Lockheed A-12

what is it?

The Lockheed A-12 is a retired high-altitude, Mach 3+ reconnaissance aircraft built for the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) by Lockheed's Skunk Works, based on the designs of Clarence "Kelly" Johnson. The aircraft was designated A-12, the twelfth in a series of internal design efforts for "Archangel", the aircraft's internal code name. In 1959, it was selected over Convair's FISH and Kingfish designs as the winner of Project GUSTO, and was developed and operated under Project Oxcart.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 jet engines · 16.9 m wingspan

base stats

• range 4,630 kmwithout refuelling
• size 53.1 tmax take-off weight
• built 18made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 64 years ago, in 1962.
• 🚗Wingspan of 16.9 m: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 9 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🌍Range of 4,630 km: 26× Amsterdam to Brussels.
• 🏔️Can fly 2.9× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

1962-04-26

introduced

1963

retired

1968

status

retired

number built

18

role

high-altitude strategic reconnaissance aircraft

makers

Lockheed Corporation

engines

2× Pratt & Whitney JT11D-20B (J58-1)

crew

1

length

31 m

wingspan

16.9 m

height

5.6 m

max take-off weight

53.1 t

top speed

—

range

4,630 km

ceiling

25,908 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.