U-2's
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 a minute. Within about four minutes, I was at 40,000 feet, higher than any commercial airplane. 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! Lockheed U-2 Take A Ride in a Spy Plane, Click the link below.
http://www.wimp.com/breathtakingfootage/
Air Force pilots remember U-2 spy plane flights from Minot AFB
U-2s, the now famous spy planes, flew out of Minot Air Force Base during the late 1950s, but the specifics of their mission were top secret.
A former member of the unit recently provided insight into "Operation Crowflight."
Retired Air Force Tech Sgt. Glenn R. Chapman, of Tucson, Ariz., was at the Minot Air Force Base with the U-2 unit from January to March 1960, as a camera repairman.
"Our mission, although highly top secret at that time, was to sample for upper air radioactivity," Chapman said. Samples were collected to determine how much radioactive fallout was in the atmosphere, he said.
"Besides Minot, we had operating locations in Puerto Rico, Argentina, Australia, Alaska, Panama and other places," he said. "The idea was to sample air at altitudes of 70,000 feet plus from the North Pole to the South Pole.
"Therefore, we would be gathering air samples longitudinally of air that was traveling latitudinally around the earth. Think of the old statement 'as the crow flies' and it is easier to understand," he said.
The air samples were sent to a company in New Jersey to analyze.
"Remember, this was during the days of all the A-bomb testing in the open air," Chapman said. "By analyzing these particles, they could estimate how much fallout would end up where and how it would affect worldwide population.
"We were the first reliable operation that would be able to discover when an atomic weapon was exploded by a foreign nation, what the yield was, how much fallout was developed, and even where and when the weapon was destructed," he said.
The Minot Crowflight unit was based out of the 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Laughlin Air Force Base near Del Rio, Texas.
Files from the Minot Daily News show the U-2s were at the base from September 1958 to May 1960 and were working out of the Minot base before any other aircraft were permanently assigned there.
Maj. Mel Braaten was the first commander of Minot's Crowflight unit, Chapman said. Each Crowflight detachment, including the one at the Minot Air Force Base, consisted of 38 people and three U-2 aircraft.
"We were an extremely tight group of people, all of us who knew each other very well, although there was a very wide distinction between the officials and enlisted corps, and we respected that deeply," Chapman said.
He has written a book about being with the elite and highly secretive group.
The U-2 operations were top secret until 1960, after Francis Gary Powers went down in his U-2 over the Soviet Union, Chapman said.
In 1994, the CIA and the Air Force finally lifted all security restrictions from the U-2 operations, Chapman said.
Crowflight went on from 1957 until late in the 1990s, eventually becoming Operation Olympic Race, with the new updated version of the U-2 known as the U2R, now the U-2S, which is still flying, Chapman said.
Beale Air Force Base in California now is the home of the Air Force U-2s, he said.
Today, Chapman's son, Joseph, works on U-2s. His father retired from the Air Force in 1977.
Buddy Brown and Tony Bevacqua remember those days of being among the first Air Force pilots to fly the top-secret U-2 "spy" plane for Operation Crowflight, though neither was assigned to the Minot Air Force Base.
"They could tell if you collected some radioactivity debris up at that altitude, they could tell the date it was set off - or plus or minus a few days, what area that was set off - if it was a ground burst or air burst - they could tell the types of metals that were involved, the triggering device … It was very, reconnaissance accurate," Brown said.
Glenn Chapman said he still believes the U-2 "was the one thing that kept us from going to war."
The 38 men assigned to Operation Crowflight were not well liked at the Minot base, he said. Access to the Crowflight hangar was restricted and even the base wing commander was not allowed inside, Chapman said.
"We were not well liked at all by the Minot personnel, probably because of all the stencils of crows that we painted all over the base," he said.
In one incident, he said, "another guy and I painted a bunch of black crows on the boom operator's window of about six KC-135 tankers," he said. "And we got away with it and never got caught."
![The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed "Dragon Lady", is a single-engine, very high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) and previously flown by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It provides day and night, very high-altitude (70,000 feet / 21,000 meters), all-weather intelligence gathering.[1] The aircraft is also used for electronic sensor research and development, satellite calibration, and satellite data validation.](https://photos.smugmug.com/Folders-and-Galleries/American-Soldier/U-2s/i-gpZ9zCc/0/3e3eab88/Ti/blackcat1small-Ti.jpg)
![In the early 1950s, with Cold War tensions on the rise, the U.S. military desired better strategic reconnaissance to help determine Soviet capabilities and intentions. The existing reconnaissance aircraft, primarily bombers converted for reconnaissance duty, were vulnerable to anti-aircraft artillery, missiles, and fighters. It was thought an aircraft that could fly at 70,000 feet (21,000 m) would be beyond the reach of Soviet fighters, missiles, and even radar.[2] This would allow overflights (knowingly violating Soviet airspace) to take aerial photographs.<br />
Original U-2A at USAF Museum<br />
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Under the code name "Bald Eagle", the Air Force gave contracts[3] to Bell Aircraft, Martin Aircraft, and Fairchild Engine and Airplane to develop proposals for the new reconnaissance aircraft. Officials at Lockheed Aircraft Corporation heard about the project and asked aeronautical engineer Clarence "Kelly" Johnson to come up with a design. Johnson was a brilliant designer, responsible for the P-38, and the P-80. He was also known for completing projects ahead of schedule, working in a separate division of the company jokingly called the Skunk Works.[citation needed]<br />
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Johnson's design, called the CL-282, married long glider-like wings to the fuselage of another of his designs, the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. To save weight, his initial design did not have conventional landing gear, taking off from a dolly and landing on skids. The design was rejected by the Air Force, but caught the attention of several civilians on the review panel, notably Edwin Land, the father of instant photography. Land proposed to CIA director Allen Dulles that his agency should fund and operate this aircraft. After a meeting with President Eisenhower, Lockheed received a $22.5 million contract for the first 20 aircraft. It was renamed the U-2, with the "U" referring to the deliberately vague designation "utility". The CIA assigned the cryptonym "AQUATONE" to the project, with the Air Force using the name "OILSTONE" for their support to the CIA.[4]<br />
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The first flight occurred at the Groom Lake test site (Area 51) on 1 August 1955, during what was only intended to be a high-speed taxi run. The sailplane-like wings were so efficient that the aircraft jumped into the air at 70 knots (130 km/h).[5]<br />
U-2 camera on display at the National Air and Space Museum<br />
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James Baker developed the optics for a large-format camera to be used in the U-2 while working for Perkin-Elmer. These new cameras had a resolution of 2.5 feet (76 cm) from an altitude of 60,000 feet (18,000 m).[5] Balancing is so critical on the U-2 that the camera had to use a split film, with reels on one side feeding forward while those on the other side feed backward, thus maintaining a balanced weight distribution through the whole flight.[citation needed]<br />
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When the first overflights of the Soviet Union were tracked by radar, the CIA initiated Project RAINBOW to reduce the U-2's radar cross section. This effort ultimately proved unsuccessful, and work began on a follow-on aircraft, which resulted in the Lockheed A-12 Blackbird.[citation needed]<br />
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Manufacturing was restarted in the 1980s to produce TR-1, an updated and modernized design of the U-2.](https://photos.smugmug.com/Folders-and-Galleries/American-Soldier/U-2s/i-jhrvDTj/0/0aad6076/Ti/blackcat2small-Ti.jpg)
![The unique design that gives the U-2 its remarkable performance also makes it a difficult aircraft to fly.[6] It was designed and manufactured for minimum airframe weight, which results in an aircraft with little margin for error.[5] Most aircraft were single-seat versions, with only five two-seat trainer versions known to exist.[7] Early U-2 variants were powered by Pratt & Whitney J57 turbojet engines.[8] The U-2C and TR-1A variants used the more powerful Pratt & Whitney J75 turbojet. The U-2S and TU-2S variants incorporated the even more powerful General Electric F118 turbofan engine.[9]<br />
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High-aspect-ratio wings give the U-2 some glider-like characteristics, with a lift-to-drag ratio estimated in the high 20s. To maintain their operational ceiling of 70,000 feet (21,000 m), the U-2A and U-2C models (no longer in service) must fly very near their maximum speed. The aircraft's stall speed at that altitude is only 10 knots (19 km/h) below its maximum speed. This narrow window was referred to by the pilots as the "coffin corner". For 90% of the time on a typical mission the U-2 was flying within only five knots above stall, which might cause a decrease in altitude likely to lead to detection, and additionally might overstress the lightly built airframe.[5]<br />
U-2 at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford<br />
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The U-2's flight controls are designed around the normal flight envelope and altitude that the aircraft was intended to fly in. The controls provide feather-light control response at operational altitude. However, at lower altitudes, the higher air density and lack of a power-assisted control system makes the aircraft very difficult to fly. Control inputs must be extreme to achieve the desired response in flight attitude, and a great deal of physical strength is needed to operate the controls in this manner.<br />
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The U-2 is very sensitive to crosswinds which, together with its tendency to float over the runway, makes the U-2 notoriously difficult to land. As the aircraft approaches the runway, the cushion of air provided by the high-lift wings in ground effect is so pronounced that the U-2 will not land unless the wing is fully stalled. To assist the pilot, the landing U-2 is paced by a chase car (usually a "souped-up" performance model including a Ford Mustang SSP, Chevrolet Camaro B4C, Pontiac GTO, and the Pontiac G8 GT) with an assistant (another U-2 pilot) who "talks" the pilot down by calling off the declining height of the aircraft in feet as it decreases in airspeed.<br />
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Instead of the typical tricycle landing gear, the U-2 uses a bicycle configuration with a forward set of main wheels located just behind the cockpit, and a rear set of main wheels located behind the engine. The rear wheels are coupled to the rudder to provide steering during taxiing. To maintain balance while taxiing, two auxiliary wheels, called "pogos" are added for takeoff. These fit into sockets underneath each wing at about mid-span, and fall off during takeoff. To protect the wings during landing, each wingtip has a titanium skid. After the U-2 comes to a halt, the ground crew re-installs the pogos one wing at a time, then the aircraft taxis to parking.[10]<br />
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Because of the high operating altitude, the pilot must wear the equivalent of a space suit. The suit delivers the pilot's oxygen supply and emergency protection in case cabin pressure is lost at altitude (the cabin provides pressure equivalent to about 29,000 feet / 8,800 meters). To prevent hypoxia and decrease the chance of decompression sickness, pilots don a full pressure suit and begin breathing 100% oxygen one hour prior to launch to remove nitrogen from the body; while moving from the building to the aircraft they breathe from a portable oxygen supply.[11]<br />
U-2 with range of possible payloads<br />
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The aircraft carries a variety of sensors in the nose, Q-bay (behind the cockpit, also known as the camera bay), and wing pods. The U-2 is capable of simultaneously collecting signals, imagery intelligence and air samples. Imagery intelligence sensors include either wet film photo, electro-optic or radar imagery – the latter from the Raytheon ASARS-2 system. It can use both line-of-sight and beyond-line-of-sight data links. One of the most unusual instruments in the newest version of the U-2 is the off-the-shelf Sony video camera that functions as a digital replacement for the purely optical viewsight (an upside down periscope-like viewing device) that was used in older variants to get a precise view of the terrain directly below the aircraft, especially during landing.](https://photos.smugmug.com/Folders-and-Galleries/American-Soldier/U-2s/i-MgVBGKv/0/f3585abd/Ti/001_u-2-Ti.jpg)
![The U-2 remains in frontline service more than 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. The U-2 has outlasted its Mach 3 SR-71 replacement, which was retired in 1998.<br />
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A classified budget document approved by the Pentagon on 23 December 2005 called for the termination of the U-2 program no earlier than 2012, with some aircraft being retired by 2007.[27] In January 2006, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced the pending retirement of the U-2 fleet as a cost-cutting measure, and as part of a larger reorganization and redefinition of the Air Force's mission that includes the elimination of all but 56 B-52s and a complete reduction in the F-117 Nighthawk fleet.[28] Rumsfeld said that this will not impair the Air Force's ability to gather intelligence, which will be done by satellites and a growing supply of unmanned RQ-4 Global Hawk reconnaissance aircraft.<br />
U-2 and E-3<br />
A U-2 taxis in front of an E-3 Sentry before a mission in 2010<br />
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Retirement of the U-2 has been delayed by gaps in capability if the fleet was removed from service.[29] In 2009, the Air Force stated that it planned to extend the U-2 retirement from 2012 until 2014 or later to allow more time to field the RQ-4 Global Hawk as a replacement.[30] Beginning in 2010, the RQ-170 Sentinel began replacing U-2s operating from Osan Air Base, South Korea.[31]<br />
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Upgrades late in the War in Afghanistan gave the U-2 greater reconnaissance and threat-detection capability.[32] As of early 2010, U-2s from the 99th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron have flown over 200 missions in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom; as well as Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa.[33]<br />
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A U-2 was stationed in Cyprus in March 2011 to help in the enforcement of the no-fly zone over Libya,[34] and a U-2 stationed at Osan Air Base in South Korea was used to provide imagery of the Japanese nuclear reactor damaged by the 11 March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.[35]<br />
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In March 2011, it was projected that the US's fleet of 32 U-2s would be operated until 2015. The Obama administration requested $91 million to maintain the U-2 program.[36] The Air Force will replace the U-2s with RQ-4s before fiscal year 2015. Proposed legislation would require that its replacement be a cost-savings over the U-2 before replacement could occur.[29]<br />
[edit] Republic of China (Taiwan)<br />
Official emblem of the Black Cat Squadron.<br />
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The only other U-2 operator was the Republic of China (Taiwan), which flew missions mostly over the People's Republic of China (PRC). Since the 1950s, the Republic of China Air Force had used the RB-57A/D aircraft for reconnaissance missions over the PRC, but suffered two losses when MiG-17s and SA-2 Surface-to-Air Missiles were able to intercept the aircraft.<br />
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In 1958, ROC and American authorities reached an agreement to create the 35th Squadron, nicknamed the Black Cat Squadron, composed of two U-2Cs in Taoyuan Airbase in northern Taiwan, at an isolated part of the airbase. To create the typical misdirections at the time, the unit was created under the cover of high altitude weather research missions for ROCAF. To the US government, the 35th Squadron and any US CIA/USAF personnel assigned to the unit were known as Detachment H on all documents. But instead of being under normal USAF control, the project was known as Project RAZOR,[37][38] and was run directly by CIA with USAF assistance.<br />
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Each of the 35th Squadron's operational missions had to be approved by both the US and the Taiwan/ROC presidents beforehand. To add another layer of security and secrecy to the project, all US military and CIA/government personnel stationed in Taoyuan assigned to Detachment H were issued official documents and ID with false names and cover titles as Lockheed employees/representatives in civilian clothes. The ROCAF pilots and ground support crew would never know their US counterpart's real name and rank/title, or which US government agencies they were dealing with.<br />
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A total of 26 out of 28 ROC pilots sent to the US completed training between 1959 and 1973, at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas.[39] On the night of 3 August 1959, a U-2 on a training mission, out of Laughlin AFB, Texas, piloted by Maj. Mike Hua of ROC Air Force, made a successful unassisted nighttime emergency landing at Cortez, Colorado, that was later known as Miracle at Cortez, and Major Hua was later awarded the US Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross for saving the top secret aircraft.[40][41][42][43]<br />
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In July 1960, the CIA provided the ROC with its first two U-2Cs, and in December the squadron flew its first mission over mainland China. Other countries were also covered from time to time by the 35th Squadron, such as North Korea,[44] North Vietnam and Laos, but the main objective of the ROC 35th Squadron was to conduct reconnaissance missions assessing the PRC's nuclear capabilities. For this purpose the ROC pilots flew as far as Gansu and other remote regions in northwest China. Some of the missions, due to mission requirements and range, plus to add some element of surprise, had the 35th Squadron's U-2s flying from or recovered at other US air bases in Southeast Asia and Eastern Asia, such as K-8 (Kunsan) in South Korea, or Tikhli in Thailand. All US airbases in the region were listed as emergency/ alternate recovery airfields and could be used besides the 35th Squadron's home base at Taoyuan airbase in Taiwan. Initially, all film taken by the Black Cat Squadron would be flown to Okinawa or Guam for processing and development, and the US forces would not share any of the mission photos with Taiwan. Only in late 1960s did the USAF agree to share a complete set of mission photos and help Taiwan set up a photo development and interpretation unit at Taoyuan AB.<br />
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In 1968, the ROC U-2C/F/G fleet was replaced with the newer U-2R. However, with the coming of the Sino-Soviet split and the rapprochement between the US and the PRC, the ROC U-2 squadron stopped entering Chinese airspace, and instead only conducted electronic intelligence-gathering plus photo-reconnaissance missions with new Long-Range Oblique Reconnaissance (LOROP) cameras on the U-2R while flying over international waters. The last U-2 aircraft mission over mainland China took place on 16 March 1968. After that, all missions had the U-2 aircraft fly outside a buffer zone at least 20 nautical miles (37 km) around China.<br />
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During his visit to China in 1972, US President Richard Nixon promised the Chinese authorities to cease all reconnaissance missions near and over China, though this was also made practical because US photo satellites by 1972 were able to provide better overhead images without risking losing aircraft and pilots, or provoking international incidents. The last 35th Squadron mission was flown by Sungchou "Mike" Chiu on 24 May 1974.[45]<br />
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At the end of ROC's U-2 operations, out of a total of 19 U-2C/F/G/R aircraft operated by the 35th Squadron from 1959 to 1974, 11 were lost.[46] The squadron flew a total of about 220 missions,[47] with about half over mainland China, resulting in five aircraft shot down, with three fatalities and two pilots captured, and another six U-2s lost in training with six pilots killed.[46][48] On 29 July 1974, the two remaining U-2R aircraft in ROC possession were flown from Taoyuan AB in Taiwan to Edwards AFB, California, US, and turned over to the USAF.](https://photos.smugmug.com/Folders-and-Galleries/American-Soldier/U-2s/i-vhWhtjR/0/ae82ccd0/Ti/Usaf.u2.750pix-Ti.jpg)
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