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Special thanks to Scott Lowther for providing valuable insight for this video. Be sure to check out his amazing resource on the history and documentation of unbuilt and obscure aerospace projects!
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In 1969 Lockheed produced one of the most unusual design studies in existence. The study sought to determine the potential uses and capabilities that the largest aircraft technically feasible using 1960’s era technology could offer the United States. The result was the Lockheed CL-1201, a nuclear-powered aircraft with an enormous 1,120 foot wingspan and a weight about fifteen times heavier than the next largest aircraft in existence. Although Lockheed’s concept is now widely known by aviation enthusiasts, Lockheed’s original study is nowhere to be found, having either been lost or destroyed. Currently, the best source of information about the CL-1201 is a paper published for the 1982 AIAA 2nd International Very Large Vehicles Conference which references several aspects of the original report.

The report outlines two variants of the CL-1201 studied. The first was an airborne aircraft carrier armed with 24 aircraft and long-range cruise missiles, and the second, a military transport capable of carrying up to 400 combat-equipped troops, 472 specialized crew, and over a thousand tons of mechanized equipment and supplies. Multiple CL-1201 aircraft would function in close coordination during combat use.

The project was more than just an exercise in conceptual engineering; it was a direct response to Cold War tensions of the time. The CL-1201 would offer the United States an unprecedented ability to respond to any crisis in a matter of hours, no matter the circumstances. Given the enormous engineering complexity and costs that would be involved, the CL-1201 never made it off the drawing board. But much of the design, and circumstances that prompted the study, are still a mystery.

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