CheckSix Forums

Rob1 a écrit : ↑

dim. juin 28, 2020 5:34 pm

Je viens de remarquer, sur cette photo d'A-12 pourtant célèbre, qu'il est marqué "US Air Force" :



Or les A-12 étaient des appareils de la CIA... l'USAF avait les YF-12 et SR-71.

Apparemment la photo vient du site du Département de la Défense avec la légende "An air-to-air left front view of a YF-12 aircraft."

Joie du web participatif, quelqu'un a repéré que ce n'était pas un YF-12 mais un A-12 : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:A12-flying.jpg

On dirait que cet A-12 utilisait l'US Air Force comme "couverture", pourtant le président Johnson avait annoncé l'existence du A-12 dès 1963...

jojo a écrit : ↑

dim. juin 28, 2020 5:44 pm

As-tu déjà vu un aéronef marqué "Central Intelligence Agency" sur le flan ?

warbird2000 a écrit : ↑

dim. juin 28, 2020 6:27 pm

A noter qu'un osprey air vanguard numéro 12 consacré à l'A-12 est disponible

Conditions of great secrecy surrounded the
deployment to Kadena air base, Okinawa, of three
A-12s under the code name Black Shield. They
flew a combined total of just 29 operational sorties
before being returned to Area 51 and retired in
1968. All three operational aircraft were painted
black overall, and were devoid of any national
markings or insignia. Completely bogus five-figure
serial numbers were applied to their twin-tail units,
and to further confuse unwanted onlookers, these
were changed from time to time in an attempt to
hide the actual number of A-12s at the base. One
Agency pilot recalls that the serials were painted
in dark red, with first two digits always being 77 –
‘858’, ‘835’ and ‘855’ were all used for a time.

For security reasons, the Air Force’s YF-12A interceptor was surfaced, not the A-12, and it was referred to as the A-11, at Kelly Johnson’s suggestion. None of the aircraft were already at Edwards, so two had to be rushed from the test site to support the cover story. Johnson recalled that “the aircraft were so hot that when they were moved into the new hanger the fire extinguishing nozzles came on and gave us a free wash job."[4] Testing of the A-12s continued at the secret facility; CIA’s involvement in the project remained classified, although it was widely assumed.