#TBT YF-12A Speed Run & Missile Launch

For this #ThrowbackThursday our historians take us back to the Spring of 1965 for a behind the scenes look at the YF-12A. We hope you enjoy this #TBT video in which we find crews and testers at Edwards in the midst of a speed run as well as the loading and deployment of a missile during a test.

Here is additional information about this once super secretive aircraft:

The Lockheed YF-12A began as an off-shoot of the secretive A-12 program managed by the CIA. Repurposed as a high-altitude Mach 3 long-range interceptor for defense against supersonic bombers for the U.S. Air Force, the YF-12A carried AIM-47 air-to-air missiles rather than sophisticated reconnaissance equipment. President Lyndon B. Johnson announced the existence of the YF-12A in February 1964. The resulting publicity provided a plausible cover for ongoing A-12 operations and development of the SR-71 Blackbird.

The Lockheed YF-12 is an American prototype interceptor aircraft evaluated by the United States Air Force in the 1960s. The YF-12 was a twin-seat version of the secret single-seat Lockheed A-12 reconnaissance aircraft, which led to the U.S. Air Force's Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird twin-seat reconnaissance variant. The YF-12 set and held speed and altitude world records of over 2,000 miles per hour (3,200 km/h) and over 80,000 feet (24,000 m) (later surpassed by the SR-71), and is the world's largest, heaviest and fastest manned interceptor to date. After retirement it served as a research aircraft for NASA, which used it to develop several significant improvements in control for supersonic aircraft, including the SR-71.