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For those interested in aviation history, the CIA recently (2012) released a short history of the Lockheed “Archangel” program. It’s a bit over 50 pages, and focuses solely on the A-12.

The document is called Archangel:  the CIA’s Supersonic A-12 Reconnaissance Aircraft.  It was written by David Robarge, who in 2012 was the CIA’s Chief Historian.

It’s enjoyable reading.  It can be found here in PDF format.

In case “A-12” doesn’t ring a bell:  that was the airframe developed by Lockheed for the CIA as a successor for the U-2.   It was later modified to produce the SR-71 for the USAF.  (The SR-71 was a 2-seat plane; the A-12 was single-seat.)

While the SR-71 has somewhat longer range, it is also 5’ longer, 15,000lbs heavier, somewhat slower, and has a lower operational ceiling than the original production A-12s.  Further, the redesign reduced the size of the equipment bays available for the aircraft’s on-board sensor package.  Some of the original optics designed for the A-12 – in particular, the Perkin-Elmer Type I cameras – were too large to fit into the SR-71’s smaller equipment bays.

The initial Blackbird operational missions overflying Vietnam and during the aftermath of the North Korean seizure of the USS Pueblo were flown by CIA A-12s operating out of Kadena AB in Okinawa; a CIA A-12 located the ship on the first mission.  Only later did the SR-71 begin to overfly these areas.

At Kadena, the A-12 acquired a nickname that stuck:  “Habu”.  That’s the name of a highly-poisonous pit-viper native to Okinawa.

For budgetary and political reasons, the CIA’s A-12 fleet was ordered to cease operations in 1968; USAF SR-71s (now operational) assumed their mission.  The last A-12 operational flight (over North Korea) occurred on 8 May 1968.  Afterwards, the deployed A-12s returned to CONUS from Kadena and were placed in storage.  The last CIA A-12 flight of occurred on 21 June 1968, when the final remaining A-12 airframe was flown from the program’s Nevada test site to a storage facility in California.

Only a relatively small number of A-12s were ever produced – fifteen in all.  These were called Articles 121 through 135.  One (Article 124) was a 2-seat trainer version.  The others were all configured as single-seat test (2 of these were produced) or operational (the remaining 12) aircraft.

Six of the fifteen A-12s built were lost in crashes before the fleet was retired.  The surviving 9 airframes – the two-seat trainer version plus 8 test/operational airframes – are today in various locations nationwide on display.  The linked document details where they are on display – as well as much of what they did.

If you’re an aviation history buff, Robarge’s work is definitely worth reading.

. . .

In looking through the document, I learned some things I wish I’d have known years ago.  I’ve seen one of those surviving A-12s “up close and in person.”  It turns out that particular bird is one with quite an interesting history.

The surviving A-12 with the longest operational flight time is Article 127, serial number 60-6930.  Only the 2-seat trainer model (Article 124, serial number 60-6927) has more flight time – and it was used solely for training, never operationally.

Article 127 was the seventh A-12 delivered.  It is the oldest operational A-12 remaining.  The first two A-12s (Articles 121 and 122) were test aircraft and were not used for operational missions.  The 2-seat trainer version was the fourth delivery; the other operational aircraft delivered earlier – Articles 123, 125, and 126 – were among those six lost to crashes.

Article 127 was one of the few A-12s to overfly bona fide hostile territory.  (Some of the other operational A-12s flew peripheral, non-overflight missions.)  It was one of three A-12s that flew operational missions over Southeast Asia and North Korea – during the CIA’s Operation BLACK SHIELD – in 1967 and 1968.  The other two to do so were Articles 129 and 131.

Article 127 took enemy fire on 4 January 1968 (the SAM missed, and the airframe wasn’t damaged).  It made the last two BLACK SHIELD flights over Vietnam – on 16 February and 8 March 1968.  It was involved in the search for the USS Pueblo, making 2 of the 3 overflights of North Korea in the aftermath of the ship’s capture. Its last operational flight – over North Korea on 8 May 1968 – was in fact the last operational A-12 flight over hostile territory.

All told, Article 127 flew just over 1/3 of the operational missions ever flown by CIA A-12s over hostile territory.

Today, the airframe is on display at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.  It’s located immediately in front of the main building.

But for all it’s sheer brute power and history, and despite it’s age, it’s also still . . . absolutely beautiful.  Don’t take my word for it.  Here’s a photograph; judge for yourself. A larger version of the same photo can be found here.  (For a bit of perspective, the turquoise/teal/greenish object that seems to be under the rear of the left wing and engine is the shirt of someone walking next to the fence around the airframe.)

 

Some years ago, I visited the U.S. Space and Rocket Center.  When I visited, Article 127 was fenced off (as it is in the photo above).  Visitors couldn’t get really close to most of the airframe.  But in a few places, the aircraft’s wings were quite close to the fence.

They also droop a bit at their outboard ends.  In one of those places – whether intended or not – a visitor could touch reach out their hand and literally touch the aircraft.

I’ve touched that aircraft.  When I did so, it was one of the few times in my life I honestly wished a machine could talk.  Now that I know more of its history, I really wish it could have.

I’d have stayed there all night to listen.

Addendum (21 October 2015):  the link to the photo referenced above is, unfortunately, now broken.  Here’s another photo of the same airframe, but without anyone standing under the wing:

The full resolution version of the photo can be viewed here.

. . .

Author’s note:  “Archangel” was the original Lockheed internal designation for the design effort that ultimately produced the A-12.  The “A” in the designation reputedly came from the internal designation “Archangel”; the “12” came from the fact that it was the 12th major design revision.  (“Angel” had been Lockheed’s internal designation for the U-2 – hence “Archangel” for its successor.) 

“Oxcart” was the CIA’s official codeword for the project.  That CIA codeword for the A-12 was chosen from a random list of codewords after the Lockheed design had been selected in lieu of a competing proposal from Convair as the one to be produced.

Category: Historical