Tag: A-12 Oxcart
Bob Gilliland made the historic SR-71 first flight on Dec. 22, 1964. Robert J. “Bob” Gilliland, former Lockheed
test pilot and the first man to fly the iconic SR-71 Blackbird spy plane, the
world’s fastest aircraft, died on Thursday, Jul. 4, 2019 at the Rancho Mirage,
California retirement facility where he had been living for several...
JQB-47E 53-4256 was involved in the top secret project Kedlock. The interesting photo in this post features JQB-47E 53-4256 which had been with the 3214th Operational Maintenance Squadron (OMS) at Eglin Air Force Base (AFB) before being placed in storage at Davis Monthan AFB on Aug. 20, 1968. The YF-12 kill markings on...
During the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, nineteen SA-2 missile sites were constructed on the island supported by P-14 "Tall King" radars. Oxcart planners realized they had a unique opportunity to test the sensitivity of the latest in Soviet defense radars When the Lockheed U-2 made its first overflight of the Soviet Union...
"In a matter of seconds, all hell broke out. Without any warning the A-12 pitched up and went into a flat inverted spin," Ken Collins, A-12 test pilot In 1959, Lockheed began work on the design of a long-range, high-altitude plane, then known as the A-11. It was a Cold War project. Heading the project team was Clarence "Kelly" Johnson,...
