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Lockheed D-21 aircraft, project Tagboard
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Lockheed D-21 Aircraft, Project Tagboard

Operational history
Four operational missions with the D-21B took place under the codename of Senior Bowl. These were conducted over the People's Republic of China from 9 November 1969 to 20 March 1971 to spy on the Lop Nor nuclear test site. The USAF's 4200th Support Squadron, based at Beale Air Force Base, California, flew the missions, usually from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam.
The Chinese never spotted the D-21B. The first one failed to turn around and continued straight on, crashing somewhere in the Soviet Union. Another test flight was conducted on 20 February 1970 in a successful attempt to correct any problems. The second operational mission, however, was not until 16 December 1970. The D-21B reached Lop Nor and back to the recovery point, but the hatch had a partial parachute failure and was lost at sea with its photographs.
During the third operational mission, on 4 March 1971, the D-21B flew to Lop Nor and returned, and released the hatch, which deployed its parachute, but the midair recovery failed and the hatch fell into the water. The destroyer that tried to retrieve the hatch ran it down and it sank. The fourth, and last, operational flight of the D-21B was on 20 March 1971. It was lost over China on the final segment of the route over China's Yunnan province; wreckage was found by local authorities. In 2010, after being in the junkyard of China Aviation Museum for years, the wreckage was moved to the exhibition area.

File information
Filename:706419.jpg
Album name:Transport
Rating (1 votes):55555
Keywords:#lockheed #aircraft #project #tagboard
Filesize:43 KiB
Date added:Apr 12, 2016
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