Summary: The SR-71 Blackbird is renowned as the fastest aircraft ever, but its lesser-known predecessor, the YF-12, also holds a significant place in aviation history. Developed by Lockheed Martin ...

In fact, a variant of the SR-71’s predecessor program, the faster and higher flying A-12, actually had a fighter-interceptor sibling in the form of the YF-12, and eventually (in theory at least ...

What You Need to Know: The YF-12 was a high-speed interceptor developed from the A-12, the predecessor of the SR-71 Blackbird. Designed during the Cold War to replace the F-106 Delta Dart, it ...

A-12, YF-12, and the initial SR-71 aircraft were built by Lockheed in Burbank, California, and then transported overland to Area 51 for flight testing.

The SR-71 Blackbird spy plane could fly faster than Mach 3, more than 2,000 miles per hour. ... which were built for high Mach speeds and also used in the A-12 and YF-12.

During the Cold War, the SR-71 Blackbird spy plane could fly higher and faster than any other ... This new plane, which looked identical to the A-12 except for the nose, was called the YF-12.

The SR-71 has been a famous plane ever since its ... All the usual low- and high-speed wind-tunnel tests were run on the various configurations of the A-12 and YF-12A, and continued on the SR-71.

Over the years, 32 SR-71 Blackbirds – as well as 13 similar-looking A-12 Oxcarts (a single-seat CIA precursor plane developed by Lockheed Skunkworks as part of Project Archangel) and three YF-12 ...

The YF-12A, the earlier, single-seat version of the SR-71, first flew in August 1963 and the Blackbird in December 1964. It was still unsurpassed when it was retired in 1990, 24 years after it ...