Almost 200 Turn Out for USGIF Workshop on CIA's A-12 OXCART Spy Plane Program

September 28, 2010

photos from the event

USGIF, in cooperation with the Advanced Technical Intelligence Association (ATIA) and the Association of Old Crows (AOC), hosted on Monday, Sept. 27 a 2-hour presentation on the CIA’s OXCART program.

As part of a series of public and private discussions from the members of Road Runners Internationale and the Blackbird Association, the CIA chief historian moderated a series of presentations from the pilots, engineers and program managers who worked on and flew in the OXCART program.

Though most people can easily recognize the storied SR-71 Blackbird, few know about its earlier ancestor the A-12. The similarly looking aircraft was only operational for a year, but the design of Clarence “Kelly” Johnson was revolutionary and helped literally shape future spy planes.

CIA Chief Historian David Robarge, Ph.D., who wrote the CIA book on the program, kicked off the workshop with an overview on the importance of the program. He then led the audience through a series of individual presentations that included:

Robert Murphy, a Lockheed Skunk Works industrial manager and principal manager under Kelly Johnson on the U-2 and A-12 Project discussed how the program came together.

S. Eugene Poteat, an electronics engineer and missile guidance engineer at CIA during the program covered how the CIA assessed Soviet radar threats to the A-12 and SR-71, and he recalled his observations of the tests at Groom Lake.

Thornton D. Barnes, who was a special projects radar cross-section specialist at Groom Lake during BLACKSHIELD as well as a hypersonic flight specialist involved in tracking experimental aircraft, provided the audience with details regarding the stealth qualities of the aircraft.

Dennis Nordquist worked at Pratt & Whitney as a mechanical engineer on the A-12 power plant. The technological genius of the aircraft was only matched by the J58 component and engine that powered the plane to Mach 3, which Nordquist highlighted.

Col. Kenneth S. Collins Sr., USAF (Ret.), told the audience about his six A-12 BLACKSHIELD Missions over Vietnam as well as other interesting occurrences during his time in the cockpit from 1963 to 1968.