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The M-21 60-6940

 

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M-21 #6940 with a D-21

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The M/D-21 was one of the few ideas of Kelly Johnson that didn't pan out.  The A-12 had originally been conceived as a recon platform that could fly deep into denied air space (e.g. the Soviet Union) and essentially be invulnerable to missile attack (from the first flight of the U-2, it was only a matter of time before Soviet missile technology would make the Dragonlady as vulnerable as any other aircraft).  Yet the A-12 was still in the planning and design stages when Gary Powers got shot down, forcing Eisenhower to sign an agreement with the Soviets that the United States would never fly a manned aircraft over their country again.

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6940 at Groom Dry Lake, being prepped for her first D-21 ferry flight.  Unlike most similar photos, the mountains in the background have not been airbrushed out.

This essentially deprived the A-12 of her primary role almost 2 years before her first flight.  There had to be a way to make use of the A-12's speed without violating the treaty.  A drone is not a manned aircraft, so Kelly figured the A-12 could still do its job if it launched a drone but didn't cross the border itself.  Next to the F-117 and HAVE BLUE programs, the D-21 was probably the most secret project ever produced by the Skunkworks.  Most people who worked for Lockheed didn't know what the Skunkworks people were up to; most people in the Skunkworks didn't know what the D-21 people were up to!

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6940 being prepped for her first flight

940 was one of 2 airframes built from the ground up as M-21's, to be launch vehicles for the D-21 drone.  The designations M-21 and D-21 come from reversing the numbers in A-12, and using M for "mother-ship" and D for "daughter-ship."  When ferrying the D-21, the combination was called an M/D-21.  The D-21 was powered by a Marquardt ramjet engine that had been developed and tested on the unmanned X-7 vehicle.  Ramjets are essentially hollow tubes that use the compression of extremely fast air rushing into the inlet instead of a normal compressor/fan combination like a turbojet.  As a result, the ramjet engine is useless below Mach 1.25.

The M/D-21 would take off and fly to speeds above Mach 3 and 80,000 feet.  At this speed and altitude, the drone's engine could be ignited and the drone launched from the back of the mother-ship, to fly along a preprogrammed course, then jettison its camera pack over neutral or friendly territory before self-destructing.

6940 carried several D-21s during test flights, but was never used for any launches; instead, she was used as the chase plane for all launches from the other M/D-21, 6941.
 

M-21 #69401 Photo Gallery

 

M-21 60-6941

 

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#6941 about to take off from Groom Dry Lake.  She's been fitted with metal rudders from 930, although they've been swapped left for right so the numbers only show on the inside	#6941 prepared for take off	#6941 in flight with an F-104 chase Plane

 

 

The Loss of M-21 #6941 and D-21 #504

On 30 July 1966

Pilot: Bill Parks   LCO: Ray Torrick

 

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6941 was one of two M-21s used as a launch platform for the D-21 drone

.Lockheed file footage showing 6941 taxiing with D-21 #506 mounted on back

60-6941 (M-21) This was the second A-12 to be converted to an M-21 for launching the D-21 reconnaissance drone. During a flight test on 30 July 1966 for launching the drone, the drone pitched down and struck the M-21, breaking it in half. Pilot Bill Park and Launch Control Officer (LCO) Ray Torick stayed with the plane a short time before ejecting over the Pacific Ocean. Both made safe ejections, but Ray Torick opened his helmet visor by mistake and his suit filled up with water which caused him to drown. This terrible personal and professional loss drove "Kelly" Johnson to cancel the M-21/D-21 program.

When mated with the drone, the combination was known as an "M/D-21."   Contrary to some reports, both 941 and her sister ship #6940 were built from the ground up to be M-21s, and were not "converted" from existing A-12s.  Unlike #6940, 941 was painted all black, and was the only M/D-21 used in actual D-21 launches (all of #6940's M/D-21 flights were load and aerodynamic test flights).

She was lost on Saturday, July 30, 1966.  Prior to this flight, there had been 3 successful D-21 launches from 941, but all 3 had been executed with the mother-ship in a .9g "dive," flying slightly downward to assist in blackbird/drone separation.  If the still-experimental M/D-21 were to be used in combat (real-world) missions, the crew might be under fire from missiles and fighter/interceptors, and so might not have the luxury of launching from a .9g dive.  In this fourth launch, the D-21 would separate in a level-flight, 1g configuration.

For the first 2 to 3 seconds of the drone launch, everything went normally.  Unfortunately, the drone was not able to penetrate the shock wave coming off the mother-ship.  The D-21 (#504) had almost cleared the M-21's rudders when it encountered the shock wave, bounced off, rolled 45 degrees to the port (left) side, and impacted the mother-ship almost directly at Station 715, where the forward fuselage attaches to the wing root.  Between the impact and resulting explosion, #941 was for all intents and purposes cut cleanly in two.

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Lockheed test pilot Bill Park, who piloted all M/D-21 flights, shown here boarding a U-2R/TR-1

Lockheed test pilot Bill Park and Launch Control Officer Ray Torick remained in the tumbling wreckage until a lower altitude where they ejected safely, but they landed in the open ocean, and Torick drowned when his pressure suit took on water.  Some reports attribute this to Torick prematurely opening the faceplate of his visor, but other informed sources have stated that the buoyancy of the David Clark suits would make this almost impossible.  Others have speculated that his suit was torn by shrapnel from the wreckage as he ejected.  In either case, no further M/D-21 flights occurred; furthermore, a baylor bar was then added to the flight suit helmets to ensure that the faceplate could not accidentally be opened in similar situations.

All M/D-21 operations ended with the death of Ray Torick.  All subsequent flights of the D-21 were as D-21B's, which were reconfigured to launch the drone from an under-wing pylon of a B-52 (much like the X-15 had been), boosted to Mach 3 by a rocket motor that was jettisoned after the D-21B's Marquardt ramjet was started.

 

 

Photo Archive of the Crash

The following images was extracted from a movie handheld by Keith Beswick while flying along side of the M-21 in another Blackbird at Mach 3.0. Ray Torrick, the Launch Control Officer (LCO) safely ejected from the M-21 however he drowned at sea 150 miles off the coast of California. Bill Parks, Pilot survived. 

Credit for the following images goes to Keith Beswick (Lockheed), Jim Fitzgerald (Lockheed) and especially to Chuck Wygant (Lockheed) for obtaining a copy of this rare film footage.

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D-21 mounted on M-21 Mother ship 60-6941 at Area 51	M-21 Taxis out at Area 51	M-21 60-6941 in flight 30 July 1966
D-21 shown from a previous flight with frangible nosecone	D-21 on Mother ship 60-6941 (M-21) prior to crash	D-21 on Mother ship 60-6941 (M-21) prior to crash
D-21 on Mother ship 60-6941 (M-21) prior to crash	D-21 Ignition	D-21 Separates from Mother ship
D-21 un-starts and falls off on left wing of D-21 Silhouette of bottom of D-21 shown here	D-21 begins roll to left	D-21 impacts the M-21 Mother ship causing nose to pitch-up breaking the aircraft in two at the 715 station where the wings attach
M-21 initial breakup-Frame#1	M-21 Breakup continues-Frame#2	Breakup continues-Frame#3
	Breakup continues-Frame#4

 

The MPEG movie of the crash sequence filmed by Keith Beswick flying along side of the M21 at Mach 3 is available here.  You can download this movie to your computer. The file size is 16.7 MB (16,648KB) and depending on the speed of your modem connection, may be a lengthy download. Here is the URL for the M21/D21 Accident: http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/MD21_accident.mpg