If the Lockheed YF-12 had entered service?

[famvburg]

The Lockheed F-12 would have been the ideal manned interceptor.  But it would have been a single mission aircraft.  Much like the Soviet MiG-25 Foxbat.

If the Soviets had their version of the North American B-70 Valkyrie to menace the skies, there is no doubt that the Lockheed F-12 would have entered service.

Perhaps had the threat changed to flooding NORAD with stand off weapons like cruise missles from bombers, instead of ballistic missles, perhaps the F-14 Tomcat with its AWG-9/Phoenix weapon system would have been ideal to counter this.

   IIRC, the F-14's radar & missiles were developed from what equipped the YF-12.

[famvburg]

Still waiting for the Italer YF-12 to release (need 3 for ideas related to this thread)


Shas B)

   Well, the earlier released Italeri/Testors kit shows up on eBay regularly, you could avoid the wait.

[GTX]

If the Soviets had their version of the North American B-70 Valkyrie to menace the skies,

Well, there was always the Sukhoi T-4 "Sotka" - though a bit smaller than the XB-70, it was to cruise just under Mach 3:







Some videos of it in flight here.

Regards,

Greg

[GTX]

Perhaps had the threat changed to flooding NORAD with stand off weapons like cruise missles from bombers, instead of ballistic missles, perhaps the F-14 Tomcat with its AWG-9/Phoenix weapon system would have been ideal to counter this.

There was a push to have the F-14 replace the F-106 in USAF service. In the early 1970s, the US Air Force was after an "Improved Manned Interceptor (IMI)" for continental defense, and Grumman modified one of the Tomcat mockups to demonstrate a solution based on the Tomcat. This concept featured conformal fuel tanks to provide considerably extended range.  The USAF found this proposal attractive because of its very long range and the capabilities of its AN/AWG-9 fire control system and its associated AIM-54 Phoenix missiles. However, the IMI F-14 proposal was ultimately defeated by its high cost, and nothing ever got off the drawing board:



Regards,

Greg

[Matt Wiser]

If the AF had listened to two NORAD CINCs, they would've bought the baseline F-14 with the carrier equipment deleted and a change to boom refueling instead of probe and drogue. That would have driven down the price, which would've made Grummann happy, as a lower price meant the prospects for selling F-14s to other customers besides the USN and Imperial Iran would've been greater.

Regarding the B-71, SAC might have taken it if the B-70 program hadn't been axed once and then restarted (whch drove up costs). F-12s or F-108s as escort fighters (the original mission of the F-108 was as an escort for the B-70s) killing MiG-25s and Tu-128s to clear the way for the rest of SAC to get their job done is a strong possiblity. A likely mission for the B-71 would have been as a nuclear Wild Weasel: killing SAM sites, interceptor airfields, and air defense command centers to give the B-52s and B-58s a clearer shot to their targets. Ironically, that was a planned B-2 mission when that program was originally set to have 132 aircraft built.  

[famvburg]

If the Soviets had their version of the North American B-70 Valkyrie to menace the skies,

Well, there was always the Sukhoi T-4 "Sotka" - though a bit smaller than the XB-70, it was to cruise just under Mach 3:







Some videos of it in flight here.

Regards,

Greg

   Also, Tupolev & Myasischev had proposals for 'copies' of the XB-70, which looked more like the XB-70 than does the Sukhoi T-4, & they were all proposed to have Mach 3 performance, IIRC. The current Tu-160 certainly is no slouch either.

[Daryl J.]

Here's a potential name:

Double Thunder.


Have you ever heard an SR-71 pass overhead at speed?   There is an unannounced BAM-BAMM with the second being concussive enough that it would shake the house and make you feel like you'd been hit with something if outside.   We heard it a number of times back in the 1970s, sometimes even several times a week.   We were in the flight path up over the pole so we got treated royally.


After the double bang, there was a very quiet, distant sound of a jet roar.

I loved it.

Most in our town hated it.   Passionately.


Daryl J.

[TsrJoe]

Lockheed A.12 Cygnus

(wasnt that where the first 'black hole' was found too? 'Cygnus X.1'? seems kinda apt if so?  B) )

[TsrJoe]

...any suggestions as to how an Iranian F.12B might look...overall black with roundels and titles in white as per standard or....

 

[MartG]

Still waiting for the Italer YF-12 to release (need 3 for ideas related to this thread)


Shas B)

You mean this http://www.hannants.co.uk/search/?FULL=IT1141

[GTX]

You might also look under the 1/48 sections of Kiwi Resins.  They have some A-12 possabilities including a M-21 "Project Tagboard" with drone conversion in development.

Regards,

Greg

[GTX]

Daryl,

I like the BAM-BAMM reference - I think I might develop some artwork for my whiff B-71 along the lines of "Bam Bam" Rubble from the Flintstones:



Thanks for that.

Regards,

Greg

[GTX]

Hi folks,

Further to my last post, what do you think of this image (or a variantion of it) as tail artwork for my proposed B-71?



Regards,

Greg

[Matt Wiser]

Put a Russian bear underneath that club and you'll sum up SAC's attitude. (Especially when LeMay was in charge)

[NARSES2]

Having watched "13 days" again last night I couldn't agree more