This is the A-12, a supersonic spy plane that was the precursor of the SR-71 —and according to the CIA, even while they look similar, in some ways it was more advanced than the famous Blackbird. It’s one of the ten 10 survived the 15-plane OXCART program, one of which is in the USS Intrepid in Manhattan. This one was unveiled today by our dear friends at the CIA in an official ceremony at their Langley HQs. The story of this Mach 3.2 technological wonder starts in 1957 and, like all secret flying things full of gadgets, it’s fascinating.
The OXCART program story began in 1957, when a contractor suggested that high-altitude supersonic flight was the only way to avoid Soviet air defenses. CIA’s Richard M. Bissell, who was directing the 1954 U-2 spy plane program at the time, was concerned about their vulnerability to URSS radars and anti-air missiles. He was right: in 1960 the soviets shot down Francis Gary Powers’ U-2 near Sverdlovsk.
By then the A-12 program was already under way: after Lockheed Aircraft completed “antiradar studies, aerodynamic structural tests, and engineering designs,” the CIA gave the green light to produce the 12 aircraft on January 30th, 1960. It was still called the A-11 at the time and Lockheed engineer Clarence L. Johnson was the main designer. He also was responsible for the U-2 but, for some reason and after months of drawings and wind-tunnel model testing, people were still not convinced this beast could fly.
[Keep reading at Gizmodo]
I’ve been hearing rumors of the A-12 for a long time. Every once in a while as a spy plane. Now the most curious thing was that I thought the A-12 had followed the SR-71, not preceded it. It also makes me wonder what designation the current Aurora or whatever name it has that followed the SR-71 then. Gizmodo has a number of good pictures, and the official CIA announcemnet doc is here.
Tags: Aviation, History, Interesting
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