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 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 ...

Summary and Key Points: The A-12 Oxcart, predecessor to the famed SR-71 Blackbird, was a groundbreaking reconnaissance aircraft developed by Lockheed’s Skunk Works in the late 1950s. -Designed ...

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 spy plane could fly faster than Mach 3, more than 2,000 miles per hour. This allowed it to easily avoid ...

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.

In the timeline where the U.S. Air Force and the CIA picked the Convair Kingfish over Lockheed's A-12/SR-71 program, they would've had an even crazier jet.

The A-12 part of the name pays homage to the Lockheed Archangel-12, the plane that preceded the couples' favorite aircraft: the SR-17 Blackbird ...