It makes sense. for some videos that I thought went with this topic.

YouTube - SR-71 Blackbird Midair Crash

YouTube - Blackbird Low Fly-by

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqW5o...aynext_from=QL

 

Technically, the CIA never flew the SR-71. They flew the A-12. Only the USAF and NASA has flown the SR-71. A-12 is a single aircraft. USAF wanted their own and wanted two seats; SR-71.

If CIA A-12 crews were killed, that wouldn't affect the USAF SR-71 stats. Further still, a quick poke around wikipedia shows that 12 SR-71's were destroyed in accidents, though none to enemy fire. Nothing mentioned in the article I read whether anyone was killed, though I believe if crews had been killed, it probably would have been mentioned.

 

The video on the post just above yours is of an A-12 that crashed - note the 2 seats - pilot and launch officer. Same airplane, different name.

The original statement in the original post did not say anything about not losing an airframe, it was only about losing an aircrew.

 

A-12 is a single seat aircraft. Only one two-seat A-12 was ever built, and it was used for training. It currently sits on display on a stick somewhere. Didn't crash.

Not quite. While the similarities are virtually indistinguishable if you aren't aware of them, there are quite a few differences between the A-12 and SR-71 to warrant them, in my opinion, being different airplanes, let alone the seating configuration.

Operationally, the A-12 could fly a little higher and a little faster than the SR-71 (by about 10,000' and .15 mach). The A-12 is about 5 feet shorter than an SR-71 and weighs considerably less (by about 30,000lbs at T/O, which also afforded it the better performance). Additionally, the SR-71 could carry about 33% more weight in photographic payload and had better imagery capabilities.

The profile and the plan view of the nose area is also noticeably different (and I don't mean the difference caused by 1 vs 2 seats).

I know you're a military guy, so I don't mean to steal your thunder or anything (though I am pleased that I actually knew these facts without having to look them up before posting) but a LOT of people make the assumption that they are identical airplanes, and that the AF and CIA just gave them different names, which is simply not true. An A319 and A320 are very similar (same family), but they are different....thats how I, and I believe the CIA/AF, see the A-12 and SR-71.

see:

All I mean by this quote is that I still stayed on the original topic.

Sorry for the long post!

 

I have an excellent book on the Blackbird family, by Landis & Jenkins. In actuality, there are four members of the family:

A-12: single-seat, CIA operated airccraft.

YF-12A: USAF prototype for a Mach-3+ fighter, armed with the AIM-47. Only three or four built.

SR-71A, B, and C: Most prolific Blackbird. The B is a two-seat trainer; the one C was made from parts of an A and a YF-12 that was damaged in a crash (and supposedly, never flew quite right after the "marriage").

M-21: Looks like an SR-71, but had a pylon above the fuselage to launch the D-21 Drone. It had a dismal record with only one successful launch of a drone on an operational mission, but with negligible photo results upon recovery.

While the wings and engines are about the same on all models (except a trainer dubbed the Titanium Goose, which used J75s (F-105 and 106), the nose section and chines of the other models were all unique.

Crashes:

The book lists 19 crashes, but only 4 fatalities:

Ray Torrick, M-21
Jack Weeks, A-12
Walt Ray, A-12
Jim Zwayer, SR-71A

Jim Zwayer I believe was a civilian Test Engineer who died in an inflight Mach-3 breakup (the pilot lived). I don't know if Torrick was Air Force or a civilian. The A-12 pilots were, I believe, CIA.