Area 51 photo showing workers attend to titanium A-12 spy-plane prototype before its Utah crash surfaces

Posted by has in , on Thursday, June 2, 2011

An Area 51 photo showing workers attend to titanium A-12 spy-plane prototype before the futuristic-looking jet undergoes radar testing inside the clandestine military base has surfaced online. The never-before-seen photo, along with other declassified 1963 Ken Collins Utah A-12 plane crash pictures were posted on National Geographic, recently.

Workers attend to titanium A-12 spy-plane prototype before radar testing | Photo source: National Geographic

"Area 51 was created so that U.S. Cold Warriors with the highest security clearances could pursue cutting-edge aeronautical projects away from prying eyes," National Geographic said. "During the 1950s and '60s Area 51's top-secret OXCART program developed the A-12."

The A-12 aircraft said to be almost undetectable to radar. It is super fast at a speed of 2,200 miles an hour (3,540 kilometers an hour)— that's traveling the continental US in 1 hour and 10 minutes. It's camera could also capture 12-inch-long objects from 90,000 feet (27,400 meters).

Made by Lockheed Corporation, this U-2 spy plane successor was produced from 1962 through 1964, and was in operation from 1963 until 1968. The final A-12 mission was flown in May 1968, and the program and aircraft retired in June of that year due to budget constraints.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 9:47 PM and is filed under , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response.