June 16, 200917 yr Author only guessing, without data nor references: SR-71 in crates ? Close enough. Its an A-12 (predecessor to the SR-71), disassembled and in crates, being transported from Lockheed's Skunk Works in Burbank to the Nevada test site, circa 1962. More, from Archangel: CIA's Supersonic A-12 Reconnaissance Aircraft, by David Robarge: " ... the first A-12, known as Article 121, was built and ground tested in Burbank during January and February 1962. because the aircraft was too secret to fly to the test site and too large to carry on a cargo plane, it had to be trucked. During the night of 26 February, a specially designed trailer truck loaded with a huge crate (35 feet wide and 105 feet long) containing the disassembled aircraft’s fuselage left the Skunk Works for the two-day trip to the Nevada facility, escorted by the California and Nevada highway patrols and CIA security officers. The box was so wide that some road signs had to be removed, trees trimmed, and road banks leveled. The wings were shipped separately and attached on site. ... By the end of 1962, four more aircraft had arrived at the test site, and two were engaged in flight testing. Article 122, which arrived in late June, initially was used principally for checking electronic and propulsion systems and RCS. Its first test flight was in January 1963. During its delivery, a Greyhound bus traveling in the opposite direction grazed the 35-foot-wide crate carrying a portion of it. Project managers quickly authorized the payment of nearly $5,000 for damage to the bus so that no insurance or legal inquiry would take place and compromise the program. Articles 123 and 125, after arriving in August and December, respectively, were outfitted for operational use."
June 16, 200917 yr huh, here I was sure it was going to be part of some nasty big radar installation.
June 16, 200917 yr disassembled and in crates Could have possibly disassembled a little bit more, it even takes up a lane of the opposing traffic.
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