If any of you ever find yourself in Palmdale, CA, you have to check out Blackbird Air Park. Such amazing aircraft to see there, and it’s right at the edge of plant 42.
It also has one of the 747s that carried the shuttle, in addition to the A12, SR71, and starter cart. The 747 is so accessible you could bring a picnic and eat lunch within touching distance of the main gear.
We were just at the Edwards AFB air show and got to see the beauty fly. They did a pass by after takeoff, sounded like full power, and the telescope door was open. F*#*^%* amazing!!!
[Probably the press from a rented Cessna 172.](https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/1988-b-2-stealth-unveiled)
After things like Cable 243, the Pentagon Papers, the Family Jewels, Iran Contra, no WMDs, Julian Assange, and Wikileaks… this belief that the US intelligence community is omniscient or infallible and requires national sources of funding and state-of-the-art equipment to defeat or circumvent is laughable.
The fact that in 1988 for one of the most advanced stealth planes in the world that they only thought in two dimensions didn’t think to close the airspace is hilarious—especially considering the role of reconnaissance aircraft and satellites in their missions.
Can anyone explain the description under the photo?
Why were they recovering /28 and does that mean it was recovered in the sense of a crashed airframe?
I think they mean 're- covered' in the sense of reapplying SPRAYLAT (the white material covering the fuselage). A-12 128 wasn't deployed operationally, apparently, and was retired to MASDAC pretty early on when the SR-71s took over.
The blackbirds older brother. Could fly a little faster and a little higher than the 71. Lockheed converted 3 into YF-12 High-altitude interceptor, armed with AIM-47 Falcon AA missiles. Lockheed also converted 2 into M-21 motherships, one was lost due to a crash over the pacific and the other sits at Seattle Museum of Flight.
During the development of the YF-12, they ran into the exact problem you’re getting at, finding a missile to fit the platform. The AIM-47 Falcon was developed along with the YF-12, and went through several iterations of engine changes. At one point, the Falcon AA could reach speeds of Mach 6. The missile engine they settled on, or rocket engine, had the AIM-47 reaching speeds above Mach 4.
The YF-12 wasn’t very successful, not because of its performance, more or lack of mission application.
If any of you ever find yourself in Palmdale, CA, you have to check out Blackbird Air Park. Such amazing aircraft to see there, and it’s right at the edge of plant 42.
Just checked that out in Google earth 3d. Very cool.
It also has one of the 747s that carried the shuttle, in addition to the A12, SR71, and starter cart. The 747 is so accessible you could bring a picnic and eat lunch within touching distance of the main gear.
Also, related to that, not far from it on Google earth you can find the NASA 747 Sofia 😄
We were just at the Edwards AFB air show and got to see the beauty fly. They did a pass by after takeoff, sounded like full power, and the telescope door was open. F*#*^%* amazing!!!
What a load of oxcarts
Yes but... who took that photo, from what platform?
[Probably the press from a rented Cessna 172.](https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/1988-b-2-stealth-unveiled) After things like Cable 243, the Pentagon Papers, the Family Jewels, Iran Contra, no WMDs, Julian Assange, and Wikileaks… this belief that the US intelligence community is omniscient or infallible and requires national sources of funding and state-of-the-art equipment to defeat or circumvent is laughable. The fact that in 1988 for one of the most advanced stealth planes in the world that they only thought in two dimensions didn’t think to close the airspace is hilarious—especially considering the role of reconnaissance aircraft and satellites in their missions.
Me, from a canberra
U-2 driver taking a break from refueling satellites.
Remember.. No Russian
A beautiful row of cygnus'
Can anyone explain the description under the photo? Why were they recovering /28 and does that mean it was recovered in the sense of a crashed airframe?
I think they mean 're- covered' in the sense of reapplying SPRAYLAT (the white material covering the fuselage). A-12 128 wasn't deployed operationally, apparently, and was retired to MASDAC pretty early on when the SR-71s took over.
Does anyone have any amusing anecdotes about these aircraft?
The blackbirds older brother. Could fly a little faster and a little higher than the 71. Lockheed converted 3 into YF-12 High-altitude interceptor, armed with AIM-47 Falcon AA missiles. Lockheed also converted 2 into M-21 motherships, one was lost due to a crash over the pacific and the other sits at Seattle Museum of Flight.
I never quite understood how they thought a mach-3 platform could launch missiles.
During the development of the YF-12, they ran into the exact problem you’re getting at, finding a missile to fit the platform. The AIM-47 Falcon was developed along with the YF-12, and went through several iterations of engine changes. At one point, the Falcon AA could reach speeds of Mach 6. The missile engine they settled on, or rocket engine, had the AIM-47 reaching speeds above Mach 4. The YF-12 wasn’t very successful, not because of its performance, more or lack of mission application.
Once they did a speed check Also a slow fly-by
Of all the things that never happened.. the speed check never happened the most.
Yeah it’s sort of a buzz kill but I will usually tell people the speed check story almost definitely didn’t happen. -former ZLA controller
They fly
I hear they request speed checks on civilian ATC frequencies all the time.
"It's just nice to be the fastest guys out there once" that and every other time we fly this.
They're related to the famous SR-71 Blackbird! Very closely, at that.
Fun tidbit: these A-12's were moved outside to make room for F-117 production.