Lockheed M-21 (Blackbird) - Museum of Flight
Lockheed M-21 (Blackbird) The world's fastest airplane. The Blackbird family of aircraft cruised at speeds of more than Mach 3 and flew over 85,000 feet (25,500 m) in altitude. Conceived in the 1950s, Blackbirds remain the fastest and highest flying air-breathing production aircraft ever built.
Lockheed D-21 - Wikipedia
The Lockheed D-21 is an American supersonic reconnaissance drone. The D-21 was initially designed to be launched from the back of an M-21 carrier aircraft, a variant of the Lockheed A-12 aircraft. The drone had maximum speed in excess of Mach 3.3 (2,200 miles per hour; 3,600 kilometers per hour) at an operational altitude of 90,000 feet (27,000 ...
M-21 Aircraft - National Air and Space Museum
M-21 Aircraft. A project stemming from the development of the A-12 was the M-21 aircraft and the D-21 drone. Two A-12s were modified to carry and launch the Lockheed D-21 remotely piloted reconnaissance drone, which would be powered by a Marquardt ramjet engine.
Lockheed A-12 - Wikipedia
The Lockheed A-12 is a retired high-altitude, Mach 3+ reconnaissance aircraft built for the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) by Lockheed 's Skunk Works, based on the designs of Clarence "Kelly" Johnson.
The Blackbird - Museum of Flight
The Blackbird family of aircraft cruised at speeds of more than Mach 3 and altitudes of over 85,000 feet (25,500 m). Conceived more than 45 years ago and retired from active service since the late 1990s, Blackbirds remain the fastest piloted jets ever built. The M-21 is a variant of the A-12, the earliest Blackbird type.
SR-71 Online - M-21 Blackbird
Oct 27, 2024 · The M-21 is an A-12-like aircraft designed to launch the once ultra-secret D-21 Drone. When the United States signed a treaty to end flights of manned vehicles over the Soviet Union, an unmanned vehicle was needed for reconnaissance. Since the A-12 is an overflight vehicle, it would undermine the treaty if used in the future.
The year 1964 also marked the debut of two more Blackbird variants, designated M-21 and SR-71. The M-21, a two-seat variant of the A-12, was built expressly as a launch aircraft for the secret D-21 reconnaissance drone as Project TAGBOARD. A fatal accident during the fourth launch resulted in the death of the launch control officer
Randy's Warbird Profile - Lockheed M-21 Blackbird
Sep 10, 2021 · This particular aircraft is an M-21 variant developed from the A-12, the earliest Blackbird type and the forerunner to the more familiar SR-71. Lockheed built the aircraft to play a role in Tagboard, the code-name for a Central Intelligence Agency intelligence-gathering program. The aircraft carried an un-piloted D-21 drone, mounted on its ...
SR-71 Blackbird and M-21 Blackbird of the U.S. Air Force, history ...
The Lockheed M-21 Blackbird is a unique variant of the A-12, the earliest Blackbird type. Built for a CIA program code-named "Tagboard," the M-21 carried unpiloted Lockheed D-21 vehicles for intelligence gathering.
OXCART vs Blackbird: Do You Know the Difference? - CIA
Often confused with one another, CIA’s A-12 OXCART and the US Air Force’s SR-71 Blackbird are actually two different aircraft. CIA developed the highly secret A-12 OXCART (above right) as the U-2 spy plane’s successor, intended to meet the nation’s need for a very fast, very high-flying reconnaissance aircraft that could avoid Soviet ...