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A Lockheed U-2S in flight. A pilot guides a U-2 Dragon Lady across the air field in front of deployed E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft April 24 2010, en route to a mission in support of operations in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility from a non-disclosed base in Southwest Asia. […]

U-2C spyplane: The total number of U-2s built is unknown but is around 100, of which a proportion was shot down. Major Rudolf Anderson’s plane was shot down over Banes, Cuba, in October 1962 by a Soviet launched SA-2 missile, and at least nine were destroyed by the Chinese. U-2 flights over China, which began […]

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA. Developed under the code name Senior Crown, the SR-71 Blackbird became the ultimate Archangel, the capstone in the lineage that began with the first A-12. The SR-71 has the distinction of having served for more than three decades, while the A-12 […]

Bill Weaver climbs into an SR-71 at Palmdale. The NASA SR-71B Blackbird in flight over the Sierra Nevada in 1994. During the course of the A-12 program, the Air Force had been exceedingly helpful to the CIA. It provided financial support, conducted the refueling program, provided operational facilities at Kadena, and airlifted A-12 personnel and […]