Le secret autour de du Lockheed U-2
Video from the channel Nat Geo France about Lockheed U-2, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 2:30. Language: French. Video type: Documentary.
Excerpt from a National Geographic documentary about the early days of the U-2 spy plane, with testimonies from those who took part in the program. They recall a secrecy so strict that some did not know where the base was until they arrived, and the mechanics had no idea what was being done in flight.
At the height of the Cold War, the U-2 was the best asset for monitoring the growing Soviet arsenal. Officially, the unit was presented as a weather reconnaissance squadron.
The aircraft carried high-resolution cameras and was designed to climb to nearly 70,000 feet. The pilots breathed pure oxygen and there was no training version. Every extra kilo lowered its ceiling. Since all the fuel was in the wings, auxiliary wheels supported them until take-off and then dropped away.