Approved for Release: 2013/06/25
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Secret NOFORN
Chapter 2
46
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Skunk Works Design Staff
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![Image: Black-and-white photograph showing a group of people working on an aircraft assembly line in a hangar. The image is grainy and high-contrast, with visible structural beams and equipment.]
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speed of Mach 0.8 or 460 knots at altitude. Its initial maximum altitude would be 70,600 feet and the ultimate maximum altitude would be 73,100 feet. According to these early December 1954 specifications, the new plane would take off at 90 knots, land at 76 knots, and be able to glide 244 nautical miles from an altitude of 70,000 feet. After discussing the reconnaissance bay with James Baker, Johnson had worked out various equipment combinations that would not exceed the weight limit of 450 pounds. Johnson ended his report by promising the first test flight by 2 August 1955 and the completion of four aircraft by 1 December 1955.¹²
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¹² Kelly Johnson, “A High-Altitude Reconnaissance Aircraft,” 9 December 1954, Lockheed Contract Files, OSA Records (S).
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Secret
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Approved for Release: 2013/06/25