museums on their vacations.  Stormy also gives talks or participates in symposia with other SR71 and U-2 pilots from time to time.  

Stormy was one of the 15 former pilots and crew chiefs who spoke at the SpyPosium at the Kalamazoo Air Zoo the weekend of October 4-5, 2019.  

On the week of March 6-8, 2020 (the weekend before the national Covid-19 shutdown), Stormy was a speaker at the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. 

In 2021, Stormy was interviewed by CW Lemoine on his popular YouTube channel.  Here is part 1 and here is part 2. Stormy spoke about his career, the choices he made that resulted in some of his amazing experiences, and some of the exciting things that happened to him along the way.