Why was the A-12 such a huge secret? Because we need to overfly Russia in this CIA airplane. There was a real need for America to know if the Soviets were testing nuclear weapons or not. That’s why it was such a secret.
The Soviet Union would not comply with our open-door policy. The Iron Curtain had been drawn during the Cold War.
After the U-2 piloted by Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union in May 1960, all USSR overflights were halted, thus blocking the A-12’s original mission to monitor the Soviet Bloc.
This picture is of maintainers trimming the engines of an A-12. Notice the rudders? Plastic was used on the rudders to avoid showing up on radar. Also, they disguised the exhaust plume by adding C-50. The CIA required maximum stealth. The Skunk Works competed with Convair, the company that built the B-58, for the contract. To win the contract, the Skunk Works had to develop solutions to modify what Soviet radars would show.
The A-12 was built to replace the U-2. The main requirement was that this airplane could not be shot down. The U-2 was visible to the Soviet radar.
The CIA wanted to keep the A-12. The Air Force wanted to keep the SR 71. After a fly-off contest called “Good Girl,” it was determined to keep the SR 71 and mothball the A-12. The SR 71 was a superior airplane. The A-12 was not faster than the SR 71 all of blackbirds could go the same exact speed (this also dependent also on the outside temperature.)
Most of the men who flew the SR-71 didn't know another airplane looked almost identical to it. Only those who had a need to know were briefed on Oxcart.
The first three Air Force crews had “a need to know,” as the pilots would be using the A-12 trainer at Area 51. The exception was John Storrie he went back to Beale to set up the simulator.
Ken Collins, an A-12 Pilot, left the CIA and returned to the Air Force. He was given five checkout flights in the SR 71 with my Dad, Butch Sheffield. Butch had to disregard the information that he had about the A-12 when he was briefed on Oxcart in 1965.
They both pretended that Ken was flying a Blackbird for the first time.!Security was so tight that the two men never discussed the A-12. The CIA finally admitted there was an A-12 in 1982, but only because of the Freedom of Information Act.
Written by: Linda Sheffield
There’s more about this in the book “Ohio to Supersonic” by Colonel Richard “Butch “Sheffiel
