The ‘Dragon Lady’, first tested in the 1950s, is too valuable to retire. The U-2 has a single engine that can rocket the jet to 70,000 feet and - crucially - maintain that height.
It’s also adaptable to modern technology - and the future is all about data: collecting it, processing it, and machine-to-machine sharing. About 30 U-2 spy planes are among the fleet at California’s Beale Air Force Base.
The ‘Dragon Lady’, first tested in the 1950s, is too valuable to retire. The U-2 has a single engine that can rocket the jet to 70,000 feet and - crucially - maintain that height.
It’s also adaptable to modern technology - and the future is all about data: collecting it, processing it, and machine-to-machine sharing. About 30 U-2 spy planes are among the fleet at California’s Beale Air Force Base.
FUN FACTS:
Bridge of Spies
• Bridge of Spies is based on the imprisonment of downed U-2 pilot Gary Powers (played by Austin Stowell) which led to a US-Soviet spy swap on Germany’s Glienicke Bridge.
• The U-2 earned its nickname ‘Dragon Lady’ because it is difficult to operate. Pilots typically fly 90% of their mission within five knots (9 km/h) of the ‘stall speed', the minimum steady speed where the U-2 is controllable.
Skunk Works
• The U-2 was secretly designed at Lockheed’s ‘Skunk Works’, so-named because it was based in a former distillery that reeked of sour bourbon mash, much like the moonshine factory in the Li’l Abnercomic strip.
U-2 Specifications
• Cruise speed 475 mph / 764 km/hr
• Length 63 ft / 19.2 m • Maximum weight40,000 lb / 18,144 kg
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