We thought this book, “Archangel: CIA’s Supersonic A-12 Reconnaissance Aircraft” by David Robarge, the CIA’s Chief Historian, was an awesome find for our readers who are aviation buffs. Printed by the Central Intelligence Agency’s Center for the Study of Intelligence in 2012, the work was originally compiled in 2007 to coincide with the loan of an A-12 (SR-71) from the USAF to commemorate the Agency’s 60th anniversary and gives an excellent overview of the Oxcart program.
An awesome find indeed. The Oxcart program will go down in history as one the very first prolific classified air vehicle programs. It’s amazing to think what’s flying around now some 60 years later we don’t even know about.
Well done SSD! – Vic
Only the image file is displayed when clicking the cover.
Try it now
One too many “h” in http lol.
Now it says the link is invalid.
Still not working
Link no work.
Not many of these guys left. I went to one of their reunions several years ago.
A lot of great info here.
http://roadrunnersinternationale.com/oxcart_bshield.html
Looks like they crashed, A LOT.
There’s an extra H in the url https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/a-12/Archangel-2ndEdition-2Feb12.pdf
“Flying the SR71 Blackbird” by Col. Richard Graham is still in print and covers every aspect of driving one of these. Cool read.
There’s a lot of cool information in “Skunk Works” by Ben Rich and Leo Janos as well, covers the U2 and F117 as well.
This is an excellent history and well worth your time.