A-12 spy plane

[Chris71]

May be of interest to some... The story of a predecessor to the SR-71, the A-12, testing in the infamous Area 51:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/05/pi...

ETA Didn't realise there was an interceptor version of the A-12/SR-71 concept too, the YF-12:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_YF-12

Edited by Chris71 on Thursday 2nd June 17:04

[anonymous-user]

It really reminds me of how advanced that plane really was, when you see the type of cars and trucks that were being used in it's recovery! ;-)

Although the photo archive release may be relatively recent, the actual incident, and several similar A-12/SR-71 hull loses, are fairly well documented by various aerospace archeology groups.

[Eric Mc]

Max_Torque said:

It really reminds me of how advanced that plane really was, when you see the type of cars and trucks that were being used in it's recovery! ;-)

I always think that when I see pictures of the early F-86 Sabres.

[thatone1967]

Saw an A12 on the flight deck of the USS Intrepid about 10 years ago... assumed it was an SR71 at the time


http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/The-Intrepid-Experie...

[Chris71]

thatone1967 said:

Saw an A12 on the flight deck of the USS Intrepid about 10 years ago... assumed it was an SR71 at the time

http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/The-Intrepid-Experie...

I'm assuming the relevance of the aircraft carrier (to the A-12) is just somewhere to host the museum?

[thatone1967]

Chris71 said:

thatone1967 said:

Saw an A12 on the flight deck of the USS Intrepid about 10 years ago... assumed it was an SR71 at the time

http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/The-Intrepid-Experie...

I'm assuming the relevance of the aircraft carrier (to the A-12) is just somewhere to host the museum?

I beleive so... same reason that they have /had an Ex BA Concorde rotting away on a barge tied up next to it

[Eric Mc]

Chris71 said:

thatone1967 said:

Saw an A12 on the flight deck of the USS Intrepid about 10 years ago... assumed it was an SR71 at the time

http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/The-Intrepid-Experie...

I'm assuming the relevance of the aircraft carrier (to the A-12) is just somewhere to host the museum?

The USS Intrepid museum has been on station in Manhattan for around 30 years. I visted it in 1984. The ship itself is historic. Most of the items on display are US Navy related but there are a fair number of non-Navy items on display too.

[blueedge]

The Intrepid is well worth a visit, they have quite a good mixture of aircraft on board, and the A-12 is kept in great condition.



Looking through my pictures amongst other things there is this Supermarine Scimitar:

Edited by blueedge on Sunday 5th June 20:05

[Dr JonboyG]

blueedge said:

The Intrepid is well worth a visit, they have quite a good mixture of aircraft on board, and the A-12 is kept in great condition.



Looking through my pictures amongst other things there is this Supermarine Scimitar:

Edited by blueedge on Sunday 5th June 20:05

They've evidently been busy, when I was there in the late 90s the planes on deck were in a complete state.

[blueedge]

Dr JonboyG said:

They've evidently been busy, when I was there in the late 90s the planes on deck were in a complete state.

I think they renovated the ship and everything else in the mid-2000s. They're getting the space shuttle Enterprise too so I'm guessing more work will be done to accommodate that.

[insurance_jon]

Interesting page on the CIA website

https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-o...