YF-12/SR-71A takeoff and flight

This 27 second movie clip shows the pilot, takeoff and flight of a YF-12 Blackbird

The YF-12 "Blackbird" was an experimental fighter-interceptor version of the Lockheed A-12 aircraft. In Air Force flight tests on May 1, 1965, the YF-12 set a speed record of 2,070.101 miles per hour and an altitude record of 80,258 feet. First publicly displayed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, in 1964, the YF-12 was never adopted by the military as an operational aircraft. It was, however, a precursor to the SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance plane.

Two YF-12 aircraft were flown in a joint Air Force-NASA research program at the NASA Flight Research Center (now the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center) between 1969 and 1979, although the second plane, piloted primarily by the Air Force, was lost to an inflight fire in 1971. The two YF-12 aircraft bore the serial numbers 60-6935 and 60-6936.

This clip, which runs 36 seconds in length, begins with shots of the crew boarding and takeoff of an SR-71A (serial no. 61-7951) flown at NASA Dryden but designated as a YF-12C. The clip ends with air-to-air footage of a true YF-12 (serial no. 60-6935) identified by its distinctive radome that housed a powerful search and attack radar.

   Last Modified: December 9, 2001
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