Research Catalog

Title

From Rainbow to Gusto : stealth and the design of the Lockheed Blackbird / Paul A. Suhler ; Ned Allen, editor-in-chief.

Author

Suhler, Paul A.

Publication

Reston, VA : American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, c2009.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Allen, Ned

Description

xvi, 284 p. : ill.; 23 cm.

Summary

"In 1956, the shock of the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the horrors of the war that followed were still fresh in the minds of America's leaders. When the Soviet Union exploded its own atomic bomb in August 1949, the sense of vulnerability increased, with the realization that the next surprise attack could destroy American cities and kill millions of people. Deterring an attack required knowing Soviet capabilities and intentions. To gather that information, the U-2 spyplane had begun photographing large sections of the Soviet Union, flying at altitudes far above the reach of their air defenses. But while the U-2 could go where it wanted, the Soviets could track it from border to border. It was only a matter of time before their interceptors or missiles would be able to knock it out of the sky. The only hope was to make the U.S. aircraft invisible to their air defense radars. And if it couldn't be made invisible, then a new aircraft would be needed. This is where the story of stealth and the Blackbird begins."--Publisher's description.

Series Statement

Library of flight

Uniform Title

Library of flight

Subjects

• History
• SR-71 Blackbird (Jet reconnaissance plane)

Genre/Form

History

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 271-275) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Introduction -- Rainbow -- Rainbow phase II -- The follow-on -- High speed -- Competition from Convair -- Archangel I -- New ideas -- November 1958 Land Panel Review -- Lockheed stealthy designs -- Refining FISH -- Lockheed's large airplanes -- June 1959 Land Panel Review -- Proving the A-12 -- Propulsion -- New countermeasures, new threats -- Conclusion -- Appendix A. skunk works engineering staff -- Appendix B. Timeline of projects RAINBOW and GUSTO -- Appendix C. Supporting materials.

ISBN

• 9781600867125
• 160086712X

LCCN

^^2009030147

OCLC

• 429634729
• SCSB-11663179

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library