File A121-R-60-6929A-12Article 126

60-6929

A-12 · Article 126
Lost28 Dec 1965

No display location
Dots mark every surviving airframe

No photo on fileNo openly licensed photograph of this airframe is in the archive yet. If you took one or know of one, it can be added with your permission.

Record

60-6929
126
A-12
169.2
Not confirmed
Lost
Destroyed

Career

  • Lost barely a month after the A-12 was declared operationally ready (12 Nov 1965)
  • DCI William Raborn ordered a sabotage investigation; simple negligence was found
  • 105 flights

How it was lost

Crashed 28 December 1965 less than 30 seconds after takeoff from the Groom Lake test site because an electrician had cross-wired the yaw and pitch gyros of the stability augmentation system. CIA pilot Mele Vojvodich ejected close to the ground and was not injured.

In the chronology

28 Dec 1965Article 126 crashes on takeoff OXCART
Less than 30 seconds after takeoff, Article 126 (60-6929) became unflyable because an electrician had cross-wired the yaw and pitch gyros, in effect reversing the controls. CIA pilot Mele Vojvodich ejected at about 150 feet without injury, and a sabotage inquiry found negligence instead.

Where the record disagrees

First flight date not found in sources checked.

Sources

  1. Central Intelligence Agency, Center for the Study of Intelligence. Archangel: CIA's Supersonic A-12 Reconnaissance Aircraft (David Robarge, 2nd ed.; includes 'Inventory of A-12s' table, p. 50). Open · Archived · In the register
  2. Wikipedia. Lockheed A-12 (aircraft table and accidents list). Open · Archived · In the register