One-of-a-kind A-12 trainer with an extra cockpit for the instructor at the California ScienCenter's Roy A. Anderson Blackbird Exhibit & Garden in Los Angeles.
Regular A-12s were one-seater spy planes built for CIA. Compare to the later SR-71 which were two-seater spy planes built for USAF. Compare to the YF-12 interceptor which has a pointy nose cone. All three types of airplanes A-12, SR-71 and YF-12 are designed with different capabilities for different missions and have distinct exterior features though they look very similar. Even press release photos from the government sometimes mixed up the pictures. It is unknown if the mix up was intentional or not because these projects were in secrecy and unclassified pictures were hard to come by.
On 26 January 1960, the CIA ordered twelve A-12 aircraft. After SR-71 was chosen to replace the A-12, May 8th, 1968 saw the last operational mission of an A-12, which was over North Korea. After this, all A-12s were sent back to Palmdale to be put into storage for several decades before going to museums around the United States. This particular specimen in LA is the only A-12 trainer ever built. It was put on display in 2003.
The plaque at the exhibit said the following:
Spy in the sky
The A-12 Blackbird flew high and light
A-12 Trainer Specs
Material: Titanium
Length: 31.2 meters (102 feet, 3 inches)
Wingspan: 16.9 meters (55 feet, 7 inches)
Height: 5.6 meters (18 feet, 6 inches)
Takeoff weight: 53,000 kg 117,000 pounds)
Landing weight: 23,600 kg (52,000 pounds)
Speed: Mach 2.0, twice the speed of sound
Altitude: 18,000 meters (60,000 feet)
Engines: 2 Pratt & Whitney I-75 engines, each rated at 17,000 pounds of thrust
First flight: January 1963
Number of flights: 614
Hours of flight: 1,076 hours flying time
Date
Source
Tranfered from en.wikipedia.org, Photo by Kowloonese
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A-12 in Museum. This picture shows a one-of-a-kind A-12 trainer with an extra cockpit for the instructor. I took this picture in Aug 2004 at the California ScienCenter's Roy A. Anderson Blackbird Exhibit & Garden in Los Angeles. Regular A-12s were one-