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The U-2 Spy Plane
Developed during the height of the Cold War, the U-2 Dragon Lady symbolized high-risk intelligence efforts and the frailty of peaceful co-existence with the Soviet Union. Clarence 'Kelly' Johnson and twenty-five engineers developed the U-2 at Lockheed Martin's 'Skunk Works.' On 4 August 1955, Tony LeVier flew the maiden flight of the U-2 at Groom Lake (Area 51), Nevada. The single-seat, long-range, high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft satisfied the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA's) need to monitor the military activities of the Soviet Union. Flying at altitudes above the capability of USSR fighters and missiles, the U-2 recorded high resolution photographs of strategic military sites. Between 1956 and 1994, Lockheed manufactured a little over 100 variants including the U-2A (1956), U-2R (1967), TR-1 (1981), U-2S (1994), and ER-2.
See an early pressure suit worn by pilots such as Francis Gary Powers and legendary NASA pilot, Joe Walker. See the S1034 pressure suit worn by pilots flying the U-2 today and try on a pair of the gloves. Learn about the plane, people and missions of the U-2 and about the hazards of flying at altitudes above 70,000 feet. See an actual U-2 airplane (serial number 56-6682, Article 349, N802X) that flew 8,680 mission-hours with the CIA including during the Cuban missile crisis and 1958 stealth tests. Two years later on 5 April 1960, it ran out of fuel and landed in a Thai rice paddy by pilot by Bill McMurray. In 1964, 56-6682 successfully took off and landed on the aircraft carrier USS Ranger.
In 1971, 56-6682 was transferred to NASA and redesignated NASA 809. Flying 5,300 mission-hours, it was used to gather atmospheric samples the day after Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980 and after the fires in Yellowstone National Park in 1988. Before retiring in April 1989, NASA pilots Jerry Hoyt and Ron Williams set sixteen time-to-climb and altitude records at the Dryden Research Facility at Edwards AFB, California in 56-6682. |
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