Key Points - The A-12 Oxcart, developed by Lockheed's Skunk Works for the CIA in the early 1960s, was the single-seat, Mach 3.29 (at 90,000 feet) precursor to the USAF's more famous SR-71 Blackbird.

The SR-71 is perhaps the most iconic Cold War spy aircraft, famous for many record-setting flights. Seemingly impervious to loss by enemy defenses, a dozen Blackbirds were lost to accidents.

The A-12 force kept flying successfully, but was retired in 1968, when the SR-71 Blackbird took its place. Of the final 15 A-12s produced by Lockheed, five were lost and two pilots were killed.

The A-12 was the precursor to the better-known SR-71 Blackbird, which Grimes and Musk say is their favorite plane. The Blackbird became prominent during the Cold War and was purely for high ...

The sleek and sinister SR-71 Blackbird looks like it belongs in a science fiction movie, though in fact the jet black spy plane proved far more successful at outrunning enemy missiles than any of ...

The SR-71 Blackbird may be among the most iconic airframes of the Cold War, but this incredibly fast design wasn’t always intended to serve only as a high-flying set of eyes.

“Blackbird” is a small, strange and for some no doubt off-putting drama about a woman who returns to confront the man who sexually abused her when she was a 12-year-old girl.

The two-seater Blackbird was much larger than the A-12, measuring about six feet longer than the A-12 and weighing 15,000 pounds more. It was slower, but it had a longer range in between refueling.

Lockheed designated the Blackbird prototype the A-12. Its first flight occurred on April 30, 1962. The A-12 was a single-seat aircraft; in total, 13 A-12s were produced, and they were used in a ...

It remains on display at the Blackbird Airpark. Scheduled to attend the event are Schalk, Bob Gilliland and Jim Eastham, first flight pilots on the A-12, SR-71, and YF-12 respectively.

The CIA's A-12 was able to produce higher-resolution photography, but the SR-71 became the successor because it was designed with side-looking radar and cameras. This ability meant the SR-71 could ...