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Sturgeon's House

Archangel Concepts Discussion


LostCosmonaut

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Before the SR-71, there was the A-12. Before the A-12, there were many other concepts proposed for Mach 3 reconaissance aircraft. Many of these concepts were assigned 'Archangel' designations, and as a result, were known as the A-1, A-2, etc. Here's an example of one of them;

 

image.jpg

As you can see, it's quite different from what would eventually become the Blackbird.

 

Here's another;

 

a-3-1_small.gif

 

 

 

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Weren't these all related to F-104 and U-2 development?

 

Yes. It's described in more detail in this book, but what ultimately evolved into the Blackbird originally started out as a project to reduce the U-2's RCS. One of the early concepts involved attaching wires of various lengths to the U-2 to cancel out returns from Soviet radars.

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