#Lockheed d21

[usafphantom2]

President Nixon wanted to open the door of communication with communist China in the early 1970s. The Chinese said OK but stop flying your SR- 71 over our country. They probably meant D21 drones as the drones went very fast faster than an SR 71 and were picked up by radar . The A-12’s did fly very close to the border, and did occasionally slip over the border. President Nixon promised that he would stop. As far as I know he did stop.

At Beale Air Force Base, in California. You would think that the SR 71 program would be the biggest blackest deepest secret. But you would be wrong. The biggest secret was Senior Bowl. After the accidental, drowning of Ray Torick The MD 21 program was canceled. But the program continued. Tagboard was now called “ Senior Bowl”. It was Kelly Johnson, of the Skunk Works who suggested let’s used the B-52. Two B-52’s were modified. Tail number 610021 and 610036. Both B-52’s are still in the Air Forces inventory. The ultra secret 4200 test squadron was formed at Beale...

The objective was to launch the Drone D 21 B over China and take pictures of It’s nuclear weapons test facility in the remote west central China near Lop Nor.

The pictures were supposed to be dropped in the ocean and recovered by the Navy. During the Cold War this information was necessary.

Senior bowl lasted from January 1968 until July 23, 1971.

Interestingly, after the fall of the Soviet Union, Ben R. Rich (then retired president of Lockheed’s Skunk Works) finally had an opportunity to tour Russia himself. While in Moscow, the KGB presented Rich with a gift of what they thought were the remains of a stealth fighter that had crashed in their territory. As it turned out, the wreckage was actually pieces and parts of the lost D-21B Drone!

D-21B #527 launched on March 20, 1971 and was the fourth and final mission. Experts concluded that #527 must have malfunctioned. It was thought to have gone down near Lop Nor. This drone is on display in China at the national aviation museum. So we know that it got close.

Linda Sheffield

@Habubrats71 via X

[rhubarbes]

Lockheed D-21 via Wikipedia

#Lockheed #D-21 #D21 #airplanes

[vbeserk]

The M-21 drone carrier, a variant of the Lockheed A-12, with the D-21 drone on it’s dorsal section, the purpose of the drone was to recon an area then eject it’s data package and self destruct, the data would be picked up by a C-130 in mid-air, the M-21 project was cancelled after the drone collided with the mothership.

#Lockheed #M21 #A12 #jet #D21 #Drone #mothership #carrier #aircraft #airplane #aviation #reconnaissance #recon #C130