Cecil H. Braeden was a navigator for the U.S. Air Force in the 1950s-1970s and later worked for Hughes Aircraft Company and the Boeing Company.

Cecil Herbert Braeden was born on January 16, 1935 in Warsaw, Illinois to Albert Emerson and Beatrice Cecilia (Herbert) Braeden. He grew up on a farm. After a year of college he tested to enter the U.S. Air Force Aviation Cadet program and qualified as a pilot or navigator. He entered Aviation Cadet Training pursing the track for navigators in December 1954. He trained at Lackland Air Force Base and Harlingen Air Force Base in Texas and graduated in March 1956. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. His first assignment with the Air Force was with the B-47 bomber, going to Mather Air Force Base in Sacramento, California for advanced navigation training. His first operational assignment was with Strategic Air Command flying B-47s as navigator/bombardier based at Lincoln Air Force Base in Nebraska. He described this as the toughest job he ever had.

His next assignment was with the B-58 Mach 2 bomber program, starting in 1960. After about three years working with B-58s he began looking for his next challenge and was the first volunteer for the SR-71 Blackbird program, not knowing what the program was. This was a secret program and interviewees were only given minimal information about it. Braeden was accepted into the program and transferred to Edwards Air Force Base in California where there were two pilot and two navigators, including Braeden, designated as the SR-71 test force. He went through six weeks of training at Lockheed Skunk Works in Burbank, California. He flew at Mach 3 on his first flight in the SR-71. He served as Reconnaissance Systems Officer and was deeply involved in testing and developing sensors and navigation system.

After completion of the Category II Flight Test Program by December 1967, he was transferred to Beale Air Force Base and began training for operational flights. He eventually flew on missions out of Okinawa, Japan over Cambodia, China, Laos, North Korea and North Vietnam. Braeden also continued developmental work on navigation systems and sensors.

Braeden then went into Wing Intelligence, becoming commander of the 9th Reconnaissance Technical Squadron, the group that processed the SR-71 film. When he was promoted to Colonel, he served as Chief of Intelligence Collections for Southeast Asia, based in Thailand. After a year he was then assigned as commander of the 480th Tactical Intelligence Group at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. From that position he was assigned as Assistant Chief of Intelligence at Headquarters for Tactical Air Command. Braeden retired from the Air Force in 1979 after more than 24 years of service. Over his military career he flew on more than 100 flights. During his service, he was awarded the Air Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

After his retirement from the military, Braeden turned to the private sector. He worked for Hughes Aircraft Company with their Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar Program in El Segundo, California. Then he moved to Seattle, Washington to work for Boeing, where he was manager of research and development projects, mostly related to the B-1 and B-2 bombers. Braeden retired from Boeing in 1999 after 18 years with the company.

In his retirement, Braeden enjoyed woodworking, building rocking chairs and other furniture. He also enjoyed fishing, hunting, crabbing, boating, hiking and participating in activities with his Catholic church.

Braeden married his wife Maureen in 1956. They had five children. After her passing in 2011 he married Shirley Conforti in 2013. Braeden passed away on May 4, 2025 in Anacortes, Washington and is buried in Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent, Washington.