America's U-2 plane turns 50
The U-2 spy plane celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Controversial and legendary, the U-2 was America's espionage tool of choice during the Cold War, used to gather intelligence on the Soviet Union's most secret military installations. Nicknamed the Dragon Lady, it is still in service today.
Click here to read about the amazing career of this iconic aircraft.
Comments
The U2 truly is a work of art, what it's achieved when it was state of the art, and what it's been up to today.
Once a CIA tool, now even in use by the DEA.
Posted by: yiliang | August 9, 2005 08:42 AM
Absolutely. A truly remarkable aircraft that has stood the test of time.
Posted by: John Ling | August 9, 2005 12:22 PM
Yup, it's truly amazing. The Soviets would detect it clearly on radar, but be unable to do anything about it. Drove the VVS to desperation, stripped down interceptors being used as kamikaze manned missiles, flying fighters screening under the U2 with the hopes of blocking its cameras.
The U2 could overfly Moscow even in the 50s, the Soviets could see it, and do nothing about it except lose pilots trying to get it.
Did you know, that the shoot-down of Francis Gary Powers in 1960 is as much attributable to luck as it is to technology.
Two routes were chosen for that fateful mission. One, was an exact recycling of a previous mission, flown just a week earlier, which warned of a Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) site being built at the facility under surveillance.
So, the Soviets aready knew the U2 was coming the whole while, and how it was coming- the U2 was very visible on radar.
And, when the SAMs were launched- the Soviets were unsure that the missiles would hit at all. The SA-2s were shotgunned, and one hit the U2 purely by chance, not even making contact with the aircraft. It detonated off the tail, and the shockwave ripped off the fragile tail.
It was brought down by as much luck as technology.
Posted by: yiliang | August 9, 2005 05:57 PM