A-12 Declassified
Subtitle: THE LOCKHEED A-12 BLACKBIRDS
Publisher: Phoenix Aviation Research
Published: 2012
Place of publication: USA
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 134
Description: This book is a reprint of the original A-12 Declassified with some updates. At Mach 3.2, the A-12 Blackbird was the fastest aircraft in the world when it first flew in 1962. Four decades later, it still is. The A-12 was designed from the beginning to be a pure surveillance plane for the CIA, capable of shooting nothing but high-resolution film. It excelled in that role, although some details of its performance and missions remain classified. Now, using CIA connections and a lot of persistence, the authors used the Freedom of Information Act to unveil and declassify much of the information found in this book. Find out why the SR-71 was chosen as the successor to the A-12, and learn about the previously top-secret capabilities and missions these aircraft accomplished.
Table of contents: title: Dedication; title: Acknowledgements; title: Chapter 1  The place that didn't exist; title: Chapter 2   The start of something black; title: Chapter 3 A-12 Technical description; title: Chapter 4 Under the darkness of night; title: Chapter 5 YF-12A and the M-21 Blackbirds of a different feather; title: Chapter 6 The end of the line; title: Epilogue