A-12 at Palmdale

Thought people may find this of interest - I think it's the A-12 trainer (927) out at Plant 42, Palmdale before it got moved to California Science Center.

local.live.com...~-118.115243&style=o&lvl=2&scene=1683517&sp=aN.34.617089_-118.115267_A-12_

Anyone got any idea when this shot was taken? AFAIK it got moved from plant 42 back in '03.

I found this page showing it at Palmdale in '94, but in a different location.

gmaps.tommangan.us...

[edit on 1/1/06 by Dew]

Wasnt there a proposal for the CIA A-12 Blackbird to be exported to Iran?

I also thought the A-12 designation was used for the Avenger 2 triangular attack plane.

Easy mistake, browno. The A-12 designation for the Lockheed proto-blackbird was a manufacturers (ie Lockheeds own) designation.

The A-12 designation for the Grumman stealth attack plane was an official DoD one (and if the A-10 was the Thunderbolt, what was the A-11? Another secret project?).

It for sure is the 2 seat trainer version of the A-12. It was equiped with P & W J-75 engines and thus topped out at Mach 1.5 if my memory is correct. The white markings on the canopy and the engines is typical of aircraft placed in long term storage to portect them from the elements.


And Browno you are correct. LM did make a proposal to sell the A-12 to the Government of Iran in 1973

www.roadrunnersinternationale.com...

And waynos kudos a little known bit of trivia regarding the A-12's designation.

The A-11 number was also used by Lockheed for the 11th Design in the Oxcart program.
Tubular Fuselage, shoulder mounted delta wing, single tail, enginges under the wings..

Definitive configuation was the A-12 and there were some small tweeks to the original A-12 design.

That looks like the Titanium Goose! The Titanium Goose was the two seat trainer version of the A-12 also called the A-12B. The A-12 designation came from Lockheed. Internally the project was called Archangle. Since it was the 12th concept for the Archangle, Lockheed called it the A-12.

The A-12 were flown by the CIA from Groom Lake. the one in the picture isn't painted with Iron Ball RAM Paint. What you see is the whiteish color of natural Titanium.

Tim

The OXCART trainer, nicknamed "Titanium Goose," has an instructor's cockpit and a student cockpit. It was designated TA-12. It was never called the A-12B. The airplane's paint scheme was mostly unpainted natural metal, with black paint around the leading and trailing edges. These markings were common on the OXCART fleet in 1963. Most of the airplanes, except the TA-12, were painted overall black in 1964.

Uh, According to habu.org, the Titanium Goose WAS Called the A-12B! Here, have a look for yourself!

A-12 Blackbird

Scroll down to the third picture and read the caption. It says:



This website proves that it was the A-12B. I rest my case!

Tim

If I may interject, isn't it possible that the sentiment merely refers to it being secondary in importance, rather than actually being called the A-12B?

I never even knew the correct designation so I'm just interpreting the sentence as I have read it on the link. It never actually says 'the A-12B' but it does highlight the words 'B-model' with speech marks which marks it out as a figure of speech.

Possible! The A-12 designation itself is semi-official anyway. Rememer, Kelly Johnson came up with A-12, because the Blackbird was the 12th design in a series that was codenamed Archangle by the Skunkworks! The CIA often refered to the planes as either Oxcart or Article # fallowed by a serial number. I think we can safely agree that both of us are right to a degree.

Tim

It was never called the "A-12B" except by authors (such as Jim Goodall) and webmasters (such as habu.org) in recent years. In the official documentation (i.e. pilot's flight records, AF Form 5) it is clearly identified as the TA-12.