Project Headquarters in Washington, DC then placed Black Shield on alert for its first ever operational mission. Avionics specialists checked various systems and sensors, and at 1600hrs Mele Vojvodich and back-up pilot Jack Layton attended a mission alert briefing that included such details as the projected take-off and landing times, routes to and from the target area, and a full intelligence briefing of the area to be overflown. At 2200hrs (12 hours before planned take-off time) a review of the weather confirmed the mission was still on, so the pilots went to bed to ensure they got a full eight hours of “crew rest.”
They awoke on the morning of the 31st to torrential rain, but the two pilots ate breakfast and proceeded to prepare for the mission. Despite local meteorological conditions, the weather over “the collection area” was good, so at 0800hrs Kadena received a final clearance from Washington, DC that Black Shield flight BX001 was definitely “on.” Following brief medical checks, the two pilots donned their S-901 full pressure suits and began breathing 100 percent pure oxygen to purge their bodies of potentially harmful nitrogen. By taxi-time, the rain was falling so heavily that a staff car had to lead Vojvodich’s aircraft from the hangar to the end of the main runway. After lining up for what would be the first instrument-guided take-off, on cue both afterburners were engaged and Article 131 accelerated rapidly down the runway to disappear completely into the rain and then upward, through the drenching clouds.
A few minutes later, Article 131 burst through cloud and climbed to 25,000ft to top-off its tanks from the waiting KC-135Q tanker. Once disengaged from the tanker’s boom, Vojvodich accelerated and climbed to operational speed and altitude having informed Kadena (“home-plate”) that the aircraft systems were running as per the book and the backup services of Jack Layton would not be required. Vojvodich penetrated hostile airspace at Mach 3.2 and 80,000ft during a so-called “front door” entry over Haiphong, then continued over Hanoi before exiting North Vietnam near Dien Bien Phu. A second air refueling took place over Thailand, followed by another climb to speed and altitude, and a second penetration of North Vietnamese airspace made near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), after which Vojvodich recovered the aircraft back at Kadena after three instrument approaches in driving rain. The flight had lasted three hours and 40 minutes and, during an interview with this author, the pilot claimed that several SA-2s were fired at the aircraft but all detonated above and well behind the target. (This remains a matter of controversy to this day, for when the CIA’s program manager for Oxcart, John Parangosky, wrote his classified paper about the project under the pseudonym Thomas P. McIninch, shortly after its termination, he asserted that no hostile action was taken against any of the first seven missions.) Notwithstanding, upon safe arrival back at the “barn” the film from the Type I camera was removed and flown by special courier aircraft to the Eastman Kodak plant in Rochester, New York, for processing. The processed imagery was then sent to Photo Interpreters at the National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC), located within the Washington Navy Yard, who then prepared the Initial Photographic Intelligence Report (IPIR). The results were astounding: in all, Article 131’s camera had successfully photographed ten priority target categories including 70 of the 190 known SAM sites.
Jack Layton’s first operational flight had to be aborted. All had gone well until he entered Deep Work, the refueling track just southwest of Okinawa, and plugged into the tanker’s refueling boom. The boom operator’s first remarks as the A-12’s fuel tanks began to fill were, “You don’t want to go supersonic with this aircraft, Sir.” The puzzled A-12 pilot enquired why, there being no cockpit indications that supported such a remark and the aircraft seemed to be handling well. “I don’t think you’ll want to go fast, Sir,” the boom operator insisted, “because the left side of your aircraft is missing.” After further consultation with the boom operator and other tanker crewmembers who went aft to view the unusual sight, Jack decided that prudence should dictate that he abort his first important mission — however reluctantly. As he turned back to Kadena, an F-102 interceptor was scrambled from Naha AB, Okinawa, to serve as escort back to “home-plate” in the event of controllability problems. As the Delta Dagger drew alongside the crippled Oxcart, the F-102 pilot reported that the A-12 had lost practically all of its left chine panels from nose to tail. In addition, large panels on the top of the wing (which also covered the top side of the wheel well) had also disappeared, allowing the chase pilot to see right through part of the aircraft’s left wing. As some of these panels had broken loose, at least one had impacted the top of the left rudder, causing even more damage.
As the two aircraft descended below 20,000ft, they dipped into clouds and the A-12’s cockpit fogged-up so badly that Jack was unable to see his hand in front of his face, let alone read his flight instruments. He quickly called for the F-102 pilot to report the A-12’s attitude, since he was becoming very concerned that it might depart its flight envelope by stalling or diving. Relieved that he had remained within normal flight parameters, Jack managed to climb back out of the clouds. By turning the cockpit temperature control to full-hot, he managed to eliminate the humidity that had caused the fogging, but the hotter-than-normal cockpit soon became extremely uncomfortable. Nevertheless, he was able to safely recover back at Kadena without further incident.
During the first three months of Black Shield operations, nine missions were successfully completed. However, according to Parangosky, mission BX6705 flown by Jack Layton in Article 127 on June 20, 1967 was the first occasion that an Oxcart was successfully tracked on enemy radar. Bearing in mind all the time and vast expense that had been invested in reducing the aircraft’s RCS, this must have caused considerable consternation both back at CIA headquarters and within the Skunk Works.
By mid-July, Black Shield imagery had determined with a high degree of confidence that there were no surface-to-surface missiles in North Vietnam. But Oxcart flights were becoming invaluable, providing important intelligence to mission planners about the enemy’s Order of Battle, as well as high-quality bomb-damage assessment imagery. The problem was the protracted timelines involved in processing the intelligence from film download, to receipt of the processed imagery and the IPIR.