A-12 Oxcart
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A12Blackbird.JPG
A-12 is a CIA spy plane that was a predecessor to the SR-71 and the YF-12.
There are three distinctive types of airplane that are all called Blackbirds by the laymen. These three airplanes were designed for different branches of the government, with different mission/operation objectives, design parameters and flight characteristics. Due to the secrecy surrounding these airplanes during their operating years, the military never stepped forward to clarify any confusion regarding these airplanes. These airplanes can be easily distinquished from one another by several very obvious external features:
- The A-12 is a one seater CIA spy airplane. The single seat cockpit is a telltale sign, with the exception of the one-of-a-kind trainer version shown on the right.
- The SR-71 is a two seater Air Force spy airplane. The two seater cockpit is a telltale sign.
- The YF-12 is a Air Force fighter interceptor. The cone shaped nose is a telltale sign.
Regular A-12s were one-seater spy planes built for CIA. Compare to the later SR-71 which were two-seater spy planes built for USAF. Compare to the YF-12 interceptor which has a pointy nose cone. All three types of airplanes A-12, SR-71 and YF-12 were designed with different capabilities for different missions and have distinct exterior features though they look very similar. Even press release photos from the government sometimes mixed up the pictures. It is unknown if the mix up was intentional or not because these projects were secret and unclassified pictures were hard to come by.
On 26 January, 1960, the CIA ordered twelve A-12 aircraft. After the SR-71 was chosen to replace the A-12; May 8th, 1968 saw the last operational mission of an A-12, which was over North Korea. After this, all A-12s were sent back to Palmdale to be put into storage for several decades before going to museums around the United States. This particular specimen in LA is the only A-12 trainer ever built. It was put on display in 2003.
A-12 Trainer Specification
Material: Titanium
Length: 31.2 m (102 ft 3 in)
Wingspan: 16.9 m (55 ft 7 in)
Height: 5.6 m (18 ft 6 in)
Takeoff weight: 53,000 kg (117,000 lb)
Landing weight: 23,600 kg (52,000 lb)
Speed: Mach 2.0
Altitude: 18,000 m (60,000 ft)
Engines: 2 Pratt & Whitney I-75 engines, each rated at 17,000 lbf (76 kN) thrust
First flight: January 1963
Number of flights: 614
Hours of flight: 1,076 hours flying time
The A-12 trainer has two cockpits: one for an instructor and one for a pilot in training. Black paint on the plane's nose kept reflected sunlight from blinding the pilots.
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Built for extreme performance
The Skunk Works, a special classified-projects group at Lockheed, made huge advances in aircraft technology to build the A-12. Since the A-12 as the first titanium aircraft, the project team discovered a lot about how to work with this challenging metal.
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The A-12 team developed new methods so fuels and oil could stand up to the extreme heat in the plane's engine. They also tested new ways to make aircraft less visible to radar.
External links
- Info about this particular exhibit (http://www.californiasciencecenter.org/Exhibits/AirAndSpace/AirAndAircraft/A12/A12.php)
- Differences between the A-12 and SR-71 (http://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/a-12/)