Warplanes of the USA: Lockheed U-2 Dragon Lady

Lockheed U-2 Dragon Lady

(Steve Lynes Photo)

Lockheed U-2S landing at RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire, UK, 19 March 2014.

The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed "Dragon Lady", is an American single-engine, high altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated from the 1950s by the United States Air Force (USAF) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It provides day and night, high-altitude (70,000 feet, 21,300 meters), all-weather intelligence gathering.

Lockheed Corporation originally proposed it in 1953, it was approved in 1954, and its first test flight was in 1955. It was flown during the Cold War over the Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, and Cuba. In 1960, Gary Powers was shot down in a CIA U-2C over the Soviet Union by a surface-to-air missile (SAM). Major Rudolf Anderson Jr. was shot down in a U-2 during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.

U-2s have taken part in post-Cold War conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, and supported several multinational NATO operations. The U-2 has also been used for electronic sensor research, satellite calibration, scientific research, and communications purposes. The U-2 is one of a handful of aircraft types to have served the USAF for over 50 years, along with the Boeing B-52, Boeing KC-135, Lockheed C-130 and Lockheed C-5. The newest models (TR-1, U-2R, U-2S) entered service in the 1980s, and the latest model, the U-2S, had a technical upgrade in 2012. The U-2 is currently operated by the USAF and NASA. (Wikipedia)

(SAF Photo)

Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft in flight, 1 March 1996.

(USN Photo)

Lockheed U-2 Dragon Lady, on the deck of a USS Kittyhawk (CV-63)

After stopping U-2 flights over the Soviet Union in May 1960, the Intelligence Community looked for new ways to use this unique reconnaissance asset. One idea was to modify the U-2 to fly from US Navy aircraft carriers. Soon after the downing of Francis Gary Powers’ U-2 in May 1960, the Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Arleigh Burke, recommended to DCI Allen Dulles that the CIA’s Office of Special Activities modify a U-2 so it could fly from an aircraft carrier. This way, the US could avoid political problems associated with negotiating base agreements with reluctant allies hesitant to invite Soviet displeasure, while also allowing the U-2 near global access.

The U-2 was designed as a land-based aircraft, so launching it from a moving, narrow carrier flight deck posed several technical problems. In 1963, the idea was raised with U-2 designer Clarence “Kelly” Johnson of Lockheed. Johnson made certain modifications, and the first test, codenamed Project Whale Tale, occurred on 3 August 1963 off the coast of San Diego. A modified U-2 lifted off from the deck of the USS Kitty Hawk without catapult assistance or incident, but its landing was a different matter. The expected “bounce” when the aircraft hit the carrier deck damaged a wing.

The test convinced Johnson that the fragile U-2 needed airframe reinforcement, strengthened landing gear, and an arrestor hook like other carrier-based aircraft. In addition, the carrier version of the plane would need “spoilers” on the wings to cancel the aerodynamic lift once the aircraft flew over the carrier deck. Modifications took just over seven months to complete. The modifications to the aircraft, required the retraining of several pilots to fly the modified bird, now called the U-2G, most notably teaching them how to land this already peculiar and challenging airplane on a pitching flight deck. The first landing without damage took place on 2 March 1964.

When France announced its intention to detonate a hydrogen device, the Intelligence Community sought to gather information about the French nuclear test area in the Mururoa Atoll, French Polynesia. Although the State Department had recommended against U-2 flights in September 1963, concern over the ramifications of a French fusion device convinced President Lyndon Johnson to rethink all options. On 24 April 1964 a single carrier-based U-2 mission to collect baseline photography of the French test site was approved.

The Navy selected the USS Ranger for the mission, codenamed Operation Fish Hawk. The CIA’s National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC) assigned a photo interpreter to process and analyze the U-2-collected imagery on board the USS Ranger, and the Navy set up a photography lab for rapid film development and analysis on the ship for this mission. The U-2G took off successfully on 19 May 1964, but cloud cover obscured a number of the targets, so a second mission was authorized for 23 May. This sortie succeeded brilliantly, capturing high-quality photographs of all targets. The after-action report read, “From an operational and security standpoint, this was one of the most successful operations of this nature ever conducted by the United States.” Detailed analysis of the photography resulted in an in-depth report in August 1964 that fully answered questions concerning the major aspects of the French nuclear program.

The beginning of high-resolution space-based reconnaissance imagery from the Corona system prevented full refinement of the carrier-launched U-2G, which soon became a footnote in national reconnaissance history. Finally, in the late 1960’s, the CIA, working again with Lockheed, developed a larger carrier launched U-2R. Although successfully tested from the deck of the USS America off the coast of Virginia in 1969, the U-2R did not fly operational missions, its technological capabilities having been surpassed by space-based reconnaissance platforms. (CIA)

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(USN Photo)

Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft parked on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS America (CV 66), 18 Oct 1984.

(USAF Photo)

Lockheed TR-1 tactical reconnaissance aircraft. The U-2 Dragon Lady is considered the leader among manned intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems.

(USAF Photo)

Lockheed U-2.

(USAF Photo)

The U-2R, introduced in 1967, was significantly larger than the original U-2. Its wingspan was 103 feet compared to 80 feet in the original design, and the new aircraft took advantage of a more powerful engine. Its range and endurance also were greater.

(USAF Photo)

Lockheed U-2, Southwest Asia, 2010.

(USAF Photo)

A U.S. Air Force U-2 Dragon Lady high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft lands at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., on 25 Jan 2013, after flying a routine sortie over the local area. Sorties consist of flying patterns and running through touch and go exercises.

(USAF Photo)

U-2S with the Senior Span/Spur communications suite, taxiing after landing at Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates, c2017.

(USAF Photo)

Lockheed U-2S Dragon Lady, Block 20, aircraft taxis to the runway at Osan Air Base, South Korea, June 2006.

(NASA Photo)

After Francis Gary Powerswas shot down over the Soviet Union during a CIA spy flight on May 1. 1960, NASA issued a press release with a cover story about a U-2 conducting weather research that may have strayed off course after the pilot reported difficulties with his oxygen equipment. To bolster the cover-up, a U-2 was quickly painted in NASA markings, with a fictitious NASA serial number, and put on display for the news media at the NASA Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base on May 6, 1960. The U-2 cover story in 1956 was that it was a NASA plane to conduct high-altitude weather research. But various observers doubted this story from the beginning. Certainly the Soviets did not believe it once the aircraft began overflying their territory. The NASA cover story quickly blew up in the agency's face when both Gary Powers and aircraft wreckage were displayed by the Soviet Union, proving that it was a reconnaissance aircraft. This caused embarrassment for several top NASA officials.

(USAF Photo)

A U-2 Dragon Lady takes off from the Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea, flightline to perform an aerial demonstration during Air Power Day, 21 Oct 2009 at Osan, South Korea.

(NASA Photos)

ER-2 tail number 809, is one of two Airborne Science ER-2s used as science platforms by Dryden. The aircraft are platforms for a variety of high-altitude science missions flown over various parts of the world. They are also used for earth science and atmospheric sensor research and development, satellite calibration and data validation. The ER-2s are capable of carrying a maximum payload of 2,600 pounds of experiments in a nose bay, the main equipment bay behind the cockpit, two wing-mounted superpods and small underbody and trailing edges. Most ER-2 missions last about six hours with ranges of about 2,200 nautical miles. The aircraft typically fly at altitudes above 65,000 feet. On November 19, 1998, the ER-2 set a world record for medium weight aircraft reaching an altitude of 68,700 feet. The aircraft is 63 feet long, with a wingspan of 104 feet. The top of the vertical tail is 16 feet above ground when the aircraft is on the bicycle-type landing gear. Cruising speeds are 410 knots, or 467 miles per hour, at altitude. A single General Electric F118 turbofan engine rated at 17,000 pounds thrust powers the ER-2.

(NASA Photo)

One of NASA's ER-2 high-altitude Earth science aircraft banks away from the photo chase plane during a flight over a southern Sierra Nevada snowscape. NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center operates two of the Lockheed-built aircraft on a wide variety of environmental science, atmospheric sampling and satellite data verification missions.

Lockheed U-2s preserved in the USA
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U-2A

(USAF Photo)

(NMUSAF Photo)

(NMUSAF Photo)
56-6722 – National Museum of the United States Air Force, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. Last of the original batch of U-2A Dragon Lady aircraft, on display at the USAF Museum. During the 1960s, it made 285 flights to gather data on high-altitude, clear-air turbulence and in the 1970s it flight tested reconnaissance systems.  Delivered to the museum in May 1980, it is painted as a typical reconnaissance U-2.

U-2C
56-6680 – National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.
56-6681 – Moffett Field Museum, Moffett Federal Airfield, Santa Clara County,California.
56-6701 – Strategic Air and Space Museum, in Ashland, Nebraska.
56-6707 – Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas.
56-6716 – Hill Aerospace Museum, Hill Air Force Base, Utah.
56-6693 – Fort Meade, Maryland, piece of wreckage is on display at the NationalCryptologic Museum. It was flown by Gary Powers and was shot down on 1 May 1960near Sverdlovsk. Presented to the Curator of the U.S. Cryptological Museum bythe Russian government during the museum's inauguration.

U-2D

(350z53 Photo)
56-6682 – Museum of Aviation, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia.
56-6714 – Beale Air Force Base, California.
56-6721 – Production Flight Test Installation Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California.

Lockheed U-2s preserved overseas

China
U-2C
56-6691 – wreckage is on display at the Military Museum of the Chinese People'sRevolution, Beijing. It has been re-assembled and is on display in the aircraftexhibit hall.[196] This airframe, flown by the Republic of China Air Forcepilot Jack Chang, was downed on 10 January 1965, northwest of Beijing by a S-75Dvina missile.

Cuba
U-2F
56-6676 – wreckage is on display at three museums in Cuba. It was flown byMajor Rudolf Anderson, USAF, and was shot down during the Cuban Missile Crisison 27 October 1962 by a Soviet-supplied S-75 Dvina (NATO designation SA-2Guideline) surface-to-air missile near Banes, Cuba. One of the engine intakesis at the Museo de la Lucha contra Bandidos in Trinidad. The engine and portionof the tail assembly are at the Museum of the Revolution in Havana. The rightwing, a portion of the tail assembly, and front landing gear are at theFortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña, or La Cabaña, Havana. The two lattergroups of parts were previously displayed at the Museo del Aire, Havana.
Norway
U-2C
56-6953 – Norwegian Aviation Museum, Bodø.

Russia
U-2C
56-6693 – wreckage is on display at the Central Armed Forces Museum, Moscow. Itwas flown by Francis Gary Powers and was shot down on 1 May 1960 nearSverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg).

United Kingdom
U-2CT
56-6692 – Imperial War Museum Duxford.

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