The Oxcart
The CIA developed the highly classified A-12 Oxcart as the successor to the U-2 spy plane, designed to fulfill the nation’s requirement for a reconnaissance aircraft capable of extreme speeds and altitudes that could evade Soviet air defenses. In 1959, the CIA awarded the OXCART contract to Lockheed (the U-2’s manufacturer). To meet the A-12’s extraordinary speed and altitude specifications, Lockheed—under the leadership of the renowned engineer Clarence “Kelly” Johnson—conquered numerous technical obstacles through pioneering advancements in titanium fabrication, lubricants, jet engines, fuel, navigation, flight control, electronic countermeasures, radar stealthiness, and pilot life-support systems.
After President Kennedy and Premier Khrushchev’s meeting in June 1961, Kennedy became convinced that nuclear conflict was imminent. The two leaders had indeed discussed this possibility, but their meeting ended poorly.
Converting the A-12 spy plane into deep penetration bomber
General Curtis LeMay (at the time vice chief of staff of the US Air Force) called Kelly Johnson and asked for an immediate visit. This time, he was bringing his paycheck. He needed Johnson to convert the A-12 Oxcart to an extended-range, deep-penetration bomber that the Russians could not stop. ‘He wanted our Blackbird to Nuke’em back to the Stone Age!,’ Ben Rich writes in his book Skunk Works. The Q-bay located behind the cockpits (later the ANS bay) was envisioned as the bomb bay.
He ordered 10 YF-12 interceptors a month! Plus a two-seat version of the A-12 for the US Air Force (SR-71). The plan for the two-seat version of the A-12 was to survey the damage after World War III.
He wanted the full gambit, reconnaissance, bombers, interceptors.
Ben Rich writes, “for once Kelly was speechless.”
Johnson was more than happy to comply with his request, but LeMay was more interested in the XB-70 Valkyrie Mach 3 strategic bomber.
At one point, General LeMay wanted to order both.
Sep. 21 was the anniversary of the maiden flight of the XB-70 that took place on Sep. 21, 1964 when North American Aviation test pilots Alvin S. White and Col Joseph F. Cotton flew the Valkyrie for the first time in a flight from Palmdale to Edwards AFB.
Russians are not on the brink of developing a supersonic bomber
The XB-70 was eventually canceled, and though an A-12 supersonic bomber version was proposed, it never materialized. Then the YF-12 program was terminated.
The worries about World War III subsided when the US found out that the Russians’ nuclear arsenal buildup had been exaggerated and that they were not on the brink of developing a supersonic bomber. But this was the beginning, and this led to the Skunk Works building 31 SR-71s.
Today, the XB-70 and the YF-12 interceptor are together forever… on display side-by-side, unaware of the competition! They are at the United States National Museum of the Air Force, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
Check out Habubrats SR-71 X profile, SR71Habubrats Instagram profile, and Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder Habubrats Facebook for further Blackbird photos and stories.
Photo by CIA and U.S. Air Force
