Project OXCART
64 years ago, the A-12 Oxcart made its first flight. A part of the top-secret CIA project known as OXCART and assembled away from prying eyes in Lockheed's famed Skunk Works facility, the A-12 would go on to shape aerial reconnaissance for decades to come, pushing boundaries and breaking records.
Initial Project
The A-12 Oxcart's namesake came from the random codename, "OXCART", assigned to the 1957 project that led to its development. "OXCART" was Lockheed's entry into CIA Project GUSTO, which sought to develop a harder-to-intercept replacement for the US's primary spy aircraft at the time, the U-2. Submitted concept entries from various aerospace companies were codenamed "Archangel" (because the U-2 was codenamed "Angel"), followed by the number of the submission. "Archangel" was shortened into "A", and the design that OXCART produced, A-12, was chosen as the winner.
The program was headed by Lockheed's famous Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, the founder of Skunk Works and the same engineer that led such high-profile projects as the P-38, F-104, and U-2 programs. Following it winning Project GUSTO, OXCART became an official government program and development of a prototype began.
Technology & Development
The A-12 was equipped with advanced sensors and cutting-edge radar-absorbent black paint to make it as invisible as possible to Soviet radar. The iconic paint used iron ferrite and silicon to absorb radar energy instead of bouncing it back. Every surface was carefully designed to ensure it provided the least radar feedback. This was accomplished using smooth curves and obtuse angles that deflect radar waves. Its twin vertical stabilizers were canted to best deflect radar and prevent reflection.
In order to fulfill its reconnaissance role, the A-12 utilized one of the most advanced cameras in the world at the time, the Perkin-Elmer Type I. The Type I was so advanced that it could resolve with remarkable clarity a 12-inch object from 90,000 feet, or 15 miles, at speeds of Mach 3.
The plane was powered by two specially-made Pratt & Whitney J58 Turbo-ramjet engines, that could function as a turbojet engine at cruising speeds and as a ramjet at high speeds. The large cones in the front of the engines, known as shock cones, were used to dissipate the shockwave and moved backwards as speed increased. The J58 was one of few engines that actually got more fuel-efficient the faster it went, as the high-speed air aided in flow and thrust, and propelled the A-12 to speeds faster than the rotation of the earth.
At such speeds, the engineers couldn't just use ordinary technology. They needed to create new tech. One area they pioneered was navigation. Since the A-12 moved faster than a speeding bullet, traditional navigation was much too slow. Instead, they developed the world's first sophisticated Inertial Navigation System, a system of accelerometers and gyroscopes that tracked a plane's position without external input---one of the most sophisticated computers of the time. The plane's other navigation computer, nicknamed "R2-D2", was so sensitive it could see stars during the day. It also utilized a sophisticated Stability Augmentation System to constantly and automatically correct instability present at such high speeds.
Another problem was heat. Because the A-12 was supposed to fly at over Mach 3, its skin would heat up to 500 degrees fahrenheit. The engineers couldn't use regular metals like aluminum or steel, as they'd become soft instantly. They eventually settled on titanium. The problem was that titanium was scarce in the US. Thus, the CIA created an elaborate scheme, setting up to create dummy companies that could purchase titanium from its leading producer, the Soviet Union, without being linked to the project. Little did the Soviets know, they were selling the material that would make up over 93% of the plane that would be spying on them. Titanium was notoriously hard to work with, as even using tools made from the wrong materials could cause corrosion. Engineers famously couldn't use Burbank's city water supply because it corroded the metal, and had to use special silver pencils because normal graphite would fuse to the wing and cause it to snap at high temperatures.
The windshields on the A-12 also needed to be as durable as the titanium, so engineers used high-purity quartz fused directly into a metal frame in a process never before seen in aviation. In addition, advanced fluid chemistry was required to develop engine fluids that could withstand the 600-degree heat.
Testing
After assembly in Palmdale at Skunk Works, the CIA reopened and expanded its facility at Groom Lake, Nevada that was originally used to test the U-2 for initial flight testing on the A-12. Thanks to its growth as a testing area during the Blackbird program, this facility would become modern-day Area 51. At the time, Groom Lake was no more than a small runway with a couple hangars and small housing. Still, it was the ideal location for such a top secret project.
Situated in the middle of the Nevada desert, it was isolated enough to say away from prying eyes, and offered plenty of flat land for runways and hangars. But in order to be tested there, the planes first had to get there. The CIA ordered massive, 100x30 boxes to be constructed. They had to be shipped 450 miles from Palmdale to the middle of the Nevada desert. To accommodate the massive containers, highway signs were temporarily removed and crews trimmed hanging tree branches. Curious drivers were told the boxes held "telescope parts" or "construction equipment", and and damage from the large boxes (e.g. clipped mailboxes, broken signs) were paid on the spot to avoid scrutiny.
Once safely within the isolation of the desert, testing began at once. In order to maintain absolute secrecy, schedules were synchronized with Soviet satellite orbits to ensure Moscow's "eyes in space" wouldn't spot the "Archangel". Even most military personnel and workers at Area 51 weren't told what they were working on.
At first, testing consisted of placing a full-scale mock-up atop a large pylon and hitting it with Soviet-style radar.
Soon, test pilots began high-speed taxi drills on the working prototype. On April 26th, 1962, the A-12 was undergoing routine high-speed taxi tests when it accidentally "hopped" off the ground, flying for 40 seconds in its first, unofficial flight.
Flight at Mach 3 so fast and hot that the aircraft's frame itself expanded. Testing at such speeds was a violent process, as the expanding metal banged and popped as its atoms moved faster. One the ground, the A-12 would leak fuel constantly because of how contracted the airframe was compared to at high speeds. Flying at such speeds and altitudes would cause a pilot's blood to boil, so all test pilots wore full-pressure suits not unlike those worn by astronauts in space.
Since no one in the public knew about the existence of the A-12, the sight of the test craft reflecting sunlight at 90,000 feet led to many of the locals to believe they were aliens, fueling Area 51's "otherworldly" aura. As testing gradually increased, so did the risks to the project's secrecy.
The first loss occurred on May 24th, 1963, when A-12 Article 123, piloted by Kenneth Collins, crashed near the Utah-Nevada border. Because the existence of the A-12 still hadn't been made public, the Air Force released a statement stating that it was an F-105 Thunderchief that had crashed. Pilot Collins told local farmers he was flying a "broken" weather plane to explain his alien-looking pressure suit. In order to maintain secrecy, the Air Force told local farmers that the plane had been carrying nuclear weapons, and to stay away, and made the few witnesses of the crash sign Non-Disclosure Agreements after paying them a few thousand dollars for compliance. More crashes soon followed, including a tragically fatal one just outside of Area 51, but they were in more remote areas, typically on government land.
Despite the crashes, the program continued on schedule and by late 1965 it was declared fully operational.
Operational Life
Despite it being operational, the CIA refrained from risking using the A-12 in overflights over the Soviet Union following the shootdown of pilot Francis Gary Powers' U-2, a massive propaganda and intelligence failure for the US. Thus, the A-12 sat at the ready in Area 51 for over a year before it was deployed to Kadena Air base in Japan.
There, it participated in high-altitude reconnaissance over North Vietnamese SAM sites, and monitored activities over North Korea as well. During that time, no A-12s were lost to enemy fire.
Retirement
Just one year after its first combat mission, the A-12 was officially retired in favor of the SR-71. From there, they were places in indefinite storage, and following their declassification in the 1990s, they were transported to various museums across the country. Today, 9 survive across the country.
Legacy
Though it served for a relatively short time, the mark the A-12 left on aviation is indelible. The A-12 was an ambitious project that attempted to do the never done before using technology completely alien to aviation at the time, employing some of the most sophisticated avionics ever installed on an aircraft to achieve feats never dreamt of before. It was the foundation for the famous SR-71 that would succeed it, and its revolutionary technology was integrated into many top aircraft later on, holding the legacy of the unofficial fastest air-breathing aircraft ever to fly to this day. While it was short-lived, the A-12 was the first trailblazer. One that proved to humanity that we could fly faster, higher, and hotter than the Wright Brothers ever dreamed of.
