en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_A-12
2 corrections found
5 June 1968: 60-6932 (Article 129) was lost off the Philippines during a functional check flight.
Official CIA sources date the loss of A-12 Article 129 to June 4, 1968, not June 5, 1968.
Full reasoning
CIA’s own records place the loss of A-12 Article 129 on 4 June 1968. The CIA Museum’s Peacekeeper page states: “On 4 June 1968 ... Jack Weeks died while piloting A-12 Article 129 on a functional checkout flight between Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, and the Philippines.” CIA’s Archangel inventory likewise lists Article 129 (serial 60-6932) as having crashed 4 June 1968.
Because the article gives the accident date as 5 June 1968, the date in this claim is off by one day.
2 sources
- Archangel: CIA's Supersonic A-12 Reconnaissance Aircraft (PDF)
Inventory row for Article 129 / serial 60-6932 lists its fate as: "Crashed 4 June 1968."
- Peacekeeper - CIA
"On 4 June 1968, some four months following his successful overflight of North Korea, Jack Weeks died while piloting A-12 Article 129 on a functional checkout flight between Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, and the Philippines."
flew from 1963 to 1968
The A-12 first flew in April 1962, so saying it “flew from 1963 to 1968” is a year late.
Full reasoning
NASA’s historical material on the Blackbird family states that the A-12 first flew in April 1962. Another NASA source summarizes the A-12 as a CIA aircraft operated from 1962 to 1968. That means the article’s statement that it “flew from 1963 to 1968” is incorrect.
The confusion may come from the fact that broader testing and fleet activity continued into 1963, but the aircraft’s first flight occurred in 1962, not 1963.
2 sources
- YF-12A and YF-12C in Flight Formation at Dawn - NASA
"The first version, a CIA reconnaissance aircraft that first flew in April 1962 was called the A-12."
- Mach 3+ NASA/USAF YF-12 Flight Research, 1969-1979 (NASA)
Caption text: "First of the Blackbirds to fly, the A-12 (code-named OXCART) was capable of speeds in excess of Mach 3. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operated the aircraft exclusively from 1962 to 1968."