A12 Blackbird Declassified - Motorbooks ColorTech Author:Jeannette Remak, Joe Ventolo Jr. Perhaps the most remarkable chapter in the story of the supersonic SR-71 Blackbird spyplane is that of its predecessor, the A-12 Blackbird, an aircraft capable of speeds in excess of 2,000 miles per hour and an altitude of 18 miles. Long cloaked in secrecy, that tale comes to life in the pages of this history detailing the A-12 from its concepti... more »on, to its first flight in 1962, and on through the spy missions it flew over China, Southeast Asia and the Eastern Bloc. Also revealed are the details of the top-secret D-21 drone program in which an unmanned, camera-equipped spyplane was launched at Mach 3 from the top of an A-12 fuselage. Illustrated throughout with photographs and schematic drawings, the majority of the information featured here is taken from CIA files declassified as a result of the Freedom of Information Act.« less