Approved for Release: 2013/06/25
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Secret NOFORN
Chapter 6
297
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decided to go to Nevada and take charge of the OXCART’s development himself. His presence made a big difference, as can be seen in his notes in the project log:
> I uncovered many items of a managerial, materiel and design nature.... I had meetings with vendors to improve their operation.... Changed supervision and had daily talks with them, going over in detail all problems on the aircraft.... Increased the supervision in the electrical group by 500%.... We tightened up the inspection procedures a great deal and made inspection stick.
> It appears that the problems are one-third due to bum engineering.... The addition of so many systems to the A-12 has greatly complicated the problems, but we did solve the overall problem.⁴⁸
These improvements in on-site management got the project back on schedule.
By 20 November 1965, the final validation flights for OXCART deployment were finished. During these tests, the OXCART achieved a maximum speed of Mach 3.29, an altitude of 90,000 feet, and sustained flight time above Mach 3.2 of 74 minutes. The maximum endurance test lasted six hours and 20 minutes. On 22 November, Kelly Johnson wrote to Brig. Gen. Jack C. Ledford, head of the Office of Special Activities, stating, “The time has come when the bird should leave its nest.”⁴⁹
Three years and seven months after its first flight in April 1962, the OXCART was ready for operational use. It was now time to find work for the most advanced aircraft ever conceived and built.
DISCUSSIONS ON THE OXCART’S FUTURE EMPLOYMENT
Although the OXCART had been designed to replace the U-2 as a strategic reconnaissance aircraft to fly over the Soviet Union, this use had become doubtful long before the OXCART was ready for operational use. The U-2 Affair of 1960 made Presidents very reluctant to consider overflights of the Soviet Union. Indeed, Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy had both stated publicly that the United States would not conduct such overflights. In July 1962, Secretary of
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⁴⁸ Johnson, “Archangel log,” 5 August–30 April 1965.
⁴⁹ “OXCART Story,” p. 23 (S).
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Secret
Approved for Release: 2013/06/25