Discover Top Posts Tagged with #md-21

The D 21 was a good idea that really didn’t work out. It was to be used with a variation of the A-12 called the M 21 .

This is a diagram to show how the MD 21 would perform..

@Habubrats71 via X

#d-21 #m-21 #md-21 #lockheed #lockheed aviation #skunkworks #reconnaissance #drone #aircraft #usaf #cia #aviation #cold war aircraft

The US government uses a simple shorthand to communicate an aircraft’s mission. F stands for “Fighter”, B for “Bomber” and A for “Attack”. These universal, emotionless titles simply would not do for the most visually striking aerospace machine in history; the M/D-21. Here, M means “Mother” and D means “Daughter”. The Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington, displays this one-of-a-kind ship as the crown jewel of its collection.

During Project Tagboard, a modified A-12 would launch the unmanned D-21 reconnaissance vehicle, releasing it from a pylon positioned between its rudders at more than three times the speed of sound. During launch, the wings of the D-21 cleared the rudders of the mothership by mere inches. This maneuver would prove to be extremely dangerous.

M-21 60-6940 carried these drones during initial flight testing, but never launched one. She has the lowest flight time of any surviving Blackbird aircraft at only 123.9 hours over the course of 80 flights. This is due to the tragic loss of her sister ship (M-21 60-6941) during testing. I detailed this accident in a previous article (click here to view). This M-21 was flying photo chase when the fatal accident unfolded, providing valuable images, aiding the accident investigation and the ultimate cancellation of her own program.

Project Tagboard evolved into codename Senior Bowl, which launched the modified D-21B from the underwing pylon of a B-52H, making deployment much safer. D-21B 510, the oldest surviving ship of its kind, was converted from a Tagboard D-21 to a Senior Bowl D-21B in September of 1967 following the accident. She is now represented in her original configuration, mounted atop the pylon of her mothership at the Museum of Flight.

At high speed, the M-21′s quartz windows reached temperatures of 620°F. It was through these heat soaked cockpit windows that crew members once witnessed the end of a program. These windows will never again blaze with the heat of sonic compression, but they continue to offer a glance into the most ambitious jet aircraft design and a look into history.

At Area 51, or Edwards AFB this is an MD 21, a variation of the A-12 with an F-104 Starfighter. Do you notice a slight similarity? They were both created by avionics genius Kelly Johnson of the Skunk Works.

From the photo collection of U2 and SR 71 pilot Buddy Brown

@Habubrats71 via X