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Description
| Manufacturer: | Lockheed | |
| Base model: | F-12 | |
| Designation: | YF-12 | |
| Version: | A | |
| Designation System: | U.S. Tri-Service | |
| Designation Period: | 1962-Present | |
| Basic role: | Fighter | |
| Status: | Prototype | |
Specifications
| Not Yet Available |
Known serial numbers
Examples of this type may be found at
| Museum | City | State |
| United States Air Force Museum | Wright-Patterson | Ohio |
YF-12A on display
United States Air Force Museum |
Recent comments by our visitors
| Wes Layton , CO | God speed UJ (Uncle Jack). You were the best of the best. I'm very proud of you and Aunt Eunice and thank you so much for raising me for seven years of my life and for always being an inspiration to anyone who knew you. The world's fastest fighter pilot! As awesome as the F84s, F101s,F102s, F104s, F106s, A-12s, YF12s and SR71s were, it was YOU that was the most awesome of all. I will never forget you and you will always live in a large part of my heart. I hope the world will know what you and the other pioneers in the Blackbird program meant to aviation history and the contributions all of you made in making our country stronger and safer during a very tenuous and dangerous time in our history. 06/24/2014 @ 11:05 [ref: 68526] |
| Wes Layton , CO | God speed UJ (Uncle Jack). You were the best of the best. I'm very proud of you and Aunt Eunice and thank you so much for raising me for seven years of my life and for always being an inspiration to anyone who knew you. The world's fastest fighter pilot! As awesome as the F84s, F101s,F102s, F104s, F106s, A-12s, YF12s and SR71s were, it was YOU that was the most awesome of all. I will never forget you and you will always live in a large part of my heart. I hope the world will know what you and the other pioneers in the Blackbird program meant to aviation history and the contributions all of you made in making our country stronger and safer during a very tenuous and dangerous time in our history. 06/24/2014 @ 11:05 [ref: 68525] |
| Chris Layton Huntsville, AL | Col Ronald Jack Layton passed away May 15, 2013 and was buried May 18, 2013. He will be missed. 05/19/2013 @ 06:23 [ref: 67822] |
| TOM FOSTER , CA | MY DAD(THOMAS "TED" FOSTER) WORKED FOR LOCKHEED FOR MANY YRS WITH KELLY JOHNSON AND WAS THE MAIN MODEL DESIGNER FOR THE SR-71'S. I LIVE NEAR PLANT 42 IN PALMDALE, CA AND SPEND ALOT OF TIME AT BLACKBIRD AIRPARK LOOKING AT HIS WORKS. THERE ARE ALSO MODELS THERE. ALSO AN A-12 AND SR-71. 12/14/2010 @ 16:43 [ref: 34299] |
| Gabe Bennett Corvallis, OR | The sole remaining YF-12A on display at the USAF museum (60-6935) was the aircraft my late grandfather, Victor W. Horton, flew backseat on during his NASA career. Usually, he flew with Fitz Fulton, but also made a few flights with Donald Mallick in the front seat. He also flew with Bill Dana on at least one occasion (we found some photographs in his stuff recently, where Bill had written on the back that he and grandpa were "the first all Oildale team" to fly the Blackbird).
There was also a standing joke that Grandpa was that he was "the Fastest Mayor in the West", because at the same time he was flying on high speed tests for NASA in the YF-12, he also served as the Mayor of Tehachapi, California. Grandpa absolutely loved that plane, even more so than the SR-71 itself (which he also flew on). He had a few close calls with the aircraft along the way (such as an accident caused by faulty equipment during the Coldwall Experiment which caused them to end up in a spin at Mach 3 or having the navigation system quit on them while they were out over the Pacific), but it never stopped him from getting back in the cockpit. I think of everything he did during his 25 years with NASA, flying on the Blackbird was his favorite. One of these days, I'll have to get back to Dayton and see that plane for myself up close. 05/13/2010 @ 16:58 [ref: 26164] |
| Capt.Rog Medford, OR | This pic http://aeroweb.brooklyn.cuny.edu/database/aircraft/getimage.htm?id=7676
shows a 12 with a 71. The dff.s were very subtle to the untrained eye but radically different aerodynanically. The "chines" extended to and wrapped the nose of the 71 and it was modified to an "upturn" for super/hyper sonic flight. The fuselage on the 71, behind the cockpit, matched it's water-station. The 12 had a "dip" behind the cockpit. The "ventrals", as someone mentioned, were a "NAVY" thing for low-speed controllable approaches and tried and used on the F-8-U Crusader for carrier landings. When carrier ldg.s were out of the picture, so were the ventrals. When the NAVY's gun was removed from the protos, the CG was moved forward...so were the Engines and they were up-graded. The MLG was changed from a 2 tire to a 4 tire config.on each Truck. The most significant change was the "trailing-edge" of the wings and control surfaces. Even in "laminar flow", "AIR/SLIP-STREAM" won't do what it's supposed to do unless you "tell it". The 71's trailing edges, reduce the sq.' problem but also the resultant drag in strt and lvl flight, lowering the %of MAC and the Angle of Attack needed to maintain/increase velocity. BOTH Planes are extraordinary and are AWESOME! One is just the "Daddy of the other". If The Sknk-Wrks hadn't developed the 12, the 71 would never been born. In 1960 ... ish times, I was privvy to an experiment with the YF-12A on a gun and rocket run. She was travelling at Mach 1 plus, attacking a drone at a much lower altitude ...it took her at least 5 minutes to avail herself to a "perfect 6" to launch/fire. The danger was her Velocity...she could "out-run" her fired rounds. When the F-12 dropped to below the FPS range of her onboard NAVY guns, it took her precious time and fuel to regain speed/altitude to E.& E. from harm's way after only a 2 or 3 second burst of 600 rnd.s ps. Her afterburner acceleration was so lineal that the resultant target destruction would cause collateral on her as she passed through the field. 11/23/2008 @ 15:41 [ref: 23129] |
| WESTON (Wes) Y. LAYTON Castle Rock, CO | Col. Layton is alive and well in Rexburg, Id. He left Colo. Spgs in the late 70s following his retirement @ Peterson Air Force Base and the 14th Air Force which is now In Vandenburg. His losing of 6936 was not on take off. This was the F-12 that suffered the in flight fuel line fracture 2 minutes from landing at Edwards in '71. A pilot's name missing in an above commentary was Mele Vojavadich (I'm certain I misspelled his last name & apologize in advance)General, Ret and has since passed away. Also an aviation pioneer and a major part of history in the developmental and testing stages of the Blackbird program. I wish all to remember that there are not many of them left on this earth and sooner then we want they will all be a memory in the history pages of aviation. It will be left to us to insure that their vaulable legacy will live on and etched in whatever stones we choose to place them. Their contributions are priceless and very few are aware of the true sacrifices they endured and even fewer are aware of the all the missions flown and the progresses made. 10/22/2006 @ 07:52 [ref: 14529] |
| Ron Thurlow , MI | Does anyone know whether any of the AIM-47 missiles tested on the YF-12 have survived and if so, where one could be found? It would be nice to have one displayed next to the YF-12 at the Air Force Museum, Dayton, OH. Thanks. 10/24/2005 @ 04:27 [ref: 11554] |
| Weston Layton Castle Rock, CO | Actually Jack Layton (Col. USAF Ret.) & Capt Curtis bailed out of 936 2 minutes from landing over the dry lake bed at Edwards AFB in 1971 as aforementioned above due to that catastrophic fuel line fracture. Capt Curtis was the first to eject and it was windy that day and all he could think of at that moment was losing (at that time) a $30 million dollar aircraft and then landing on the road he saw approaching and then to get hit by a vehicle! I remember that story vividly! I hope that we all remember General Mele, for he, like Col Layton were true pioneers in the blackbird / skunk works program. 02/06/2005 @ 11:27 [ref: 9375] |
| George Spurling , TN | Mark Sommer,
The pods you are refering too, are camera pods to record on film the missile launches from the YF-12. 01/18/2005 @ 06:13 [ref: 9166] |
Recent photos uploaded by our visitors
