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From: x9999bio@oak.circa.ufl.edu
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: What was the A-11?
Message-ID: <1990Oct24.115712.4819@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 24 Oct 90 11:57:12 GMT
References: <1990Oct11.050738.28984@cbnews.att.com>,<1990Oct15.033518.12024@cbnews.att.com>
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From: x9999bio@oak.circa.ufl.edu

In article <1990Oct15.033518.12024@cbnews.att.com>, Don.Allingham@FtCollins.NCR.COM (.

>I don't know if this is any help, but several years ago I had a book
>that had supposedly all of the military aircraft in them.  (You know,
>the big, glossy books that you can find at B. Daltons)  In this book,
>the had an artist drawing of a suppersonic, VTOL attack plane for the
>navy.  Supposedly a prototype was supposed to be built from parts of
>existing planes (nose from one type of plane, landing gear from another,
>etc.).  I believe that they called it the A-11.  I think the builder was
>supposed to be Rockwell.
 
  I have discovered that the A-11 was actually the first designation used for 
the SR-71 Blackbird, even before the YF-12 days. My source ( The U.S. War
Machine ) tells me that although the U.S. only asked Lockheed for a recon
plane, Lockheed submitted an attack aircraft design as well. The A-11 was
supposed to carry a 1 megaton freefall bomb as well as extra fuel under
the fuselage. I don't know why the DoD didn't accept the design or how
accurate my source is.