D-21
Surviving drones
Marked as squares
Record
Career
- Ramjet-powered (Marquardt RJ43) Mach 3+ reconnaissance drone; first launched from an M-21 on 5 Mar 1966 (TAGBOARD)
- Four M-21 launches in 1966; the fourth (30 Jul 1966) destroyed M-21 60-6941 and killed Ray Torick
- Relaunched from B-52H carriers as D-21B (SENIOR BOWL); first B-52 launch attempt 28 Sep 1967
- Four operational SENIOR BOWL missions over China, 9 Nov 1969 to 20 Mar 1971; none fully succeeded
- Programme cancelled in July 1971
- Wreck of the first operational drone was recovered by the Soviets in Siberia; a CIA official returned a panel from it to Ben Rich in 1986
- Survivors (number, place): 510 Museum of Flight, Seattle WA (on M-21 60-6940); 522 Pacific Coast Air Museum, Santa Rosa CA; 524 National Museum of the USAF, Dayton OH (arrived 1993); 525 Blackbird Airpark, Palmdale CA; 528 Grissom Air Museum, Peru IN; 530 AMARG storage, Davis-Monthan AFB AZ; 533 Pima Air & Space Museum, Tucson AZ; 534 North American Aerospace Museum (formerly Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum), McMinnville OR; 537 March Field Air Museum, Riverside CA (delivered 19 Jul 2007); 538 Southern Museum of Flight, Birmingham AL; 539 Beale AFB CA
- Wreckage of 527 (lost 20 Mar 1971 over Yunnan) is displayed at the China Aviation Museum, Beijing
Fate
38 D-21 and D-21B drones were built and 21 were expended in tests and operations; the remaining 17 were stored at Norton AFB and moved to the Davis-Monthan AFB boneyard in 1976 and 1977. At least 11 survive intact today, mostly in museums, plus the wreckage of the drone lost over China in 1971.
Survivors on display
| Drone 510 | The Museum of Flight, Seattle, Washington, USA |
| Drone 522 | Pacific Coast Air Museum, Santa Rosa, California, USA |
| Drone 524 | National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, Ohio, USA |
| Drone 525 | Blackbird Airpark, Palmdale, California, USA |
| Drone 528 | Grissom Air Museum, Peru, Indiana, USA |
| Drone 530 | 309th AMARG storage (not a public display), Tucson, Arizona, USA |
| Drone 533 | Pima Air & Space Museum, Tucson, Arizona, USA |
| Drone 534 | North American Aerospace Museum (formerly Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum), McMinnville, Oregon, USA |
| Drone 537 | March Field Air Museum, Riverside, California, USA |
| Drone 538 | Southern Museum of Flight, Birmingham, Alabama, USA |
| Drone 539 | Beale Air Force Base (base display), Marysville, California, USA |
| Drone 527 (wreckage) | China Aviation Museum, Beijing (Changping), China |
Where the record disagrees
'first_flight' here is the first D-21 launch. The count of 38 built is given by both CIA and Wikipedia; 21 expended and 17 stored are from Wikipedia citing Landis and Jenkins (2005). The survivor list is Wikipedia's, spot-checked against the Museum of Flight, NMUSAF, Pima and March Field pages; whereabouts of the remaining stored drones were not found. Cancellation date: CIA Archangel timeline says 15 July 1971, Wikipedia says 23 July 1971. The Evergreen museum was renamed the North American Aerospace Museum in August 2026 (FLYING); its D-21B was not re-verified after the rename. Coordinates are museum or base centroids. 'displays' is an extra field for mapping, beyond the base schema.
Sources
- 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
- Wikipedia. Lockheed D-21 (aircraft on display list). Open · Archived · In the register
- National Museum of the United States Air Force. Lockheed D-21B fact sheet. Open · Archived · In the register
- The Museum of Flight. Lockheed D-21B Drone. Open · Archived · In the register
- Pima Air & Space Museum. Lockheed D-21B. Open · Archived · In the register
- March Field Air Museum. D-21 Drone. Open · Archived · In the register
- FLYING Magazine. Spruce Goose home rebrands as North American Aerospace Museum. Open · Archived · In the register