This SR-71 Lives Again . . .
 

. . . but, why as the A-12? Since when has it been doing any attacking?

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It was the A-12 long before it was the SR-71. what a magnificent aircraft had the opportunity to see them many times up close at Mildenhall RAF.

Think he means why was it called the A-12.

There was a thread in the photos forum that discussed this. I dunno if you can search a closed forum, but it was about high-altitude stuff.

Dunno...but when it was first developed out at the Palmdale skunkworks the first few prototypes were called the A-12.... there have been whole books written on the "black bird"....im sure some one knows.

The original concept for the A-12 was for a high-supersonic platform which could be adapted to a variety of missions. There were planned or prototyped variants for interceptor and nuclear strike, and the names changed frequently while the program was in black development.

The A-12 was the CIA version of the SR-71, and was produced first. The SR-71 was opeerated by the USAF (and NASA which I think still has one or two).

Brilliant design those birds have :)

A shame they were retired. I'm sure the EPA hated them with the whole leaking fuel thing...but they were fast and good at their job.

Someday we'll find out what replaced them...:cool:

The A-12 and SR-71 are NOT the same airplane. They were similar, but they are not the same.

First of all, there is no dude yapping from the backseat in an A-12 (single seat). A most desirable quality in any fast jet.

Second, they were built for different customers (both by Lockheed)...A-12 was CIA. SR-71 was USAF.

Do you have any time in a fast jet without a T prefix that has more than one seat?