SR-71 BlackBird
SR-71 “Blackbird”
An Insight to Top Secret, Record Breaking, Cold War Technological Advances in Aviation
A Brief Look into the SR-71
By
JSoucy
Introduction
The Date is August 4 1955, and the U-2 “Dragonlady” Reconnaissance takes to the skies for the first time in history. The U-2 was built specifically to gather intelligence on foreign countries with the primary intention of flying over the Soviet Union and photographing sites of strategic interest. The U-2 was soon to have a disadvantage according to Clarence L “Kelly” Johnson. Clarence was the Chief Architect and designer of the U-2, the CIA’s A-12 aircraft that were predecessor to the SR-71, and head of Lockheed’s Advance Development Projects, better known as the Skunk Works. Clarence feared that someday his aircraft would become vulnerable to enemy defenses. In response to this foresight he had he began to conceptualize a new aircraft that would fly faster and higher than the U-2. It wasn’t soon after that that the U-2 was shot down in 1960 and the call from Washington came.
On August 28th 1959 Lockheed proceeded to develop five A-12 aircrafts for the CIA, under the code name Oxcart. Later, on April 26th 1962 the A-12 blackbird was under development. Lockheed produced 15 A-12 Aircraft for the Oxcart program, in which, two of the aircraft were converted into a two seat configuration to carry the D-21 drone and was redesignated the M-21. The M-21 was to carry the drone and at Mach 3 speeds activate the drone, and detach. The drone would then gather it’s intelligence through preprogramed software designating its route, it would then release a parachuted package, self-destruct and the package would be caught by a USAF cargo plane. That was a short lived program due to the destruction of one, in which the drone collided with the M-21 and resulted in the death of the LCO “Launch Control Officer”.
There were other blackbird variants, such as the YF-12A. Only three of these were built with the
An Insight to Top Secret, Record Breaking, Cold War Technological Advances in Aviation
A Brief Look into the SR-71
By
JSoucy
Introduction
The Date is August 4 1955, and the U-2 “Dragonlady” Reconnaissance takes to the skies for the first time in history. The U-2 was built specifically to gather intelligence on foreign countries with the primary intention of flying over the Soviet Union and photographing sites of strategic interest. The U-2 was soon to have a disadvantage according to Clarence L “Kelly” Johnson. Clarence was the Chief Architect and designer of the U-2, the CIA’s A-12 aircraft that were predecessor to the SR-71, and head of Lockheed’s Advance Development Projects, better known as the Skunk Works. Clarence feared that someday his aircraft would become vulnerable to enemy defenses. In response to this foresight he had he began to conceptualize a new aircraft that would fly faster and higher than the U-2. It wasn’t soon after that that the U-2 was shot down in 1960 and the call from Washington came.
On August 28th 1959 Lockheed proceeded to develop five A-12 aircrafts for the CIA, under the code name Oxcart. Later, on April 26th 1962 the A-12 blackbird was under development. Lockheed produced 15 A-12 Aircraft for the Oxcart program, in which, two of the aircraft were converted into a two seat configuration to carry the D-21 drone and was redesignated the M-21. The M-21 was to carry the drone and at Mach 3 speeds activate the drone, and detach. The drone would then gather it’s intelligence through preprogramed software designating its route, it would then release a parachuted package, self-destruct and the package would be caught by a USAF cargo plane. That was a short lived program due to the destruction of one, in which the drone collided with the M-21 and resulted in the death of the LCO “Launch Control Officer”.
There were other blackbird variants, such as the YF-12A. Only three of these were built with the
Cited: "Central Intelligence Agency." A Futile Fight for Survival -. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2013. Graham, Richard H. SR-71: The Complete Illustrated History of the Blackbird, the World 's Highest, Fastest Plane. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print. Grant, R. G. Flight: The Complete History. London: Dorling Kindersley, 2010. Print. Kucher, Paul R. "Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird." The Blackbird Archive. N.p., 2010. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. Martin, Lockheed. "Five Lessons for a Successful STEM Career." Creating The Blackbird · Lockheed Martin. N.p., 2013. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.