![\"A-12](\"https:\/\/theaviationist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/A12_1-460x259.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
When Francis Gary Powers<\/a> was shot down flying a U-2<\/a> over the Soviet Union, it became apparent the Soviets had finally found a way to knock the high-flying spy plane from the sky at last. With the Cold War heating up and in order to continue overflights of the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact territories, a new aircraft was needed; one with tremendous speed, range, and altitude capabilities.<\/p>\n Kelly Johnson had already been working on just such a project at Lockheed in the late 1950s, with the final result being an aircraft with impressive engineering and capabilities even by today\u2019s standard built with 1960s technology.<\/p>\n Even before Francis Gary Powers had his U-2 knocked out of the sky on May 1, 1960, Clarence \u2018Kelly\u2019 Johnson of Lockheed\u2019s Advanced Development Projects, or better known as the infamous \u2018Skunk Works\u2019<\/a>, had been working on a replacement for the U-2. President Eisenhower had officially and publically ended U-2 overflights of the Soviet Union, but Kelly was determined to create an aircraft that was leaps and bounds ahead of its time and the U-2.<\/p>\n Johnson wanted a long-range aircraft with Mach 3+ cruising speed and that would fly at 90,000 ft, higher than even the U-2. He envisioned an aircraft that would rule the skies for the next ten years or more \u2014 one the Soviets couldn\u2019t improve missile systems in a few years and intercept. Johnson wanted something that had never been done before.<\/p>\n A small group of Lockheed\u2019s best was put to the task; many had worked on a hydrogen-powered aircraft design that never came to fruition, but that project gave them much needed experience and perspective.<\/p>\n This aircraft would utilize conventional engines and fuel but have the ability to outrun Soviet missiles. This would require new engineering and design in almost every area. Almost everything would have to be built from scratch and not robbed from previous aircraft systems.<\/p>\n Working with U-2 project manager Richard Bissell, Johnson promised to deliver such an aircraft to the CIA<\/a> (Central Intelligence Agency) in a mere 20 months, but it was a more difficult job to sell the idea to President Eisenhower. Eisenhower felt spy satellites offered a safer and less threatening alternative to overflights with aircraft, although the images taken by the U-2 were superior to what satellites could offer at the time, and a spy plane could fly over troubled areas at any given time and loiter if need be, whereas intelligence from satellites was restrained by their orbits.<\/p>\n While Kelly Johnson attempted to sell his aircraft with its altitude and speed advantages, Eisenhower and the CIA became more interested in an aircraft with a low radar cross section (RCS). Eisenhower didn\u2019t want another shoot down, and the best way to prevent that, he rationalized, was if the Soviets never even knew the aircraft was there. This aircraft would not only need speed, altitude, and range, but also stealth characteristics.<\/p>\n A CIA committee led by Polaroid executive Edwin Land was established to help select the replacement for the U-2. Project Gusto <\/em>was created to explore producing an aircraft with very high speed and altitude characteristics, but built from radar absorbing materials. <\/p>\n At Lockheed a series of design configurations were drawn up for a U-2 replacement aircraft, designated by Lockheed in the beginning as \u2018Archangel-1\u2019, \u2018Archangel-2\u2019 and so forth, but eventually simply known as A-1 through A-11. Each configuration was further subdivided into variants of the parent design. The A-1 had the look of obvious blazing speed, being a sleek bullet-shaped fuselage with small delta wings mounted two-thirds of the way back on the fuselage. However, it lacked the low RCS desired.<\/p>\n Convair, which was building the B-58 Hustler<\/a> supersonic bomber, was another major aviation company working on a solution for the CIA. They proposed a piloted ramjet known as the Fish, carried aloft and launched by a Mach 2 B-58B, but the B-58B was still unavailable and it wasn\u2019t proven it could reach Mach 2 with the other aircraft attached. The ramjet technology was somewhat unproven as well.<\/p>\n By May 1959, Skunk Works had successfully dramatically lowered the RCS of design number A-11 by modifying the bullet-shaped fuselage by adding a chine \u2014 a lateral downward sloped surface \u2014 giving the aircraft the appearance of a hooded cobra. The chines also added lift. The underbelly was now flat and the RCS decreased by 90 percent.<\/p>\n The design now consisted of a large twin-tailed, twin-engine, single-seat aircraft with a long forward fuselage and delta wings. The engines were housed in nacelles set in the extremely thin wings. The vertical stabilizers were canted inward, also reducing the RCS. The 102 ft long new design with a 57 ft wingspan became known as the A-12.<\/p>\n Lockheed\u2019s design was chosen the winner and project Gusto <\/em>came to an end. The new program to develop the U-2\u2019s successor was named Oxcart<\/em>, with the aircraft also taking on that name. A full-size mockup of the design was built and placed on a pedestal<\/a> to have the RCS determined from several angles.<\/p>\n Johnson knew his aircraft operating at such high speeds and altitude while maintaining a low RCS would require development or modification of virtually everything needed to make the plane a reality. This included not just the aircraft design, but the engines as well. Special fuels, manufacturing tools, techniques, paints, sealants, plastics, tires, windshields, cables, electronics, and even wiring and wiring connections would all be needed for this unique project.<\/p>\n Material for the structure of the aircraft would have to withstand temperatures of up to 800 degrees F (Fahrenheit) on some areas, which ruled out aluminum. Engine cowlings would reach 1,200 degrees F and the windshield 620 degrees F. Titanium was chosen over stainless steel alloys to save weight. Over 90 percent of the airframe would be constructed of a titanium alloy. However, only one U.S. company milled titanium and in varying degrees of quality, and there were limited reserves.<\/p>\n To alleviate the shortage of quality titanium, the CIA established various shell companies and purchased the base metal from the Soviet Union, the country with the largest known reserves. The very country the aircraft was being built with the intention of spying on, supplied the titanium to help build it. The Soviets were under the impression pizza ovens were being built with the material.<\/p>\n However, titanium would prove challenging to work with. Conventional drill bits broke and cutting tools snapped due to the extreme hardness of the material. New specialized drill bits were obtained from West Germany that could now drill up to 150 holes before needing sharpened, and Lockheed was forced to manufacture their own titanium screws and rivets.<\/p>\n A special press was developed and built to shape the titanium under very high pressures very high temperatures of up to 1500 degrees F. Titanium is too rigid to be forced into place and must be tooled to fit precisely.<\/p>\n Cadmium-plated tools would destroy titanium bolts, the cadmium would flake off and after being exposed to 600 degrees F, the bolt heads fell off. Tool boxes had to be purged and hand tools replaced.<\/p>\n Welds on the wing panels also failed, but mysteriously only if the panels were built in the summer. Winter constructed panels held up fine. It was discovered that the summer water supply in Burbank, California contained chlorine to reduce summer algae growth, but was not used in the winter water supply. The chlorine attacked the welds, and switching to distilled water for washing down the panels after acid treatment solved the issue. In addition, it was discovered certain Pentel pens also contained chlorine and would etch the titanium when used to draw lines on the panels.<\/p>\n Welds were conducted in specially constructed chambers in an inert nitrogen environment to prevent the welds from being brittleness caused by oxidation. A special hydraulic fluid was designed by Pennsylvania State University that included seven ingredients in order to withstand the temperature extremes and still function.<\/p>\n Rubber O-rings or leather seals could not be used at these temperatures, and stainless steel was used to make the hydraulic lines. Elgiloy, the material watch springs are made from, was used to make control cables and plumbing lines were required to be gold-plated. A lubricating oil was formulated to operate from the extreme temperatures of 600 degrees F down to 40 degrees F, containing a diluent in order to remain fluid.<\/p>\n B.F. Goodrich developed a special rubber for the tires containing aluminum particles that provided radiant cooling, giving the tires a silvery appearance. In addition the retracted landing gear rested in the middle between fuel tanks and was cooled by the fuel, keeping the tires insulated against very high temperatures. Also the tires were filled with nitrogen, which is less explosive than air. All of this prevented the plane landing with tires ready to blow out once they touch down.<\/p>\n Shell Oil had created a good fuel for the U-2, so Lockheed turned to Jimmy Doolittle, now a top executive with the company, for a fuel solution for the new Mach 3 aircraft. The fuel would have to remain useful and safe at extreme temps, from minus 90 degrees F at midair refueling to 650 degrees F in supersonic flight. In conjunction with Pratt & Whitney, Ashland, and Monsanto, a new fuel was created, designated LF-2A and known as JP-7<\/a> to the military. The fuel had a high-flash point and would not vaporize or explode under tremendous heat and pressure. A lighted match could be tossed into a spill and it would not ignite.<\/p>\n Nitrogen would be pumped into the fuel tanks as an added safety precaution, pressurizing them and preventing vapor ignition. Through heat exchangers and smart valves, the fuel would also act as an internal coolant for critical parts of the aircraft. A cesium additive reduced the radar detectability of the afterburner plume. The aircraft would carry 64,600 lb of fuel in five uninsulated tanks.<\/p>\n New unique plastics would be developed with high heat resistance along with a low RCS and used in the radome, cockpit, and other areas. The inward canted twin tails were constructed of non-metallic substances as well. Plastics made up approximately 20 percent of the aircraft surface. If fuel was spilled on the plastic surfaces and exposed to high temperatures of around 550 degrees F, miniature explosions occurred on the plastic skin. Paint that was fuel proof as well as rain proof would be needed.<\/p>\n Special wiring using Kevlar was created and wrapped with asbestos for heat resistance. Unique plugs were designed so connections could only be assembled one way, after Johnson discovered about 10 percent of his workforce was colorblind, and color coded wiring was sometimes ineffective.<\/p>\n To prevent the wing sections from wrinkling in high temperatures, some skin panels were corrugated and dimpled so, when the titanium heated up, the corrugations deepened preventing wrinkling.<\/p>\n In his book Kelly: More Than My Share of it All<\/em>, Kelly Johnson states surfaces of the aircraft were also painted a dark blue-black color that was determined after emissivity tests to make the aircraft surface up to 80 degrees F cooler. He goes on to state the paint became bluer as the temperatures increased with speed and altitude. Special paints had to be formulated for the aircraft markings and insignia as well. Red paint would turn brown and white became mottled in the high temperatures.<\/p>\n Anti-radar coatings were created with iron ferrites and asbestos loaded in the mix, and applied to the aircraft, lowering the RCS. <these coatings made up approximately 18 percent of the aircraft\u2019s materials.<\/p>\n In order to save weight, the cockpit was not insulated, exposing the pilot to temperatures of around 250 degrees F. To alleviate this problem, an air-conditioning system was designed that would bleed air from the engine compressor and run it through a fuel air cooler, then an expansion turbine and into the cockpit it went at minus 40 degrees F. When it mixed with the oven-like temperatures inside the cockpit, it created a comfortable environment of around 75 degrees F.<\/p>\n Pilots wore a special type of space suit with its own cooling, oxygen supply, and pressure control as well as other life support features. The suit was designed after the one used with the X-15<\/a>. It was engineered to protect the pilot from extreme heat in the cockpit as well as extreme cold outside should they have to eject.<\/p>\n Should a pilot need to eject, cables would hold his feet against the seat while the aircraft was being cleared, and a special stabilization parachute prevented the pilot from spinning as he descended over 12 miles for seven minutes. When the pilot reached 15,000 ft, a main parachute deployed and the pilot would be separated from the seat.<\/p>\n Since this was a reconnaissance aircraft, it would need to carry photographic equipment, which also presented problems due to the extreme temperatures. Optical distortion would be an issue due to the very high temps (550 degrees F) outside the aircraft\u2018s double quartz window and the much lower temperature inside the aircraft (150 degrees F). It took three years and $2 million dollars for Corning Glass Works to solve the riddle. The windows were fused to a titanium frame using an unconventional process of high frequency sound waves.<\/p>\n The cameras themselves were specially designed and built by Perkin-Elmer. A stereo camera, designated the Type 1, it produced pairs of photos covering a 71 square mile area with a ground resolution of 12 inches. The camera had a 5,000 ft supply of film and incorporated new concepts never before used in a camera system, meeting size and weight requirements along with thermal resistance while maintaining the necessary resolution and coverage. The camera flew on all 29 East Asia A-12 missions with only one recorded failure.<\/p>\n The engines Johnson intended to use in the A-12, the J58 turbojet that was designed for a cancelled Navy project in 1956, would need to undergo several modifications to turn them into the most powerful air-breathing propulsion devices ever built. This would also prove to be somewhat troublesome.<\/p>\n Built by Pratt & Whitney, once again extreme temperatures would require new engineering. Fuel temps could reach 700 degrees F, engine inlet temps hit 800 degrees F or above, the turbine inlets hitting over 2,000 degrees F. An engineer from Pratt & Whitney stated \u201cI do not know of a single part, down to the last cotter key, that could be made from the same materials as previous engines.\u201d Weight was also an issue with the huge power plants, with all of these challenges culminating in delays in completing the first A-12 Oxcart.<\/p>\n In order to prevent further delays, Johnson decided along with CIA officials that early flights would utilize the less powerful but available J75. The airframe was modified for the substitute engine, and the aircraft was only able to reach Mach 1.6 and an altitude of 50,000 ft.<\/p>\n The design feature that eventually made the J58s generate the necessary power once they were finally available was the retractable inlet spikes developed by Ben Rich and his crew at Lockheed. The spikes worked as regulators to decelerate, compress, and superheat incoming air, which was then further heated by the bypass engines before fuel was added. Supercharged air then expanded through the turbine and fed to the afterburners. Without these inlets, the J58s only produced about 20 percent of the power needed.<\/p>\n Getting the inlets to function correctly was a time and resource consuming challenge. Rich\u2019s team spent hours tweaking the design and testing it in the NASA wind tunnel in northern California. The tests used so much power they had to be conducted at night in order to not drain the local power grid. Issues included getting the mechanical controls to respond quickly enough to shock-wave induced variations of incoming air flow.<\/p>\n An electronic control was developed to help eliminate this problem that could cause \u2018unstarts\u2019, and later a new configuration was designed including an automatic restart. Eventually the J58s would take the A-12 to Mach 3.2 on the 66th flight, with the initial official first flight being on Apr. 30, 1962.<\/p>\n The CIA\u2019s A-12 Oxcart spy plane pioneered technology that would lead to further development of the design. A two-seat trainer was also built known as the \u2018Titanium Goose\u2019 and would bare the distinction of being the only aircraft in the family to carry Kelly Johnson aloft, and it was never refitted from the J75 engines to the J85s.<\/p>\n Other members of the Oxcart family would include the YF-12A, a modified interceptor version of the A-12, with three being built before being cancelled. The M-21 was a modified A-12 that carried the D-21<\/a> drone, the drone itself also incorporating some of the technology gained from the A-12 project.<\/p>\n The final and most prolific aircraft is the SR-71 Blackbird<\/a>, which appears very similar to the A-12 but is about six feet longer and weighs 15,000 more pounds fully loaded. The SR-71 also incorporated a two-seat cockpit and had more prominent nose and body chines along with carrying more radar imagery, optical systems, and ELINT (Electronic Intelligence) sensors.<\/p>\n Source: Travel \u2013 theaviationist<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The well-known SR-71 owes its roots to a more obscure predecessor, the A-12 developed by the famous Lockheed \u2018Skunk Works\u2019 as a successor for the U-2. When Francis Gary Powers was shot down flying a U-2 over the Soviet Union,\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15213659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[199],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15213657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15213657-a12_1.jpg",2000,1124,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15213657-a12_1-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15213657-a12_1-620x348.jpg",620,348,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15213657-a12_1-768x432.jpg",768,432,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15213657-a12_1-940x528.jpg",940,528,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15213657-a12_1-1536x863.jpg",1536,863,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15213657-a12_1.jpg",2000,1124,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15213657-a12_1-998x665.jpg",998,665,true],"ignition_item":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15213657-a12_1-670x446.jpg",670,446,true],"ignition_item_lg":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15213657-a12_1-1340x894.jpg",1340,894,true],"ignition_article_media":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15213657-a12_1-510x510.jpg",510,510,true],"ignition_minicart_item":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15213657-a12_1-160x160.jpg",160,160,true],"profile_24":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15213657-a12_1-24x24.jpg",24,24,true],"profile_48":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15213657-a12_1-48x48.jpg",48,48,true],"profile_96":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15213657-a12_1-96x96.jpg",96,96,true],"profile_150":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15213657-a12_1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"profile_300":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15213657-a12_1-300x300.jpg",300,300,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"news.iNthacity","author_link":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/author\/atombo\/"},"category_info":"Travel<\/a>","tag_info":"Travel","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15213657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15213657"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15213657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15213658,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15213657\/revisions\/15213658"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15213659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15213657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15213657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15213657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Need for Speed<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theaviationist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/A12_2-1-706x538.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theaviationist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/A12_3full-706x397.jpg\")
<\/a>Going for the Gusto<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theaviationist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/A12_4-706x1020.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theaviationist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/A12_5-706x530.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theaviationist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/A12_6-706x349.jpg\")
<\/a>Engineering a Mach 3 Aircraft<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theaviationist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/A12_7-706x530.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theaviationist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/A12_8-706x470.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theaviationist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/A12_9-706x892.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theaviationist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/A12_10-706x480.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theaviationist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/A12_11-706x412.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theaviationist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/A12_12-706x706.jpg\")
<\/a>Creature Comforts and Cameras<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theaviationist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/A12_13b-706x878.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theaviationist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/A12_14-706x527.jpg\")
<\/a>Engines and Inlets<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theaviationist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/A12_15-706x570.jpeg\")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theaviationist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/A12_16-706x470.jpg\")
<\/a>Legacy Continued<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theaviationist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/A12_17-706x398.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theaviationist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/A12_18-1-706x267.jpg\")
<\/a>