Midweek Sortie 32: Lockheed A12—The CIA's Blackbird Before the Blackbird

Before the SR-71 became an icon, the CIA’s secretive A-12 flew higher, faster, and deeper into danger, redefining reconnaissance at the edge of space during the Cold War.

“The higher and faster we fly, the harder it will be to spot us, much less stop us.”

—Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, American aeronautical and systems engineer of Lockheed Martin

An air-to-air left front view of a A-12 aircraft. Erroneously identified as Y-12 in the source, but Serial Number 06932 is a A-12 (see en:Lockheed A-12). This aircraft was lost over S…