U2 HIGH

 

 

 

 The US Air Force U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft first flew in 1955 and was developed by Lockheed Martin at the famous Skunk Works site. The aircraft provides continuous surveillance day and night and in all weathers. The aircraft can gather surveillance and signals intelligence data in real time and can be deployed anywhere in the world. Though both the Air Force and the Navy would eventually fly the U-2, it was originally a CIA operation, run through the Office of Scientific Intelligence. Due to the political implications of a military aircraft invading a country's airspace, only CIA U-2s conducted overflights. The pilots had to resign their military commissions before joining the CIA as civilians, a process they referred to as "sheep dipping." Pilot training in the U-2 was significantly aided by the construction of a pair of two-seat trainer aircraft, modified from the single-seater and designated the CT-2, with the second (trainee) cockpit mounted behind and above the cockpit of the (training) pilot in command. As often happens with new aircraft designs there were several operational accidents, some fatal. The first fatal accident was on 15 May 1956 when the pilot stalled the aircraft during a post-takeoff maneuver which was intended to drop off the wingtip outrigger wheels. The second occurred three months later, on August 31, when the pilot stalled the aircraft immediately after takeoff. Two weeks later a third aircraft disintegrated during ascent, also killing the pilot. There were a number of other non-fatal incidents, including at least one which resulted in the loss of the aircraft. The U-2 came to public attention when pilot Francis Gary Powers was shot down over Soviet territory on 1 May 1960, causing an event known as the U-2 Crisis. On 14 October 1962, a U-2 from the 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, based at Laughlin Air Force Base near Del Rio, Texas and piloted by Major Richard S. Heyser, photographed the Soviet military installing nuclear warhead missiles in Cuba, thereby precipitating the Cuban missile crisis. Heyser concluded this flight at McCoy AFB in Orlando, Florida and the 4080th established a U-2 operating location at McCoy for the duration of the crisis. Later during the crisis another U-2 was shot down over Cuba, killing the pilot, Major Rudolph Anderson. Major Anderson was posthumously awarded the first Air Force Cross. From 1963 the CIA experimented with carrier-based U-2 operations as a way to overcome range limitations.[8] After CIA pilots successfully tested takeoffs and landings of U-2s on the USS Ranger and other carriers, U-2s were used to monitor French nuclear tests on Moruroa in 1964. In early 1964 the Strategic Air Command (SAC) sent a detachment of U-2s from the 4080th SRW (Strategic Reconnaissance Wing) to South Vietnam to fly high-altitude reconnaissance missions over North Vietnam. On 5 April 1965 U-2s from the 4028th SRS (Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron) took photos of SAM-2 sites near Hanoi and Haiphong harbor. On 11 February 1966 the Wing was redesignated the 100th SRW and relocated to Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona. The SRS detached at Bien Hoa AB, South Vietnam, was redesignated the 349th SRS.[9] On 8 October 1966 the only loss of a U-2 during combat operations occurred when USAF pilot major Leo Stewart, flying from the 349th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, developed mechanical problems while at high altitude over North Vietnam. The U-2 managed to return to South Vietnam where the pilot was able to eject safely. The U-2 crashed near its base at Bien Hoa, South Vietnam and the pilot survived. In July 1970 the 349th SRS at Bien Hoa Airbase relocated to Thailand and was redesignated the 99th SRS, and remained there until March 1976. In 1969, the larger U-2Rs were successfully flown from the USS America. The U-2 carrier program is believed to have been halted after 1969. In June 1976, the U-2s of the 100th SRW were transferred to the 9th SRW at Beale AFB, California and merged with SR-71 aircraft operations at that location. On the disestablishment of Strategic Air Command in the early 1990s the wing was transferred to the newly-formed Air Combat Command and redesignated the 9th Reconnaissance Wing (9th RQW). In 1984, during a major NATO exercise, Flt Lt Mike Hale intercepted an American U-2 at a height of 66,000 ft which they had previously been considered safe from interception. Records show that Hale climbed to 88,000 ft (26,800 m) in his Lightning F3. The U-2 is still in front line service over 50 years after its first flight despite the advent of surveillance satellites. This is primarily due to the ability to direct flights to objectives at short notice, which satellites cannot do. Production was restarted in the 1980s. The U-2 has outlasted its Mach 3 SR-71 replacement, which was retired in 1998. A classified budget document approved by The Pentagon on 23 December 2005 calls for the termination of the U-2 program no earlier than 2011, with some aircraft being retired by 2007.

 

The passenger is James May . . . from the program, 'Top Gear'.

Take a ride in a U2. See our planet as it is.

Read the text first then watch the video and turn on sound.

Right click on screen and click full screen from menu

You can see why the U-2 is considered the most difficult

plane in the world to fly. Each pilot has a co-pilot, who

chases the plane on the runway in a sports car. Most of the

cars are either Pontiac GTOs or Chevrolet Cameros, the

Air Force buys American. The chase cars talk the pilot

down as he lands on bicycle-style landing gear.

In that spacesuit, the pilot in the plane simply cannot get

a good view of the runway.

Upon takeoff, the wings on this plane, which extend 103

feet from tip to tip, literally flap.

To stabilize the wings on the runway, two pogo sticks on wheels

prop up the ends of the wings.

As the plane flies away, the pogo sticks drop off.

The plane climbs at an amazing rate of nearly 10,000 feet

per minute.

Within about four minutes, I was at 40,000 feet, higher than

most commercial airplanes.

We kept going up to 13 miles above Earth's surface.

You get an incredible sensation up there. As you look out

the windows, it feels like you're floating, it feels like you're

not moving, but you're actually going 500 mph..

The U-2 was built to go higher than any other aircraft. In

fact today, more than 50 years since it went into production,

the U-2 flies higher than any aircraft in the world with the

exception of the space shuttle.

It is flying more missions and longer missions than ever before

nearly 70 missions a month over Iraq and Afghanistan , an

operational tempo that is unequaled in history.

The pilots fly for 11 hours at a time, sometimes more than 11 hours

up there alone. By flying so high, the U-2 has the capability of

doing reconnaissance over a country without actually violating

its airspace.

It can look off to the side, peering 300 miles or more inside a

country without actually flying over it.

It can "see" in the dark and through clouds.

It can also "hear," intercepting conversations 14 miles below.

The U-2, an incredible piece of history and also a current piece

Of high technology, is at the center of the wars in Iraq and

Afghanistan .

Enjoy the ride!

Click the link below.

Click Here for a Ride In a U2 - Have Your Sound On