12 Archangel: Faster Lighter Higher than the SR-71
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Comments from YouTube:

Scott Manley

4y↑1.1K

Something about this title sounds familiar. :)
There's an A-12 sitting next to a SR-71 on show at Palmdale, it's an outdoor park displaying a bunch of historic planes.

Robin

4y↑50

Eyyy, a Scott in the wild!

Ping Chen

4y↑11

Well, you’d know ;)

James Weldon

4y↑34

The Museum of Flight in Seattle has an M-21, which is the A-12 based launch platform for the D-21 drone. I ate dinner underneath it once while I was attending my wife’s company party.

Bernard North

4y↑9

@James Weldon that's uber koo!!! Lucky you, have a wife and got to eat dinner with her under that?! lucky man!!!! don't let her go!!! Sounds like a keeper to me.
Wishing you and yours the absolute best in life!

( sorry I still quite haven't figured out this trolling stuff yet)

gnome53

4y↑13

Another A-12 is on display at the Medal of Honor Aircraft Pavilion in Mobile, Alabama, next to the battleship USS Alabama.

59 More Replies...

Stephen Pahs

4y↑634

After being wounded in Nam and months in an Army hospital in Japan, I was assigned to Okinawa. Our Army Ordinance Company was next to Marine Camp Schwab in Nago District where the "Ospreys" are being relocated. I was there June 67' to March 68'. I think it was late 67' that I saw the Blackbird at about 12-15,000' cutting a large arc and losing altitude for Kadena to our south. Being around planes most of my life I could not identify it and asked another troop what it was. He simply said "Blackbird". I would on occasion see them and witnessed a takeoff from Kadena while on a supply truck run to one of our dumps next to Kadena. I also parked at the end of the runway to watch 52's labor off the runway and immediately rendezvous with KC-135's to top off for the Nam run. 60'000lbs of bombs of different sizes for different missions. In Nov 66' I was a rifleman with A 2/27, 25th Div in a rain forest not far from the Cambodian border in 3rd Corps. Three 52's in formation, each with 30 2'000lb bombs hit an area where a NVA regiment from the 324B Division was thought to have regrouped after kicking our ass the week before. We were 2+ miles from the strike. I saw the 52's thru a break in the canopy by sure luck. I looked up because I heard a "hissing" sound" which turned out to be the bombs falling. All hell broke loose as the earth shook under our feet and things fell from the big trees. The next morning we took my company to sweep the strike Zone. You could drop a house into each of those 90 craters. Each bomb shattered a football field size clearing. We found collapsed bunkers and much blood in the area. What was left of them went over into Cambodia and we went back to Cu Chi for Thanksgiving.
Sorry, I got carried away with memories.

Scotty && Scar

4y↑33

Amazing. I would love to take you for a pint and listen to much more. All the very best & th,anks for sharing man

Skibidoop

4y↑4

Wait do you mean b-52 or something else?

Alan Kiefer

3y↑25

Thanks for raising your right hand. We owe you a debt of gratitude ( from another Vet)

Anders Eckstrand

3y↑17

Thank you for your sacrifice and service sir. Being on the ground in Nam was 1,000 times more intense than being in the air. Not trying to diminish what the airmen were up against, but trudging through the Vietnam rainforest with all that gear not knowing when the next ambush would happen must have been nerve racking! 😳

Brent Spurrell

3y↑8

Thank for your service.

48 More Replies...

Gabriel Bennett

3y↑122

My grandfather, Victor Horton, flew the YF-12A during his NASA career. It was a missile-armed, 2-seat interceptor version of the A-12. He said it was a better plane than the more famous SR-71A, which he also flew. Three were built, but Grandpa's YF-12, 60-6935, is the only one left; 6934 and 6936 were lost to accidents, although the salvageable back half of 6936 was combined with the forward fuselage from an SR-71A static test article to create the "SR-71C" (affectionately dubbed "The Bastard" by flight crews). Grandpa flew that one as well and said it never handled quite right, so was retired after only a few years.

James Clifford

2y↑3

No he did not

Nicholas Stathos

2y↑12

@James Clifford I smell jealous

Stefan Williams

2y↑3

Thanks for sharing, very interesting indeed, your Grandfather must have been quite a man indeed.

TheHortonMix

Your grandpa has a cool name.

Mud Dobber

2y↑2

@James Clifford If it's made up he went to a lot of effort to find the name of a real person in that program.

6 More Replies...

Noel McGinnis

3y↑29

The SR-71 has always been my favorite aircraft. There is one in the Wright-Patt Air Force museum only 10 miles from my house. It was so surreal to actually touch one after a lifetime of only imagining it. But the A-12 came first, so it deserves its place in history. I always found it fascinating that these aircraft would leak fuel through their seams on the ground because when they flew at speed the heat would seal the plane completely. So the intentionally built them with loose plating. 😳

hoghogwild

3y↑4

They were not designed to leak on the ground then seal up once heated up at speed. They didn't leak at higher altitudes because by that time the tanks weren't full anymore. Each area of the jet had a certain allowance for the number of fuel drips per unit of time were allowed. Certain areas allowed more leakage than others, some didnt allow any drips Once a certain level of "drips per hour" had been violated, the aircraft is pulled and its tanks are resealed. It was the sealant used that would degrade due to the thermal/chemical/physical movement of the joints that caused the leaks. Every 1-1/2 hours these beasts had to slow down/descend from Mach 3 plus/80,000+ feet and come down to 250knots/25,000 feet and sit on a tanked for over 15 minutes. A-12 held 68,000 pounds the SR-71 being longer held approx 80,000 pounds of fuel. The blackbirds became so heavy during fueling that towards the end of the filling session, the pilot had to engage a single afterburner in order to keep up with the tanker aircraft. They would stroke the afterburner in one engine and then control speed with the other engine. These birds were in a constant dance of acceleration/climb from a tanker with decelerating/descending to a tanker.

Ignition [FR] n2

3y↑115

0:30 - Chapter 1 - X AE A12
2:15 - Chapter 2 - Development
4:10 - Chapter 3 - Construction
6:10 - Chapter 4 - Testing
10:05 - Chapter 5 - The archangel
12:55 - Chapter 6 - Into the real world
16:00 - Chapter 7 - The end of the road

RaytheonGaming ☑

3y↑4

JESUS THANK YOU

J R Jones

3y↑4

I was on Okinawa/Kadina with F106s in 1968 and to our knowledge the Blackbirds were SR71s. We knew of a previous version called the YF12 which was a squadron of interceptors. I also "heard" that the YF12s were reconfigured as SR71s. I did not know of the A-12.

Dan

4y↑441

Interesting fact: SR-71 was actually tasked to do the opposite of being stealthy sometimes. During one operation Maj Brian Shul (author of sled driver) was flying the blackbird and was told to take up a racetrack pattern just over the building in which many leaders of non friendly countries were having a meeting. The idea being they could hear the distinctive double sonic boom ever few minutes and would know the untouchable plane was spying on them. Blackbird was also used in ‘Nam to fly over POW camps, so the captured soldiers could hear aforementioned sonic booms and were reassured they weren’t alone. Brian Shul recalls a time when a young servicemen asked him to drag an extra big boom for his father who was currently captured. Thusly he started carrying business cards that said ‘this boom’s for you’. If anyone gets the chance to real ‘sled driver’ I would recommend it.

John DeVane

4y↑33

The turning radius of an SR-71 at speed and altitude was 180 NM, which kind of invalidates Brian Shul, flying a racetrack pattern over some building. Brian had a tendency to exaggerate his exploits, i.e., exceeding Mach 3.5, while overflying Libya, when the tactical limit of the SR-71 was Mach 3.35 and slowing below 160 knots, while trying to fly-over a control tower in England. Unless he was in ground effect, just before touching down on a runway, at that speed, the aircraft would have stalled with an immediate pitch-up and loss of control.

John DeVane

4y↑6

And I'm the proud owner of two of Brian's books, early copies of "Sled Driver" and "The Untouchables."

PiDsMedia

4y↑16

@John DeVane - I'd bet on some of the inaccuracy in the tall tales to be deliberate fudging of the flight envelopes details.

Wesss

@John DeVane nice!

18 More Replies...

Timothy Ashe

4y↑4

For a more in depth history of A-12 Oxcart/Archangel I would highly recommend Annie Jacobson's "Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base". There is a lot more in there other than just the A-12 but since the A-12, and the U-2 before that, is so closely connected to the building and development of the Groom Lake base it covers the A-12 history extensively.

The River Pirate 13

4y↑65

My shop teacher when I was in high school in the 1980's who served as a radar operator at a base in Vietnam during the war claimed that they tracked a SR-71 (I'm thinking it was an A-12) with an airspeed of 2,100 knots (2,400 mph). He said they were told not be tracking these planes on radar but I guess they decided to do it once. He said it was common knowledge on the base that the spy plane was capable of Mach 3.5.

exexpat11

3y↑15

Our FFG tracked both the Space Shuttle and S/R-71 once. Each appeared as ONE BLIP and was gone off our radar screen. If you blinked you missed it.

Robert Baker

3y↑75

Simon, I have to share. My father was a civil Engineer in Okinawa during Operation Black Shield. He was almost court martialed for what happened to him there. Story as follows.

My father had a passion for building model airplanes and displaying them in his cubicle and around the dorm during his time in Okinawa. He would purchase the newest ones from local stores around the base. One day, he found a futuristic jet at one small store that a local resident owned. Falling in love with the design, he immediately purchased it, built it and proudly displayed it on his desk the following week. It wasn't long before a high ranking officer ( I believe he said Colonel, but I can't be sure) was walking through the area and spotted the top secret A12 sitting on my father's desk. My father was immediately taken into custody, his model confiscated, and he spent several hours explaining to some very serious individuals that he he had purchased it and would show them where. Question. How did this store come to have a detailed scale model of the A-12 Archangel? Simple. The owner of the store was extremely talented, skilled craftsman and would sit off the runway in Okinawa and take pictures of the aircraft as they flew overhead. He would then go home and carve out models of these aircraft and sell them. After my father was released and informed he was to restrict his model purchases to the local base stores, the military then went to this man's shop..., purchased it and everything inside (including the man's photography equipment and all of his pictures) then paiud to have him and his family relocated to another part of the island far away from Kadena Air Base. Goes to show, the military and CIA do have a heart..., occasionally.

Sorain1

2y↑8

Hay, when you can solve a problem in a moral way that helps you to sleep at night? You do it.

Syntaxus Dogmata

2y↑5

Fantastic story. Thanks for sharing it! 👍

Aaron Saunders

2y↑6

I love reading the comment section for hidden gems like this, thank you for sharing bud

Bernard Fender

"relocated" yeah, 50 miles off shore with concrete shoes on!

2 More Replies...

Michael D. Coulombe Sr.

3y↑62

I, as one, know that when the A-12, or the SR-71 took off the first thing they did was fuel-up and then go into afterburner and get upstairs as fast as possible, and once they went into afterburner they stayed in afterburner. The way the J-58 engine was setup was that once you went into afterburner you stayed their, because your engine converted into a ramjet engine, your speed stayed right at Mach 3.2 or so and your fuel economy stayed good. You can look it up if you want. One remarkable aircraft. Michael said that. Bye for now my friend.

Kevin Bauer

2y↑1

I heard from a friend the SR-71 fuel tanks were designed to expand with the skin of the aircraft and seal completely when heated by supersonic friction. Before getting up to operating temperature the tanks would leak, which was why they refueled in mid-air after takeoff.

That is a ballsy way to deal with fuel leaks!

Val Refugio

2y↑1

@Kevin Bauer I agree the fuel tanks are integral to the aircraft structure. The highest temperature occurs in the outer edges of the aircraft-they are trimmed with composite materials like the Space shuttle. Fuel is used to cool the aircraft and balance the Pitch (AOA).

Michael D. Coulombe Sr.

2y↑2

@UCYyt9WQ9FZXGrgZBIpF_3KA I, as one, am not willing to argue the point of weather or not the A-12 and or the SR-71 had afterburners, It seems to me that if you are capable of writing in these comments....then for sure you are capable of looking that information up for yourself!!!! And if it's any good for you I'm going on 79 year's myself. But if I feel like making a comment about something I, as one, make DAMN SURE THAT I KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!!!! Michael said that. Bye for now my friend

Zuma Zoomzoom

2y↑1

Have read stories from pilots that claimed to be far over the top speed declared for brief moments. The limit is susposed to be the windscreen temperature limits.

Jackson Boyer

2y↑1

@Kevin Bauer The SR71 also used a specialized jet fuel named JP7 which was specifically designed to have extremely low volatility, low vapor pressure, and high oxidation stability, all meaning that it's extremely hard to ignite. The stuff was so unwilling to ignite that every single time that the engines were started or went into afterburner they had to shoot an extremely volatile hypergolic chemical called Triethylborane into each engine in order to ignite the fuel. The airplane was incredibly fuel efficient once it got above about Mach 2.2 because above those speeds the engines would transition from functioning like normal turbojets to functioning as ramjets, the SR-71's had a fleet of tankers in the air wherever they needed while they were on mission, the only thing that gave them a hard limit in terms of mission length was the limited amount of Triethylborance (TEB) charges they had.

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Brian Rad

4y↑412

Designed in the 50s but still looks futuristic.

exexpat11

3y↑13

Having had access to TS materials... The Soviets did make sort of a copy of the S/R-71. It's edges were much more rounded but looked almost identical. They ran theirs to the early 90's. Lyndon Baines Johnson unofficially changed the name of the S/R-71 by accidentally placing the S before the R in notes to the Airforce and Lockheed. Rather than correct him the AF/CIA/Lockheed changed the designation name.

Jonathan Heck

3y↑6

So many remarkable design elements, particularly considering how long ago it was conceived. The pointed cones on the engines' nacelles were designed to deliver the shock waves from supersonic flight directly into the engine intakes to increase compression.

Knucklehead_77

3y↑2

@Jonathan Heck they also moved forward and aft depending upon speed and thrust requirements. I've heard a few stories about them not working correctly and flaming out. Which from the stories, when that did happen. It REALLY got the crews attention!!!
Regardless of age and teething problems, Imo the A-12 and SR-71 is the sexist aircraft to ever grace the sky's!! From design, construction, to flight parameters it's simply an amazing AC. No it wasn't a G machine, no its climb rate wasn't the best, no it didn't have a big gun or high tech armaments. Because it didn't need it. Just light'em up and wave goodbye. I mean the SR-71 raced the sun........and won!!! SIMPLY AMAZING!! Thank You Skunk works!!

Alexius Gabriel

3y↑5

Every technology they've withheld will look futuristic

Sam Right

3y↑4

Honestly I thought the A-12 was new. Awesome looking air craft

2 More Replies...

Zos Xavius

4y↑375

Both planes were designed to cruise in afterburner all the time. In fact the faster they flew the less fuel they used. The afterburner contributed the majority of the thrust at Mach 3+. In fact the engine ran as basically a ramjet with the inlets fully forward.

I think this video missed a lot on their engines to be honest. They are the most interesting part of the a12.

ztoob8898

4y↑46

At speed, the intakes provided over 60% of the aircraft's thrust. I don't know how that works, to be honest, but none other than Ben Rich, the lead engineer who designed the intakes, confirmed this to be true in his book "Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed".

The improvement in fuel burn was mainly due to the intakes also, from what I've read. Of course, higher speed required a higher fuel burn rate (the laws of physics being what they are), but the burn rate per pound of thrust went down, as did the burn rate per mile. Those intakes were pretty friggin' amazing.

autisonm

4y↑12

@ztoob8898 I think its literally pulling in so much air that its pulling the plane forward.

ben colbert

4y↑29

@ztoob8898 it uses compression forces according to Bernoulli's principle for air compression being negligible at lower velocities, but inversely more important at higher velocities. The more you can slow down an extremely fast gas, the more it will increase in pressure at supersonic speeds. The engine adjusts for compression ratios at supersonic speeds to maintain an increasing thrust.

So yeah, it kinda just pulls air in to move it forward using physics.

TwelvePaws

4y↑54

@autisonm The J58 is a Turbo Ramjet. At High mach, the spike does the majority of the work compressing the air which is then bypassed around the main engine (compressor,combustion chamber and turbine assy) and into the afterburner section. This makes the afterburner way more efficient because this highly compressed air is unburnt thus having more oxygen. So in reality the afterburner is used constantly at high mach numbers, but it's not technically an afterburner at this point (because the majority of air is unburnt when it enters) just a large combustion chamber. The main Engine at this point is providing approx 20% of thrust

It can be a difficult concept - I used to work on fighter engines, and understand supersonic intakes (shockwave and pressure reversions etc) mainly it's just witchcraft

But basically what you're trying to do all the way through an engine is manage pressure and velocity - As Pressure increases so does temperature and velocity decreases - if you restrict the air then velocity increases and pressure/ temp decrease. Put your thumb over a hose pipe - high pressure behind your thumb with water slowing down - past the restriction low pressure and water velocity increases.

John DeVane

4y↑21

@ben colbert At supersonic speeds each inlet swallowed 100,000 cubic feet of air per second, the equivalent of two million people inhaling in unison. Once the engines are increased to military power, their rpm's and the air, flowing through them, remain constant. The inlet guide vanes on the face of the compressor will have rotated from the axial to their cambered positions, at speeds around 1.7 to 2.3 Mach. The engine is providing all of the thrust that it can produce, 17 % of the total thrust at Mach 3.2, with the inlet producing 54 % and the ejector 29 %. The face of the compressor actually has a slight negative thrust on the aircraft. The spike and shaping of the inlets provided an astounding 84 % propulsion efficiency, which was 20 % more than any other supersonic propulsion system ever built.

32 More Replies...

Bobbie Ratclif

3y↑9

As an aviation addict, you caught me totally off guard with A12. I too like you have seen the SR71 in person. Since we’ve declassified so much information about the SR71, there has to be a whole lot more to learn about the A12. My bet you’ll keep hunting high & low for this astounding aircraft history. My bet is this A12 also scooted along our civil aviation as applicable & necessary avionics were implemented into planes we’re flying today. And yes, I hope you continue your delightful gold nugget shows that delight me each & every week (especially when there’s that fact v/s fiction approach). There’s.clearly some pre-NASA angle going on here. Talk about super cool 👍

Georgia Thai

If you read “Area 51: An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base” by Annie Jacobsen, you’ll read a lot of the history of the A-12. Don’t let the book title scare you. It’s not all about UFOs and stuff. Really good book and comprehensive history of Area 51 and what they’ve done there.

Sid Chicken

I believe you can see an A-12 in person aboard the USS Intrepid in NYC.

Shawn Strode

3y↑3

In the early 70's I had security clearance to view the SR71. What an amazing aircraft. Unfortunately I could not say anything about it for quite a while.

REVFORCOFFEE

3y↑8

Great and informative video ! I've only ever really heard much about the SR-71s as my dad worked around them back in the day; its nice to hear about what came before.

Rob Choi

4y↑1.3K

A-12 pilot Frank Murray refers to the SR-71 as the “family model.” 🤣

Icicle

4y↑43

Haha are you referencing the L.A speed check video?

Randy Mann

4y↑24

The "F is for Family model"

hoghogwild

4y↑39

@Icicle No that is Mr Shul, the man with severe combat burns from Vietnam. Here is Mr Murray, callsign "Dutch-20". This is where he describes the A-12 and then the SR-71 as the family model with its extra crewmember and extra length, fuel capacity and more weight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGdxpqqsHl8.

James Rogers

4y↑3

Looks kinda like a station wagon.

22 More Replies...

Brutus Undercroft

2y↑1

Finding enough info to work with will be tricky, but I'd love to see you tackle the YF-12, ideally with it's companion Phoenix missile.

Feldspar Palimpsest

4y↑71

There was a third variant: The YF-12A.

The SR-71 replaced the A-12 because it was more advanced. It could carry more fuel, more payload, and a second crew member. It also developed more lift had a smaller radar cross section, thanks in part to the chines.

J V

4y↑6

Wasn't the A-12 the initial CIA variant and the SR-71 was for the actual military?

mn french

4y↑4

Michael Edelman the YF-12A was armed. None went into production... or did they?

Karl E Paul

4y↑13

Couldn't they have mentioned Clarence "Kelly" Johnson at least ONCE in this video?

stampede122

4y↑2

The fourth variation was the M-21, although short lived

stampede122

4y↑3

mn french the missiles initially designed for the YF-12 ended up on the F-14

7 More Replies...

WoodyFPV

4y↑16

Very interesting comparison of two great aircraft.

One small note: jet engine thrust is measured in pounds-force (lbf) not pound-feet (lb-ft). The latter are the units of torque.

Blastman 8888

4y↑3

There were a few close calls with Missiles with the A-12 later with the SR-71 they put in ECM and learned how to counter missiles. The SR-71 could use it's large control surfaces to turn where missiles tiny fins could not turn at 80k feet high they could only go straight. The RSO in the SR-71 he could handle ECM and monitoring for missile launch the RSO also made changes to the course using his computer system. As I said they would use an arcing turn and push the throttles to full power which according to the pilots interviews it really seemed to have no limits as the ram jet effect increased the power of the engines the faster they went, but also heated the airframe above what it was designed to handle. Generally the arcing turn or radius turn above Mach 3 the missiles could not track in the thin air with those tiny fins. The A-12 was being single pilot, and limited ECM or no ECM pilots had limited visual so if they fired multiple SAMs at them and the pilot had no idea until it blew up near him. I suspect today a single pilot could handle the workload if they could build another one probably never going to be one built again.

shelley king

2y↑8

We can only repeat the RELEASED top speed and altitude of these planes, which are astounding. The ACTUAL limits will never be known, but from first-hand accounts over the years, we're considerably more than the "official" records.

Ronald McPaul

4y↑10

Not surprised this is the most viewed video. The development of Kelly Johnson and fast planes is one of the coolest things human has ever done, if such a thing can be quantified.

13o0tylici0u5

4y↑7

While the A-12, initial interceptor variant of what was later developed into the SR-71, may have proven financially impractical, its weapon system was a direct technological precursor to the AIM-54 Phoenix missile system later developed for the F-14.

jet flyer

4y↑31

Simon I have to say that I'm actually really impressed by this video. I'm a pretty enthusiastic aerospace enthusiast (and am studying for an aerospace engineering degree) and usually channels like this are great, but aren't ground breaking for myself as I usually have heard about a lot of this stuff. But I actually learned quite a bit of stuff this video, so major kudos to you and the research you and your team have done, it's always been top quality in any of your channels.

Lawrence

Kudos to you. I did ME for 4 semesters before changing my major back to EE and just taking a minor in ME. Fluids was a bitch... I'd rather count electrons than calculate the pressures a fluid excepts on a wonky geometry.

Steve the Enginerd

@Lawrence I can totally understand your point! I spent 20+ as an A&P (while not one of my degrees, I do consider myself as an ME) before I went and had the bright idea of getting a computer science degree. I'm just glad I didn't have to do any hard maths with fluids!! Lol

Steve Wander

4y↑1

A-12 had 1 person doing all the work, SR71 had 2 people as the rear RIO had to operate up to 5 radios at a time as well as the recon equipment. "hardly any time to stare out the window" said an A-12 pilot.

Edward Melvin

2y↑1

It would have been nice if Simon had also covered the D-21 drone that was originally meant to be launched from the back of the Blackbird.

Scott M

A-12 was also the designation of a more recent US Navy, stealth aircraft, meant as a replacement for the A-6 Intruder. The A-12 Avenger II was a triangular, flying wing, but was cancelled in 1991 due to massive cost overruns. The F/A-18E;F Super Hornet went on to replace both the A-6 Intruder, and the F-14 Tomcat.

Arthur Barette

I just discovered your channel 1 month ago, and I really love it ! Your content is great and the narration is always clear and interesting, thats one of the best war/history channels out there imo, keep up the great work 👍👍

Chris Croley

3y↑3

There is an A-12 inside the museum in Mobile Alabama. I thought it was a Blackbird till I was 20ft from it and saw the single canopy. Very interesting storyboard next to it as well.

roninespiritu

4y↑12

I remember taking a class trip to the USS Intrepid when I was a kid. I have always wanted to become a pilot and the most amazing plane I had ever heard of at the time was the SR-71 blackbird. I just learned today, because of this video, that the plane I got to sit in as a kid was not an SR-71 but an A-12 Archangel......mind blown.....this has rekindled my dream of flying a plane....😎

Darth Bane

2y↑2

In Palmdale CA, there is an A12, SR71 Blackbird, U-2, and a D-21d drone(same engine of the SR71 I think) on display and it’s free. It’s called Blackbird Airpark. There is also another aviation museum next door. It has everything an aviation fan could ever want to see including a F104 starfighter. It’s also free. While driving there you drive through The Skunk Works. I drove 16 hours to get there and it was worth every second.

Richard Pawl

What made the Sr-71 and A-12 unique was that they didn't have to enter enemy airspace to get pictures of enemy territory because of how powerful the camera was and how high the jets could fly. I would say most people don't talk about the camera's much. It's one thing to fly that high to go that fast, but also get clean pictures.

Lee Thomas

There is a SR 71 on display at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. The Pilots of the SR 71 wore Space Suits and carried portable air conditioners. It also flew higher and faster than that. They made Two types of SR 71s.

brudis

My wife's grandpa was given an honor for work he did to further aviation in Nevada and at this awards ceremony, everyone else being honored were on the A12 team. It was fascinating to hear them talk about their experiences and one gentleman told a story about him buzzing by a brothel but the way he told it was hilarious. He starts saying something like I lowered altitude to buzz a, well how do I say this... (he looks at one of the other guys that was on his team and whispers "whore house" and the guy whispers something back while laughing) um, yes, I lowered altitude to buzz this house of ill repute...

Those guys told the most amazing stories and you could tell they were insanely skilled but also they were just a bunch of fun men-children together.

Sphinx Rising

One interesting story about the A-12 is that the Soviets was aware of the development of the aircraft & even managed to get satellite images of it's shape & dimensions while radar tests was being done, through it's shadow & thermal imagining.

Derkie84

4y↑634

"The plane has nukes on it. For your safety, please keep away".
The fact that this worked proves people were much, much smarter back then.

Kanti123

4y↑20

Derkie84 now you have phone zombies

Munin

4y↑28

well if an f35 crashed near your area and someone told you it had nukes would you really go see?

youtoob4life

4y↑51

Not really, they were just more scared. Remember, schools were drilling children on nuclear attacks and every other story in the press was about the horrors and likelihood of a nuclear apocalypse.

Hersh

4y↑27

Legal segregation existed in the US in the 60s so I strongly disagree with people being "smarter" back then.

Peter McKenna

4y↑13

Of course. Now if they told me they were conventional bombs then no way. Not only is a nuke less likely to explode from a crash, if it was "in my area" it going off would probably kill me whether I went to see it or not. In fact, seeing that writing on a plane and thinking just not going near it would save you would be indicative of stupidity.

21 More Replies...

Kevin Hedspeth

Another interesting, little known spyplane was the Martin Mercator...it would be great to see a video about this aircraft and its perilous missions.

Donald Hall

4y↑1

We called the SR 71 "Habu" on Okinawa (1976-'77) after a rather nasty snake found on the island - I used to see the Habu fly over Camp Foster USMC after taking off from Kadena AFB. That thing looked like the Nazgul from Lord of The Rings when you saw its shadow - then looked up to see it - I don't remember hearing it. Then it had just taken off and was not at speed or altitude. They went up in a spiral and we always assumed that once the plane reached its cruising height it would flip a switch and like a bat outta hell be gone.

Paul Freed

4y↑1

Also, the camera of the A-12 was better than the one carried by the SR-71, but the SR-71 had SLAR radar, Infrared sensors, ELINT sensors and other data gathering capabilities that eclipsed the A-12's camera only platform. That is why the SR-71 required a second crew member, the Reconnaissance Systems Operator (RSO). It had much more capability.

Alex M

I saw a SR-71 land and then take off again at Gander NFLD in the mid 80s. The most impressive plane I've ever seen....otherworldly!! Sound and smell were just unbelievable!!

John Baxter

This is fascinating. I had never heard of the A12 and I honestly thought you were talking about a current design using AI so sophisticated as to be incomprehensible to humans. Your channel is FANTASTIC. BRAVO!!!!!

Darrell Larose

4y↑94

In Canada the Avro Arrow has become an urban legend, with a lot of incredible claims. Perhaps you can separate the wheat from the chaff of this 1950's interceptor.

scooter dogg

4y↑9

it was great for its time ,but some seem to think it compares to the independence day alien space craft in performance lol

Darrell Larose

4y↑4

@scooter dogg It was also obsolete when Sputnik was launched and the threat became Soviet ICBMs. It was designed really for one mission, as a highspeed Interceptor.

Len Peters

4y↑3

@scooter dogg I grew up in an RCAF family and ever since the cancellation of the Arrow they have never forgotten which party did it. That said, we can see from this video that interceptor aircraft had been rendered obsolete. The British also cancelled their maga-interceptor, the TSR-2 for exactly the same reason.

Chas Walker

4y↑5

@Len Peters The TSR-2 was to be a low level nuclear bomber to replace the V-Bombers. It was cancelled under American pressure and they offered Britain a deal on the F-111 as a replacement. The deal went sour after delays and cost over-runs on the F-111 so Britain did not get its new bomber until it developed the Panavia Tornado together with european partners.

jim hansen

4y↑1

the arrow was definitely the real deal, killed by politics .

5 More Replies...

Johan

Interesting fact: the air to air missiles they were planning for the YF-12 later became the AIM-54 Phoenix used exclusively by the F-14 (briefly considered for an air force interceptor version of the A-5 Vigilante). Iran still has a bunch.

The AIM-54 was developed out of the A-A missile planned for the North American XF-108 Rapier (canceled ultra interceptor aircraft project), which was the AIM-47 Falcon high-performance air-to-air missile.

Peter Cathey

I, for one, find this fascinating. Both aircraft are incredibly fascinating and impressive.

That said, I would like to see a video about that tower.

spookbok

3y↑1

Both A-12 and SR-71 were designed to run continuous AB, hence the very large fuel load and frequent refuelling. J-58 remains the only engine in service to run this way.

Steven Bass

4y↑1

I seem to remember that as a kid I had a model of the A12. That's about 55 years ago. Also, the SR71 was originally designated the A12 because there was money for attack aircraft but not reconnaissance aircraft.

psyekl

3y↑1

I spent part of my childhood near Beale Air Force Base in California and I regularly got the privilege to watch the SR-71 fly, even getting close to it sitting on the tarmac during airshows (cordoned off with guards, of course).

ztoob8898

4y↑7

On most aircraft, the afterburners are used infrequently. The Concorde, for example, flew in "supercruise" which is the term for mach+ flight without afterburner. But the SR-71 and the A-12 were designed to cruise in afterburner. The engine's core was primarily an air pump to feed fresh oxygen to the afterburner. Once the aircraft neared mach 3, the inlets and ejectors provided most of the thrust, the afterburners second, and the engine core a distant third. That's just the way it worked.

James Vertrees

4y↑1

I met a man who helped engineer the air strips in Asia during WWII. He said it was on par with building the pyramids. Elephants were used to remove trees and the airstrip was completely built by hand by the local people. I would really like to see something about that. I saw a war bond video about it once but have not seen anything of more detail. Might be a good vid!

Different Fins

49w

I first found out about the A-12 after seeing one at the air and space museum in NYC. I knew I was looking at a blackbird but was intrigued by the A-12. I had to do some research and was blown away.

Richard Ott

The information I saw on the A-12 in the '60s was that it was an interceptor whose extreme speed made it capable of launching from North Dakota, shooting down Soviet bombers before they reached the US, returning to base and rearming and refueling, and making another intercept, still before the bombers reached our Northern border. I think I made a Revell plastic model, and the write up had that mission description.

America Yea

4y↑26

It would be interesting to hear about the Interceptor version of this family of planes the Yf-12.

Sabeteur83

3y↑5

If I recall correctly from other videos I have seen, a big difference between the A-12 and SR-71 is that the A-12 is a single seater, besides the trainer, and the SR-71 is a 2 seater.

Timothey Demchenko

4y↑5

Both A-12 and SR-71 are incredible even by todays standards, imagine what SR-72 gonna look like?

Brett Kuntze

4y↑7

there was a Popular Science or Mechanic issue that detailed in great depth how SR=71 was developed and manufactured. It was almost impossible to build it.. It took lots of problem solving to make it fly. It was never enough to have just titanium, because many of the problems to be solved was related to high temperature that created problems . It was a fascinating issue! I was too cheap to buy the issue online if any..

Generic Avatar

3y↑6

Ben Rich, the leader of the Skunkworks after Kelly Johnson retired, wrote an excellent book about his time at the Skunkworks that includes the development of the U-2 and the SR-71.

Danny Kaae

Just for info - when the SR-71 was up really high it could use afterburner at full throttle for up to 1½ hour. At this point it usually had contact with a tanker plane to get the fuel tanks refilled.

Dtaysche

You’re a fantastic host and produce great content, glad I found your channel!

Jon Boltz

3y↑1

The SR71 was pretty darn amazing and a pretty high standard and starting point, but over the next couple decades I'm looking forward to where we get

882952

4y↑12

Although I love the A-12 for it's incredible history and performance, I also have a family connection which I am very fond of. My dad worked for the CIA at Groom Lake when the A-12s were being tested there. He was part of the security team, and one of his interesting stories is about how he got hired by the CIA to begin with. Oddly enough, it all started with answering an ad in the newspaper, and he didn't even know what the job was until he was hired. During this time, he, my mom, and I lived in Las Vegas, where I was born. Every week he would go to the airport and get on a military plane (later they started using Janus Airlines) to fly to Area 51. He'd work there for the week, and at the end of the week he'd be flown back home again. I never get tired of asking him questions about his time there, and he remembers it fondly.

Dallas Jelinek

Well did he see any thing like ufo or Bigfoot???

882952

4y↑1

@Dallas Jelinek No, only the beautiful, shiny, Lockheed A12 aircraft he was charged with keeping a secret at the time. :)

Frodrick Fronkensteen

I did some contract work for Lockheed back in 99-00. I worked out of Ft.Worth but was shuttled to Marietta for a month, and shortly before my contract was up, I was sent to Lockheed's Palmdale facility. At that time... they had an SR-71 parked at each corner of the base and an F-117 on a pylon at the main facility. Gained a new perspective on "first impressions" that week.

It was less than a week spent there, but I saw some wild stuff. Examples... I saw the JSF-C (F-35) prototype/test bed without its skins, awaiting completion and testing, saw (at that time) Northrop's next-gen lifting body space shuttle replacement in a rented hangar on site (spooky... half finished, full size, just standing up in the dark in this huge hangar) and I was able to attend an informational briefing from an F-22 test pilot (F22 was still in proving phase) and his stories were mysterious, entertaining and at times jaw-dropping. Helluva plane, from what I could gather. Didn't even get "the whole picture" of what the plane could do, and I remember thinking... "boy, it would really suck to meet one of those coming the other way." And that was 20 years ago... Knowing what I know now... with the advancements of the program... A half dozen Raptors would lay down one serious "sh!t show" for the enemy for hundreds of miles in all directions (in the air).

I'm no aviation expert. Not a pilot (aside from a couple dozen hours in a twin engine prop). I was simply crossing paths with the industry and had a true passion for military hardware - still do). Was in my my late 20s. Was a pretty fantastic several years of my career. --- Good video. Thanks for doing this. Enjoyed it.

Anthony McNeill

50w

I did not even know this plane existed till today. Yes, the U-2 and SR-71 I was aware of, even saw the SR-71 at the Air and Space Museum. Wow!

Gabe Coombs

I would definitely be interested in a tallest building in the world video, you explain things exceptionally well!

Chris Short

Great job, Simon. Really enjoyed that. Well deserved sub. I look forward to exploring more of your content.

Eric Mason

After 50 years one would think there would be more hard information on the A-12... like admitting how high and fast it really went.

Hoshimaru57

4y↑28

My dad pointed out once that the reason these planes’ top speed was classified is because they couldn’t actually find where they stopped accelerating before they’d rip apart from aerodynamic stress.
Meaning that the fastest air breathing plane ever never was never even able to reach its top speed.

Tarocalypse

4y↑7

Yes your dad is correct. Not an engineer myself but others here have spelt out that the A-12 would essential rip itself apart. So pilots were speed limited

Vincent Goudreault

4y↑5

This is actually true of most supersonic aircraft with variable geometry intake (the J58 installation is those mobile cones and trap doors; on F-15, those would be sloping ramps). As you gain speed and keep the oblique shock adapted, the pressure gradient in the intake gets larger, increasing thrust -- at such regime, the engines are just pumps to get rid of the air from the intake that is actually providing the propulsion. That is the reason the F-15 speed, for instance, is often described as "Mach 2.5+", since Mach 2.5 is not really the limit of what the propulsion system can deliver.
This is not as much "classified" as "never really tested".

fred fredburger

4y↑5

Considering the heat at which titanium loses it's structural rigidity it's been estimated the top speed of the A-12 (or Blackbird) is around Mach 3.5 - 3.7 At that speed the heat generated by air friction would heat the metal to the point the plane would fail.

Tim Newman

4y↑3

My Uncle who was an SR-71 pilot would only say Mach 3+, then smile...

Tim Newman

California Dreamin Yeah, he was very interesting indeed!

26 More Replies...

Ford Prefect

4y↑6

Also, too;
My gramps was in the US Army Air Corps. He helped to develop radar, during and after WWII. It took me many years to fully understand why he yelled at me when I stood in front of the microwave.
He saw, or heard about more than a few Airmen getting cooked alive from unshielded radar.
I didn't hear about this until after his death.
My Aunt did a little segment about this on a local NPR station in NC.
That was a few years before his death, but I didn't hear that recording until after he died.
I have it on CD. I listen to it on his birthday.

Marsh1947 FlyFightWin

4y↑3

Do you think you could do a video on the Nevada-Class Battleships as both ships had interesting careers. One of which USS Nevada tried to escape Pearl Harbor, fought at D-Day , Iwo Jima, and Okinawa, and survived 2 atomic bombs. I would say that's a mega ship.

Larry Deavenport

I have been told by a former Colonel in the Air Force that an experimental pilot that flew the SR71 Blackbird, that it could go much faster than what it was publicly shared, but it could not sustain the higher speeds because of its fuel consumption.

H Charvat

I had a toy plane as a kid that I thought was a Blackbird. It was an A-12. Thanks Simon.

Gwyn N. Crump Sr

The first Y12A I saw was stored at the US Museum at WPAFB area C near Dayton OH was in the annex across the runway where originally the replace AF Ones were stored. That plane was shiny silver with capability for at least 3 long range air to air rockets to kill the Rsssian double sonic bombers such as the Swan. About four years ago when the fourth Museum building was completed, the Y12 was placed there along with most of the former AF ones (the Reagan Museum has one Four engine AF 1. The big difference is that this Y12 is now black like the SR71 whine has always been black. Another rare exhibit is the ME 263 with the 40 mm cannot that Willle Messerchmitt used to shoot down one B17 on its climb up to engage and another one the dive back at the B17 from above. The ME 262 range was so limited that it was too dangerous to make more than one attack and still have enough fuel to prevent being unable to disengage from the chasing Mustangs.

W. Brandon Heidel

4y↑12

Depending on what is considered "Mega", it'd be cool to see an episode on new strides in artificial intelligence.

Hoyt Drayer

There's an A12 on a pedestal outside the automotive museum in Balboa Park, San Diego, CA. Most casual visitors assume it's an SR-71. The neat thing about the display though, is that the plane is mounted in a nose-up position, so people can stand behind it and see how incredibly thin the wings are. From behind, there's very little to see, save for the engines. It certainly left an impression on me when I saw it around the age of 14.

jbgnx38

3y↑2

I love Simon's humor and delivery. Hilarious!

Adam Mosley

Very good video, very informative loved it! However, the airframe depicted @6:49 is the YF-12. With the shorter fins under the engine nacelles is the YF-12, the only armed variant of the family, carrying 3 AIM-47's. There were only 3 of these, YF-12, ever made. Here is a great picture of the YF-12 on the ramp at Edwards AFB showing those same shorter fins. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/multimedia/imagegallery/YF-12/E-22047.html
If you are willing to split the A-12 out, then I would love to see you do the same for the YF-12, the forgotten M-21and D-21drone pairing.

Stevonnie Jenkins

4y↑2

the A-12 family are among my favorite planes in history, also it may be a weird name for a kid but if you are named after a plane this badass i would not be complaining

James Witt

The Majority of aviation recon work throughout the entire Viet Nam war was done by RA5C Vigilantes for the Navy and RF8 Crusaders for the Airforce. The very sophisticated RA5C with it's PECM module (Passive Electronics Counter Measures) had fully mapped out photographically and electronically all SAM sites, harbors, estuaries, jungle trails and general radar well before the A12 ever arrived on the scene. Some of us in the recon community in RVAH squadrons knew about the A12 and there were plenty of whispers about it doing runs over the Soviet Union and China regularly as early as 1965. As you mentioned, much about it is still classified so whether this is truth or not will only be known when that info looses it current classification.

Richard Davies

4y↑13

I would love to see a mega project a bit like the one you did on the Dyson Sphere on the Death Star from Star Wars. It would be really fun to watch a video in your style about it.

agustin venegas

4y↑1

Oooh for the next may 4th or would be great

Jay Dunbar

That would be the first video I skip on this channel.

Lew White

3y↑10

This video brought back so many vivid memories for me. The cosmic top-secret projects are very alluring, but to those who live with the memory of them, it can take decades to stop having nightmares. 50 years ago I served in the black area where the SR-71 Blackbird was maintained underground and rose on an elevator before taking off in mere seconds.

Brian Job

3y↑2

Interesting what Mr White shared. I'm only aware of the -71 operating out of Kadena and Edwards Air Force bases. Now, someone several years ago told me he saw a TR-3B come out of an underground storage at Edwards, rotate slowly and then instantly was gone.
> Mr White, if you ever read this reply, what can you share about other black projects?

Lew White

3y↑3

@Brian Job The Blackbird was the most awesome of all possible thrills to witness as it emerged silently from underground in the black area of Kadena AFB during my tour there. Jimi Hendrix had just recent died, and soon after I found myself on what we called "the Rock." I worked mostly the grave shift while stationed there, and what went on after dark caused me to have nightmares for several years afterward after my 4 years in the USAF ended. It was after I was discharged (honorably) that I realized how much background research was done to check out my friends and family back home in order to have a top-secret security clearance to be so close to the super-secret aircraft that could be used to deploy tactical nuclear weaponry, and perform high-altitude reconnaissance too. The technology that I saw being used over 50 years ago is still a century ahead of anything the day-to-day person has ever imagined yet. Lockheed was the next step, and I wanted no part in whatever was going on back then, so I declined their offer to come work for them. The experimental particle beam weapons I saw in 1969 were pretty to see at night, but my conscience compelled me to stay away from all of it no matter what the financial reward might be. The Space Force has existed for decades, and now the public is hearing about it.

Brian J

@Lew White What do you mean financial reward? You were being paid your E-6+ pay right? Or do you mean potential pay as an employee of Lockheed as a security contractor?

RedBomber R45

An armourer serving in Phan Rang (67/68) was well aware of Archangel and Blackbird operations NV. I never asked him how or why he knew, never occurred to me why it was significant till I watched this vid.

Joey Shmoey

3y↑2

I saw an SR-71 when one visited Griffiss USAF base, where I was stationed in the 1970s. It was parked by itself in front of a hangar, perhaps so that the several guards around the plane, while very visibly carrying M16 assault rifles, would make the point to stay far far away.

Justice Dutton

There's also a different top secret jet we called the A-12 Avenger which we also developed at the hieght of the cold war. Thing looks like it fell straight from Mars. If anyone is in the DFW area you should go check it out getting restored at the Fort Worth Aviation Museum!

Mud Guy

I noticed that most all of the flying video shots you posted as the A-12 are actually of one of the YF-12 aircraft instead. Closely related and derived from the A-12, the YF-12 had a rounded nose housing a powerful radar instead of having chines all the way to the nose and was designed to shoot the predecessor missile to the AIM-54 Phoenix to shoot down Soviet bombers. If you look closely at the aircraft with the NASA logo on the tail, it has a rounded nose, fins on the lower side of the engine pods and a foldable center fin at the lower back of the center section of the fuselage.

Kurt Mager

4y↑5

The image at 9:08 is of YF-12s. They were an interceptor variant that could carry 3 missiles. You can tell here because their nose had a conical shape with the chines cut away. In fact the one second from the foreground was a trainer. The YF-12 itself was more commonly known to the public, and in fact I first read about it in 1979.

Jeff Aurand

An A-12 carrying tail number 06937 was on outdoor display at the Southern Museum of Flight in Birmingham, AL when I was there in 2006.
It has been repainted, renumbered 77835, and is visible on google maps street view.

E W

I saw an SR71 at an air museum in McMinnville OR. It is a big plane. If you are in the Portland area, I recommend taking the trip out to the air museum. Howard Hughes's Spruce Goose is there as well, or was last time I checked.

faolan1686

I thought this was the SR 71. The blackbird was code named Archangel at Skunk works when being developed. I didn't know there was another plane to come out of that pipeline.

Tacit Blue

To me, the A-12, YF-12, and SR-71 are really no more different from each other than the F-35A, B, and C. While there are differences--surprisingly so in both such cases--they are essentially different models of the same aircraft. In the case of the Blackbird/Archangel family, this is even to the point where the forward fuselage of one model could literally be slapped onto the rear half of another (this is what happened with a YF-12 that crashed). As such, I think another factor that played a role in the A-12's cultural obscurity is that it was simply too similar to the SR-71 to warrant any distinction by the layperson; On top of the fact that this specific "name" in the Blackbird family was kept secret from the public for so much longer than the other two.

Robyn Kainmehr

As a resident of Wendover Utah, I can honestly say that crash isn't common though ironic since it was seemingly close to the WWII airbase that at one point held the Enola Gay nuclear bomber.

Atomicskull

4y↑15

12:32: The SR-71 and A-12 used hybrid turbojet-ramjets which is was what allowed them to cruise at mach3+ without quickly burning through their fuel. Where most turbojet engines become much less efficient when running with afterburners with the J-58 the engines was actually more efficient with afterburners at speeds above mach 2.2 than without because they used passive ramjet compression to feed air directly from into the afterburner which greatly increased efficiency of the engine when using afterburners. This video explains it well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3ao5SCedIk

John DeVane

4y↑2

Ram Air Recovery is a more accurate descriptor of this propulsion system, as the Mach 3 air at -65 F and 0.4 psi is compressed to subsonic air at 18 psi and 800 F, all within a few feet, creating a tremendous amount of energy. This energy is recovered in two ways. First, the tremendous pressure differential between the outside air and the inlet duct pressure creates a forward thrust vector, pushing against the inlet spike, driving the aircraft forward. Picture a balloon with its internal pressure, remaining constantly above the outside air pressure, while its escaping air drives the front of the balloon forward. Secondly, the excess air pressure build-up in the inlet is ducted overboard through the forward bypass doors with the majority of the air passing internally around the engine for cooling, before entering the forward section of the afterburners, increasing their efficiency tremendously, while providing an 84 % efficiency of the engine's propulsion system at speeds above Mach 2.3, which was 20 % greater than any other supersonic propulsion system. Those 6 tubes that we see around the engine bypass the air from the fourth stage of the engine's compressor to the afterburner, preventing the aft section of the compressor from stalling, while proving additional thrust and cooling for the afterburner.

Robert Washburn

My dad was double green dot and highly involved in aerospace back in the day. He developed a lot of the technology in ceramics and carbon fiber that is so common place to day. He talked about both of those airplanes and all he would every say is they went faster than they say. Even until his death he didn't talk much about his work.

Gold

There Is an A-12 on display at the California Science Center. There is a walking path adjacent to the parking structure. One day, while following the path I came across and aircraft on display that I initially thought to be an SR-71. At that time I didnt know about the A-12, I read its placard which was very informative and I was thought it was the coolest thing to experince that summer.

DGC

3y↑1

You forgot to include that the A-12 was tried out as an interceptor. They had put an internal launch bay on it and it could hold two air to air missiles. I actually had a model of the aircraft with this feature included. The missiles werent named on the model but they were roughly the same size as Phoenix missiles, so maybe a predecessor to it.

Jason Peacock

That’s not the A-12. That was the YF-12 intercepter.

Shelly of the PNW

In 1973-1974 I was stationed on Okinawa at Camp Hauge, the base was about a half mile from the end of the Kadena runway. We always knew when the Habu was getty ready to take off. Two tankers would take off ahead of it. I lost three coffee mugs to the SR-71, the vibrations were so great when SR-71 Habu took off and did its tail stand over us, the cup seemed to walk right off the edge of your desk falling to floor. That was frustrating, especially if you had not had your first cup of morning coffee yet.. It would be gone for a couple of hours the return. We would watch some F-4 Phantom fighters take of, so we knew we had a show coming up. Maybe a mile out you would see some red and white lights come on and the Phantoms would disappear into the clouds. When the Habu closed to within a quarter mile from or base, the Phantoms would try to ambush them. When the Phantoms dropped out of the clouds, the Habu's gears would come up, then they apparently got permission to leave the flight pattern. The nest thing that happened, the Phantoms, would drop in behind the Habu in a kill position. As the got over hear, the Habu would do a tail stand and nearly bust our windows. The Phantoms were already in burners, when everybody went ballistic, straight up sort of. It seemed like it only took a couple of minutes for the Habu to loose the Phantoms and they had to break of their pursuit, a couple of minutes later the Habu would be back in the landing pattern, ready to land. Used to have some super 8mm film of the Habu coming in for a landing. You could really feel the pressure in your chest as it took off over you, like the Habu did back in 1973-74.

Danny Marks

Very nicely done all around. Humor mixed with information, smartly delivered.

Live-Long-And-Prosper

4y↑11

There was another variant of the A-12 that continued to fly into the late 1970's. It was the YF-12c. Someone got the crazy idea to try to make a fighter out of an A-12 but apparently didn't consider that the plane could literally out fly much of it's ordinance. I actually had the opportunity to very briefly see the only remaining YF-12 while on a tour at Edwards AFB with my high school ROTC unit in or around 1977. They had it sitting in a hangar with armed guards at the hangar doors. After pointing the aircraft out to the public information officer we were told that it must've been a SR-71 as our AF bus immediately started speeding out of the area. Go figure....

bowtiefidenine

The classified information on the SR-71 is mind blowing stuff! I wish that since they retired the SR-71, they could release it’s mastery of the sky. People who have seen it fly, like I have , know it is still the best thing ever to have flown!

Stickie Dmin

You're close, but not quite right.
The YF-12A was a preproduction design for a high speed interceptor (not a fighter) - three airframes were built, flown and tested. The production version was to have been called the F-12B, but the program was cancelled before any were built.
There was never a YF-12C - That was a fictitious designation applied to NASA's SR-71 to help keep it secret.
I've encountered this idea that the plane could "out fly much of its ordinance," before but I'm baffled as to where it comes from - The YF-12A carried only one weapons system, the AIM-47 Falcon (also known under other designations such as GAR-9), a predecessor of the US Navy's AIM-54 Phoenix, and those things definitely go faster than anything in the Blackbird family.

kevin buja

As a kid growing up, I was fascinated and built the Monogram model of the B-58 Hustler. Do you think you would ever do something on the aircraft?

steve cs

Kelly Johnson's and Ben Rich's autobiographies are great sources of info about the U2, Blackbird, and F-117 with fascinating stories and insights. There are several SR-71 and A-12 pilots that are on youtube videos that provide wonderful details about the aircraft. From what I have learned that while the A-12 was lighter then the SR-71, both planes were limited by the temperatures generated from the speed of the aircraft. Both planes had the thrust to go faster and the pilots said they felt the plane wanted to go faster, but once you get up around M3.5 the temperatures on the aircraft threaten to melt the titanium......so that was the limiting factor for maximum speed for both aircraft. Neither aircraft was ever hit, but I understand there were some close calls. I can imagine the pilots seeing missiles coming at them and shoving the thrust levers forward and pushing the limits of the temperatures on the skin of the planes to go fast enough for a little bit, to outrun the missiles..... just long enough, to get away but not melt the titanium......stories like that I am sure are still classified...just my guess....

Fred Ryman

Enjoyed your video. You mentioned the speed of the SR-71 as being Mach 3, thus...slower than the A12. The SR-71 was actually capable of flying in excess of Mach 6 (how much in excess may still be classified) and above 100,000 ft., interesting since most jet engines would "flame out" at far lower altitudes. It makes me wonder... What if a jet also carried its own supply of oxygen for the engines??? Not sure about the true A12 capabilities, but also not sure it matters in this day of satellite surveillance.

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