A night at the Roxy.

Lockheed YF-12 

The Lockheed YF-12 is a prototype high-performance interceptor aircraft designed by the United States. It is one of the developments of the Lockheed A-12 Oxcart program launched by the CIA in the late 1950s, which notably led to the famous SR-71 Blackbird spy plane.

Despite good results during flight tests, the YF-12 was never mass-produced: its only real use was participation in a research program conducted by NASA until 1979. In September 1959, for budgetary reasons, the US Air Force abandoned the XF-108 Rapier project, an interceptor capable of flying at Mach 3 and intended to replace the F-106 Delta Dart. Lockheed then proposed a derivative of the Lockheed A-12 Oxcart spy plane, arguing that the essential design elements of the A-12 had already been developed and therefore the aircraft would be less expensive. In October 1960, it was decided to take three aircraft from the A-12 assembly line and convert them into YF-12 prototypes.

The nose was modified to accommodate the Hughes AN/ASG-18 radar, originally developed for the F-108 and with a range exceeding 320 km. The size of the radome necessitated reducing the wing extensions, which were truncated compared to those of the A-12. A second cockpit for the gunnery officer was added. The bays containing the A-12's reconnaissance equipment were modified to carry three Hughes AIM-47A Falcon air-to-air missiles (also initially intended for the F-108), with a range of 180 km and capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. The modifications to the aircraft's aerodynamics required the addition of ventral fins under the fuselage and engine nacelles to maintain stability. The first of three YF-12s made its maiden flight on August 7, 1963. Missile drop tests, followed by live-fire tests against remotely operated targets, began in 1964: 6 of the 7 live-fire tests were successful, including one launched from a YF-12 flying at Mach 3.2 and 23,000 m at a target flying significantly lower. On May 1, 1965, a YF-12 set a simultaneous speed and altitude record, reaching 3,330 km/h at 24,462 m.

While the USAF was ready to sign a production contract for about 100 aircraft, the Secretary of Defense refused to commit the funds and instead financed the F-106X (an F-106 Delta Dart with a new radar and other improvements that promised to be even cheaper… but ultimately failed). The F-12 project was therefore abandoned in early 1968.

In 1969, two YF-12s were loaned to NASA for a research program: exploration of phenomena encountered in high-speed flight (including thermal studies), aerodynamic studies, etc. The two aircraft completed nearly 300 test flights until 1979, when the program was terminated. The last flight of a YF-12 took place on November 7, 1979.

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