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TAGBOARD CODEWORD CONSIDERATIONS 

11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 14 000508210 

TAG BOARD is a codeword, issued under the authority of the 

Director of Central Intelligence, for the purpose of providing 

extraordinary security protection to an intelligence collection 

program. 

Codewords, by themselves, are unclassified. That is, the name 

TAGBOARD is not classified. But when TAGBOARD is associated with 

its program, mission, hardware, military organization, 

contractors, funding, etc, it is classified within the BYEMAN 

Control System. The association of any aspect of the program 

with the codeword is a BYEMAN fact. 

There are other BYEMAN codewords in existence to protect ongoing 

intelligence collection programs, the revelation of which is 

highly undesirable from a security standpoint. 

From time to time the codeword pertaining to a particular program 

which has been terminated has been decompartmented and been 

linked, at a collateral security classification, with the program 

mission. This is a decision of the Central Intelligence Agency. 

This decompartmentation, however, does not cause any information 

to be released outside of classified channels. The TAGBOARD 

codeword has not been considered for decompartmentation. 

The fact that a BYEMAN codeword such as TAG BOARD has appeared 

openly, through a security compromise, does not cause any 

information about the program to become unclassified or 

associated with the codeword. 

The D-21 drone vehicle is the reconnaissance vehicle developed 

and used in the TAGBOARD program. The unused vehicles were 

decommissioned and sent to the Military Aircraft Storage and 

Disposition Center in 1976, where they are visible to the public. 

At that time, the National Reconnaissance Office authoriz~d a 

very few statements which could be released in response to direct 

public query about the drone vehicle. These specifically 

declined to comment about denied area overflight missions. 

The CIA "Studies in Intelligence", Volume 15. No.1, winter 1971 

issue carries an article titled "The OXCART Story", at the SECRET 

level. Although this would be a logical place to discuss the 

interface between the OXCART and TAG BOARD programs, the article 

does hot contain any reference to the 6-21 or TAGBOARD. (See 

article attached.) 

Attached are excerpts from three books, each of which shows 

photos of the D-21 drone (with credits for releasing them going 

to Lockheed or the Air Force, depending upon which book you 

1 

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read). Each excerpt contains some facts, and some information 

which is not factual. No reference in published literature was 

found to the name "TAGBOARD":neither could the CIA Office of 

History pinpoint any open reference to the codeword. 

There are long-term international implications to revelation of 

national reconnaissance missions which collect intelligence from 

overflight of sovereign territory during peacetime. The fact 

that the TAGBOARD Program did conduct overflights of a foreign 

nation on more than one mission is extremely sensitive, and 

public acknowledgement could result in precluding our ability to 

conduct denied area drone reconnaissance in the future. 

Acknowledgement about any aspects of the TAG BOARD program could 

embarrass the united States Government; unlike a military weapon 

system program that, when compromised, can often be declassified, 

the policy for intelligence collection programs is to neither 

confirm or deny their existence even after their conclusion. 

ATCH: Article 

3 Excerpts 

2 

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First published in the USA by Motorbooks Internationai 

Publishers and Wholesalers Inc, PO Box 2, 729 Prospect 

Avenue, OsceOla, WI 54020 USA 

Produced by David Donald 

Aerospace Publishing Ltd 

179 Dalling Road 

London, W6 DES, England 

© Aerospace Publishing Ltd 1987 

Color profiles © Pilot Press Ltd 

First published I 987 

ISBN: 0-87938-258-9 

LC: 87-11062 

All rights reserved. With the exception of quoting brief 

passages for the purposes of review no part of this 

publica tion may be reproduced without pnor written permission 

from the publisher. 

Motorbooks International is a certified trademark, 

registered with the Umted States Patent Office. 

Printed and bound in Hong Kong by Mandarin Offset 

Motorbooks International books are also available at discounts in 

bulk quantity for industrial or sales-promotional use. For details 

write to the Marketing Manager at the Publlsher's address. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

The author would like to express hlSgratitude to the following for their support and 

assistance during the production of this book Lt. CoL Bruce M. Bailey, USAF 

(retd.), Jon Lake, Anne Skorzewski. David Mondey and Piiot Press Ltd 

The publishers would like to thankthe following individuaisand organisations ior 

their kind help in supplying illustratiOns for this book 

page 6: US Air Force page 7: Robert F. Dorr page S: Royal Air Force Museum. 

Imperial War Museum page 9: US Air Force page 10: US Marine Corps, Bruce 

Robertsonpage II: Imperial War Museum (two) page 12: MacClancy Collection, 

US Air Force (two) page 13: McClancy Collection page 14: US Air Force page 15: 

via Bruce M. Bailey page 16: US Air Force (two) page 17: US Air Force page 18:via 

Jon Lake (two), via Robert L. Lawson page 19: US Air Force, via Jon Lake page 20: 

US Navy (two) page 21:viaJon Lake (two) page 22: US Air Force (two)page 23: 

BruceM. Bailey page 24: Bruce M. Bailey, via RL. Ward, Bruce M. Bailey page 25: 

Bruce M. Bailey, Boeing, US Air Force page 26: US Air Force (two) page 27: US Air 

Force (two) page 28: Lockheed, US Air Force page 29: Lockheed page 30: VF-102J 

US Navy page 31: Lockheed page 32: US Air Force (two) page 33: US Air Force 

page 34: Lockheed, US Air Force (two) page 3S: US Air Force, Bruce M. Bailey, US 

Air Force page 36: Bruce M. Bailey (two), via jon Lake page 37: \~aJon Lake (four) 

page 38: Via Jon Lake, US Air Force page 39: RAF Wyton page 40: US Air Force 

(two) page 41: US Air Force page 42: US Air Force. Lockheed (two) page 43: 

Lockheed (two) page 46: Lockheed Bruce M Bailey, via David Donald page 47: US 

Air Force, Bruce M. Bailey. US Air Force page 48: via jon Lake. via Robert F. Dorr, 

Peter R Foster page 49: US Navy (two) page SO: Lockheed page 51: Lockheed page 

62: ECPApage 53: Bruce M Bailey, US Air Force page 84: Bruce M. Bailey (three) 

,...page 55: Bruce M. Bailey (three) page 56: Bruce M. Bailey (four) page 57: US Air 

Force page 58: US Navy (two), US Marine Corps, Jerry Edwards via Rene J. 

F.rancillonpage 59: US Navy, Lockheed page 60: via Rene]. Francillon, US Air 

Force. US Army (two) page 61: US Air Force (two), 100th SRW via David Donald 

page 62: lOath SRWvia DaVId Donald. Bruce M. Bailey, lOath SRW via David 

Donald page 53: Bruce M. Bailey (two), US Air Force page 64: Bruce M. Bailey 

(three) page 65: Bruce M Bailey. Lockheed Bruce M Bailey (three) page 66: Bruce 

M Bailey (two) page 67: Ryan, 100th SRW via David Donald page 68: Lockheed, 

Bruce M. Bailey (two) page 69: US Air Force page 70: via Rene l Francillon page 71: 

Royal Navy page 72: US Air Force page 73: US Navy page 74: US Navy, Associated 

Press, VF -102lUS Navy page 75: Department of Defense, US Navy, Ministry of 

Defence page 76: Swedish air force, US Navy page 78: US Air Force (two) page 79: 

Associated Press, Chris Pocock page 80: Bob A Munro, Lockheed page 81: US 

Navy page 82: Terry Senior (two) page 83: via Rene J. Francilbn, Terry Senior page 

84: Terry Senior, Swedish air force, vialon Lake pageB5: via Jon Lake, Terry Senior, 

Rabin A Walker, Terry Seniorpage 86: Peter R Foster, via Jon Lake, Peter R 

Foster, via Jon Lake page 87: via jon Lake (two), Terry Senior page 88: Peter R. 

FOSler, Paul A jackson page 89: Cpl Matt Trim, Swedish air force page 90: US Air 

Force, US Navy, Grumman page 91: US Air Force, Department of Defense, US Air 

Force page 92: via Jon Lake (two) page 93: US Navy page 94: Lockheed page95: 

David Donald page 96: David Donald, via Rene J. Franciiion, Terry Senior page 98: 

David Donald, 17th Reonnaissance Wing, US Air Force page 99: US Air Force (two) 

page 100: Lindsay Peacock, David Donald page 101: David Donald (two), 

Lockheed, Jilly Foreman page 102:Jon Lake, Lockheed, David Donald page 103: 

David Donald, Grumman page 104: Tass. Royal Norwegian Air Force. US Navy 

page 105: US Air Force page 106: US Navy (two) page 107: US Navy, via V. Flintham 

page 108: Peter R. Foster, Jon Lake page 109: Peter R. Foster, Swedish air force 

page 110: via Rene J. F.rancillon, Austin}, Brown page Ill: via Paul A. Jackson page 

112: via]ohn W. R. Taylor, Denys Hughes page I 14: US Air Force page liS: David 

Donald page 116: R. Shaw, Lockheedpage 117: viaJon Lake, Lockheed page 120: 

Lockheed page 121: US Air Force (two) page 122: US Air Force page 123: NASA 

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-.. ~. 
Above: The single seat 

cockpit, short taU cone and 

slender nose profile identity 

this as an A·12, used 

operationally before the SR11 A took over the mission. 

Sensors were carried largely 

in the chine area. 

Below: Two A-12swere 

converted to carry the Milch 4 

Lockheed 0·21 drone, with a central pylon and a second 

cockpitior the launch control 

officer. Note the black 

painted nose, chines 'and 

leading edges of the A·12. 

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late 1950s, and work was soon progressing 

rapidly on the A-12 design to the extent that 

it was complete by January 1962. 

Transported by road to the Groom Lake 

facility in Nevada that had seen the major 

part of the U-2 flight test programme, the 

A-12 was assembled and readied for its first 

flight. This occurred unofficially on 24 April 

during a high-speed taxi run, with the official 

full first flight taking place two days later 

with Lou Schalk at the controls. The A-12 

was an impressive machine by any account. 

Basically a delta, two huge engine nacelles 

were faired into the wing with streamlined 

chines, and these features were incorporated 

into the basic cylindrical fuselage structure. 

The fuselage chines blended into the leading 

edge of the wing, giving the A-12 the appearLeft: Three A-12s were developed as YF-l2A 

interceptors, with fire control 

radar in a large radome, and 

infra-red sensor balls in the 

forward chines. Despite a len!lthy evaluation, the fi!lhter 

version was rele!lated to 

NASA hi!lh speed trials 

flights. 

ance of a demented sea monster rather than 

an aeroplane. Two giant angular slab fins sat 

on top of the engine nacelles, canted inwards 

to complete the radical look of the secret 

aircraft. Initial flight tests showed no major 

aerodynamic problems, yet the proposed 

Pratt & Whitney }58 turbojets were not yet 

ready, so the A-12 flew for the first months 

powered by two J75 engines. Eventually the 

}58 was fitted, and a myriad of problems surfaced which dogged the A-12 programme for 

many months. Chief among these was the 

propulsive system, each engine requiring 

superfine control of the airflow by several 

rows of inlet and outlet doors, together with 

careful positioning of the giant inlet spike, 

which travelled forward and aft throughout 

the flight regime for optimum positioning of 

the huge shock wave which built up in front 

of the inlets at high speeds. 

A·12 into Seflt7Ce 

Despite these problems the CIA quickly 

put the A-12 into use on reconnaissance missions, but virtually nothing is known of their 

activities. It is believed that they were operated over China and Vietnam and remained 

in service until 1967 -68, by which time their 

missions were taken over bv the SR-71. The 

basic A-12 was a single seater, and carri ed its 

sensors in the nose section, chine areas and a 

Q-bay behind the cockpit. Fifteen were built 

for the CIA, of which at least six were thought 

to be lost in accidents. One aircraft incorporated a second raised cockpit for training 

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!Jefiniiive expression of the 

'Blackbird' concept is the SR· 

71 A. which replaced the A-12 

in service. Serving from the 

outset with the US Air force. 

the SR·71A removed most of 

the problems associated with 

the earlier A·12. Here the 

giant braking parachute is 

deployed. Note the threewheel main landing gear. 

SR·715 went into service with 

the 4200th SIlW at Beale AFB 

in California (soon 

renumbered as the 9Ih SIlWI. 

This example banks over Beale, showing the specialist 

sheds for 'Blackbird' 

operations and two ot the 

Boeing KC·13SO, tankers. 

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purposes, and two aircraft were configured 

for the even more secret D-21 drone programme. The D-21 was a Mach 4 ramjet-powered 

drone which borrowed aerodynamic features 

from the A·12, a bat-shaDed aircraft resembling a winged A-12 e~gine nacelle. It 

was carried on a special pylon mounted on 

the rear fuselage spine of the A-12 and launched at speed and altitude to begin its 

penetration of extremely hostile airspace, after which it ejected a canister containing the 

gathered intelligence before being expended. 

Control during launch was provided by a 

second crew member stationed in a cabin 

immediately behind the A-12's pilot. The A12 period of the D-21's history seems to be an 

unhappy one, with one of the aircraft being 

lost during a drone launch when the D-21 

flew back into the A-12. Subsequent testing 

was accomplished from the underwing 

pylons of Boeing B-52H bombers serving 

with the 4200th Test Wing at Beale AFB in 

California, and this combination probably 

saw limited operational service over China 

and Vietnam in the mid- to late-1960s. What 

degree of success was obtained by the D-21 

remains hidden in the vaults of the CIA, and 

the programme terminated before reaching 

any large scale use. 

Fighter derivative 

Second in the 'Blackbird' line was the YF12A, which was a fighter derivative of the 

A-12 with a long-range Hughes radar in the 

nose and associated forward-looking infrared sensors. AlM-47 missiles were carried in 

fuselage bays and a second cockpit was 

added for the Weapons Systems Officer. 

Although considerably slower than the A-12, 

it was a YF-12A that was used to set world 

records for speed and altitude. Widely 

tested, the YF-12A programme amounted 

only to three aircraft, and these were relegated to general high altitude trials at 

Edwards AFB and then with NASA 

Despite its phenomenal performance the 

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64 

. immediately 0 .' . 

. same period 17D-21 drones.were displayed underthe {. 

",sunny skies of Arizona. What did theD-2 Lhaveto do 

"" with the"CIA's A-12 spy plane? ",'~>,,':,(::~,:~,~',.,: > "~' 

A complete answer cannot yetbegiven, but it has been' 

established that two A-12aircraft (60-6940 and 60-6941) 

had been modified by Lockheed to carry a D~21 drone on 

top of the fuselage between the two engines.Jn the.space 

at the rear of the cockpit, .normaUycontaining 

reconnaissance equipment, room had to be made for a 

second crew member, a Launch Control Officer, who was 

to be in charge of the launching of the D-21. 

This immediately raises a question: has this 

combination of A-12/D-21 actually been used for an 

aerial espionage operation? There is some evidence of 

. ,'.. ' .. 'J . , ", , ," '..;"' ."..'. 

'·.combination;'B,'52/D,,21;'been used for,a~rial eSjJlOnage? 

".' ~,Andif5o,where?.Hasthis pilotless spyJlownoverthe". 

. Soviet Union at more than four times the speed of sound' 

. at unheard-oLheights? All these questions will remain 

:unanswered unless and until the CIA reveals its rolein the 

.' secret American aerial espionage activities in the sixties. 

Two phoTOgraphs of the mysterious D-21 eSPi!!nage 

drone - on TOp of a Lockheed A-12 (above) and under 

the wings of a Boeing B-52H bomber. The pictures were 

taken in the sixties, but only released in April 1982 

(Lockheed). 

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Published ill 19HCi by 

Osprey Publishing Ltd 

Member Company of the George Philip Group 

12-14 Long Acre, London WC2E 9LP 

This book is copyrighted under the Berne Convention. 

Al! rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing fOf the 

purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, 

as p_ermitted under the Copyright Act, 1956, no part 

of this publicAtion may be reprod uced, stored in a 

retrieval svstel1l, or transmitted in any form or by any 

means, electronic. electrical, chemical, mechanical, 

optical, phOlocop"ing, recording or otherwise, without 

the prior permissioJ] of copyright owner. Enquiries 

should be addressed to the Publishers. 

© Copnight 19H() Bed{iJr(1 Editions Ltd. 

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data 

Spick, Mike 

American spyplanes.-(Osprey combat aircraft) 

I. Reconnaisance aircraft-U ni ted States-History 

I. Title 

623.74'67'0973 UG1242.R4 

ISBN 0-85045-719·X 

T\"peser iJ\' Flair plan Photo-typesetting Lid. 

Pl'illted I)\' Proost International Book Produoioll, 

TlIrJJllolll.. Belgiulll. 

Colour artw()]'ks: profiles 011 pages 25, '27 (top) and 32 

(top), © Pilot Press Ltd.;jacket, pages '26-'27 (second 

from top and bottom), 2H-29 and 30<11, Mike Keep, © 

l.kcU(Jr(! Editions Ltd. 

Diagrams: TICA. 

PllOtogl'aphs: Supplied hy Lockheed-Califi)]'llia Co.; 

U niler! Stales Department of Defense; and Lindsay 

Peacock (page 42). 

LillC dra\\'illgs (page :\6): © Pilot Press Ltd. 

The Author 

MIKE SPICK has had a lifelong interest in military 

aviation, and is author of several technical books and 

articles in aviation magazines covel'ing various aspects of 

the su bject. One of his leisure pursuits, wargaming. led 

him to a close study of air warfare, combat aircraft and 

the evol ution of air combat tactics, on aJl of whidl he has 

written extensively. 

Contents 

Chapter J: 

Introduction 

Chapter 2: 

Lockheed U-'2 

Chapter 3: 

LJ-2 Variants 

Chapter 4: 

Colours and Markings 

Chapter 5: 

l'cr!(lnnallce 

Chapter 6: 

The U-2/TR- J ill Service' 

Chapter 7: 

The Lockheed A-12IYF-12/SR-7 I 

Chapter H: 

Productioll and Service 

American Strategic 

Recollnaissance Units 

5 

J J 

l(j 

]9 

21 

4() 

4H 

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econnalSSan( 

military aere 

.......... __ this role as' I 

time is obvious, spe, 

del'S on the ground 

doing and, indeed, 

been widely used in : 

abreast of developm' 

try or even a friend 

certain technical de, 

the late 19305 this F 

spread, classic exac 

Lufthansa airliners 

airfield at Biggin H 

over Germany in his 

the final two mOJ1th~ 

relevant to the pres! 

made up the East co 

frequencies and emi~ 

Co), 

With the olltorea k of 

intelligence by airc 

rather than a covert 

degree of effecliven 

brought with it a rela 

gent attitude of th, 

which brought abul 

War-ensured that 1 

entirely cease. The <: 

tional mistrust saw 

shooting down of a B 

airliner over Berlin b 

doing little to help. 

The so-called Iron 

effectively cutting the 

time, the West was 

weapons and the me 

Union had neither, t 
ligHtly inwards, 

vhile to achieve 

Hight, they are 

·ramjet 

)rogramme was 

k Whitney J75 

which was not 

described as a 

static thrust of 

thrust. of both 

TOGW of just 

Her of the day. 

of acceleration 

aximum speed 

)8 is optimised 

light envelope. 

'n a motorway. 

peed, but once 

~ the Blackbird 

ng acceleration 

hers are either 

fact, the shock 

Js until a speed 

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Twin fins are mounted on top of the engine 

nacelles. These are unusual in that t.hey have a fixed 

stub portion, while the entire top section is movable. 

An all-moving fin is more effective in supersonic 

flight than a fixed fin and rudder, while at high Mach 

numbers a low aspect ratio fin, such as that on the 

Blackbird series, is to be preferred. The fins are 

canted inwards at about 15 deg, which acts to reduce 

the rolling moment generated by sideslip. There is a 

spin-off effect to this in that a 90 deg radar reflecting 

angle with the nacelle is avoided, and the radar 

signature is thus reduced. One danger with such 

widely spaced engines arises from asymmetric thrust, 

which would occur in the event of engine failure or 

loss of thrust on one side. If this happens, a large 

amount of i"lJdder is fed in automatically, to counter 

the resulting yaw which could if unchecked take the 

Above: One of the first pictures released portrayed YF·12A 

06934 in the black and silver finish that was initially applied. 

The YF-12A's folding ventral fin is also clearly visible. 

aircraft beyond structural limi~s. with disastrous results. 

The U-2 series was limited in range more by piiot 

endurance than by fuel. This is not the case with the 

Blackbird, which is a thirsty beast and which has been 

configured from the outset for in·flight refueliing, a 

receptable being located in the centre fuselage section behind the cockpit. The high landing speed also 

makes a braking parachute necessary and this is 

housed in a dorsal compartment set towards the rear. 

Below: "Mother Goose and chick". One of the two A·12s that 

served as a mother ship for the GTD·21 drone is seen in flight 

with a drone attached. Bottom: As far as is known, the 

A.12/GTD.21 pairing did not progress beyond the test stage 

although the drone was used operationally from the B·52H. 

39 

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roduction 

I'" 

total of 15 A-12s was built, with USAF serials 

60-6924 to 60-6933, and 60-6937 to 60-

6941. Few A-12 photographs have been 

released and those that have depict the aircraft in Air 

Force markings. In fact, programme secrecy was 

preserved until February 1964, when its existence 

was revealed by President Johnson, who referred to 

it as the A-II, thus starting that particular canard. 

As with the U-2, it was found advantageous to 

have a two-seater training variant, aircraft number 

60-6927 being produced with a second cockpit raised 

above the line of the first and occupying space 

normally taken by the Q-bay. This aircraft was fitted 

~vith J75 engines and had no operational capability, 

its top speed being just Mach 1.2. 

Although the A-12 was plagued with technical 

problems for the first two years of its flying career, 

CIA pilot training started in about mid-1963. Details 

of the missions flown are virtually non-existent but it 

~. 

. '" 

..... 

8 

.. rVICe 

is known that the type operated from Groom Lake 

and from a CIA enclave at Kadena AB, Okinawa. In 

all, six of the 15 A-12s built fell victim to accident~ but 

only one could truly be described as an operational 

loss, this disappearing soon after departure from 

Kadena in June 1968 and bringing that particular 

operation to a sudden halt. Nonetheless, the A-12 

had the best performance of any member of the 

Blackbird family, reportedly being capable of attaining Mach 3.6-about 2,065ktsl3,827kmlhr and 

95,000ft (28,995m). 

The final two A-12s were modified to carry the 

GTD-21B drone, a second crewman being carried in 

the converted Q-bay, while the drone was mounted 

on a pylon above the rear fuselage. In this configuraBelow: The first of two purpose-built SR-71 B two-seat trainers, 

and, incidentially, the only surviving example, 17956 has 

logged well over 1,000 sorties since h entered service with the 

9th'SRW at Beale AFB, California in the mid·1960s. 

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tion, the A-12 

probably better 

programme as 

The GTD-21 

capable, reconn; 

flight missions. : 

altitude platforr 

pre-programme! 

this in a special J 

predetermined F 

ified C-130. The 

GTD-21/l\1-12 c 

ing the loss of ( 

launch. The GT 

operationally in 

"mother-ship" . 

AJ 

In September J 

Rapier Mach 3 ( 

mainly due to la, 

ment remained 

possibility of usin 

Below: Production 0 

kicked off with 17951 

western USA. SAC h, 

aircraft is believed to 
~ , 

,m Groom Lake 

\B. Okinawa. In 

to accidents but 

i an operational 

:leparture from 

~ rhat particular 

leiess, the A-12 

member of the 

Ipable of attain827km/hr and 

ed to carry rhe 

being carried in 

e was mounted 

1 this configuratwo-seat trainers, 

),17956 has 

service with the 

1960s. 

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tion, the A-I:? became the M-IL:, altllOugtllt was IhlsoUiyemergedastheYF-12A,threeexamplesof 

probably better known by those associated with the which were built. Given the serial numbers 60-6934 

programme as "Mother Goose". to 60-6936, the first of these made its maiden flight 

The GTD-2 i B was a ramjet-powered, Mach 4 from Groom Lake on 7 August 1963 and it differed 

capable, reconnaissance platform for high-risk over- from the A-12 quite considerably. 

flight missions. Launched from a high-speed, hig'h- For a start, at 101.67ft (30.99m) long, the fuselage 

altitude platform such as the M-12, it would fly a had been slightly extended whilst it was also a 

pre-programmed course, gathering data and storing dedicated two-seater, with a weapons system officer 

this in a special package which would be ejected at a ensconced in a flush-faired cockpit behind the pilot. 

predetermined point for retrieval by a suitably 11l0d- The nose had been redesigned to house the Hughes 

ified C-130. The drone itself was expendable but the AN/ASG-IS radar, originally developed for the 

GTD-'2l1M-12 combination was abapdoned foUow- North American F-lOS. 

ing the loss of 60-6941 in July 1966 during a test 

launch. The GTD-21 may, however, have been used 

operationally in concert with the B-52H as a 

"mother-ship". 

A Blackbird interceptor 

In September 1959, the North American F-I08 

Rapier Mach 3 capable fighter had been cancelled, 

mainly due [0 lack of funds. However, the requirement remained and it was decided to explore the 

possibility of using an A -12 variant as an interceptor. 

Below: Production of the SR-71A for Strategic Air Command 

kicked off with 17950, seen here in flight somewhere over the 

western USA. SAC has always been coy about figures but this 

aircraft is believed to be one of several which have crashed. 

The ASG-IS was the first coherent pulse Doppler 

radar to be designed for fighter use and incorporated the travelling wave tube instead of the magnetron. This, allied to recent advances in digital computer technology, bestowed look-down capability, a 

feature absent from earlier radars. The radar range 

was around 100 naut. miles (l61km), and the 

weapon adopted, also developed for the F-I08, was 

the Hughes'GAR-9 (later AIM-47A) which was capable of Mach 6 and which possessed a range capability matching that of rhe radar. Three AIM-47As 

were carried in internal weapons bays. 

The nose chines were cut back clear of the radome 

and infra-red sensors were installed in the chine 

leading edge on both sides. The nose modifications 

resulted in reduced stability which was compensated 

41 

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