I visited this museum a few years back.  It is very nice.  For me, the
highlight of the visit was the exquisitely preserved Lockheed M-12 carrying a
D-21 on its back.  I took many pictures of that plane in the (forlorn) hope
that one day I would be able to build a model of it.

The M-12 (Tail number 60-6940) is one of 2 two-seat A-12s that were built to
carry and launch the D-21 drone.  The A-12 is the first in the Blackbird series
followed by the YF-12A and finally the SR-71.  The A-12 was considerably
lighter than the follow-on SR-71 and somewhat faster.  It was a single seat
all-titanium reconnaissance aircraft (spyplane) designed for sustained speeds
in excess of Mach 3, at altitudes greater than 80,000.  (For comparison, the
muzzle velocity of an M-16 round right at Mach 3, and the bullet out of .22 is
around Mach 1.)

The D-21 drone (Tagboard) was highly secret and was designed in the Blackbird
series as an adjunct to the A-12.  This droned was propelled by a Marquardt
ramjet engine with sustained speeds beyond Mach 3.3 and a range beyond 1250
nautical miles.  The M-12 carried the D-21 on a pylon on the back of the
airplane between the twin vertical stabilizers.  It would bring the D-21 to the
range, altitude and more importantly, speed where the Marquardt ramjet could
ignite (above Mach 3.)  The D-21 would be released from the M-12 and fly on its
mission on its own.  It would take the photographs and continue to its recovery
area where the cameras and film would be ejected and recovered and the drone
would blow itself apart.

There were just a few test of the M-12/D-12 combination.  On one of the tests,
the D-21 collided with the M-12 (60-6941), both planes were destroyed and one
of the occupants of the M-12 died.  Further tests of the combination were
cancelled.  The D-21 was then matted to solid rocket boosters and carried under
the wings of a B-52 (one under each wing.)  Several tests were made, some
successful, others less so.

The remaining M-12 (60-6940) is the one at the Museum of Flight.

What I find most impressive about the whole thing is these planes
(A-12/M-12/D-21/YF12a/SR-71,) were all designed without the benefit of
computers and yet took performance to a level that has not been reached since,
(unless of course, Aurora is indeed real and flying. :) )  These planes were
designed with slide rules and paper computations and blueprints.  I record
time.  On budget.

For more information on the Museum of Flight, visit
http://www.museumofflight.org/.

Enjoy the museum, it's great.

BTW, for sheer presence and awe, the only other plane has to be the North
American XB-70 Valkyrie.  Only two were built, one suffered a mid-air collision
with a chase plane and crashed.  The other one flew for several more years and
was retired.  It is now at the Air Force museum at Wright-Patterson AFB in
Dayton, Ohio.


Kind regards,

Denys. . .

Denys Beauchemin
HICOMP
(800) 323-8863  (281) 288-7438         Fax: (281) 355-6879
denys at hicomp.com                             www.hicomp.com


-----Original Message-----
From:   Williams, Shannon [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   Thursday, July 13, 2000 1:24 PM
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        Re: museum of flight

Adults - $9.50
Youths (ages 5 to 17) - $5.00
Groups (10 or more paying adults) - $8.50
Groups (10 or more paying children) - $4.00
Seniors (65 and over) - $8.50
Children under 5 - Free

Shannon

-----Original Message-----
From: Gary Sielaff [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2000 11:19 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [HP3000-L] museum of flight


Whats it cost to go to Boeings Museum of flight?
Gary