Author Description

This history of the U-2's replacement provides an accessible overview of the A-12's development and use as an intelligence collector. The author has tried to make the narrative informative to lay readers while retaining enough technical detail to satisfy aeronautics and engineering readers. He has used sources listed in the bibliography and extensive files on the A-12 program in CIA Archives. This book has been augmented with a few recently declassified documents, including the designer's own history of the project and a list of other documents now available thanks to the Freedom of Information Act.