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+--- Thread: Challenge of Transporting the A-12s From Burbank to Area 51 (/showthread.php?tid=190486)
Challenge of Transporting the A-12s From Burbank to Area 51 - maco - 04-26-2016
"From the beginning of Project OXCART, it was known that the A-12s would be built in the SkunkWorks within the Lockheed Plant complex in Burbank, California and that the A-12s would have to be transported overland to Area 51 for flight testing, development and training of the Project Pilots. Long before the first A-12 airplane was ready for transport, the full scale model was built and had to be taken to the Area for installation on the radar range for studies of its radar cross section. The carriages that contained the model were smaller but all of these were oversize requiring a special travel permit. This trip to haul the full scale model was started in November 1959 and took three days to complete. The largest of these packages was 65' long and 32.6' wide.
This story chronicles the efforts to build and use the carriages repeatedly to move the fully built A-12s and the YF-12s from Burbank to Area 51. Eighteen trips were made to Area 51 and three trips were made to Palmdale to carry the first three SR-71s built."
http://roadrunnersinternationale.com/transporting_the_a-12.html
Re: Challenge of Transporting the A-12s From Burbank to Area 51 - Michael - 04-27-2016
What a cool story! Thanks.
Re: Challenge of Transporting the A-12s From Burbank to Area 51 - space-time - 04-27-2016
Potty break
Re: Challenge of Transporting the A-12s From Burbank to Area 51 - Ken Sp. - 04-27-2016
So interesting. Thanks!
Re: Challenge of Transporting the A-12s From Burbank to Area 51 - Will Collier - 04-27-2016
Thanks, I'm going to send this to an old boss of mine who worked on that program, at the Skunk Works and er, elsewhere. As you might imagine, he had some pretty good stories...