Lockheed U-2: the most famous secret aircraft

Video from the channel SkyShips en Español about Lockheed, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 48:41. Language: Spanish. Video type: Documentary.

A documentary, translated from an original, that reviews the history of the Lockheed U-2 Dragon Lady, the high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft born in the 1950s: its origin, its design, the toughness of flying it, its spy missions and its long service life.

The story starts with postwar aerial reconnaissance, carried out by bomber variants such as the B-29, RB-36 and RB-47, increasingly exposed to new Soviet fighters. Against proposals from Martin (RB-57), Fairchild and Bell, Lockheed presented Clarence "Kelly" Johnson's CL-282, developed at Skunk Works as an unarmed powered glider. The CIA adopted it together with the Air Force (Aquatone and Oilstone projects), and it received the letter U for "utility" to disguise its purpose. It first flew in August 1955 and trained at Watertown, Area 51. From 1956 it flew over Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, where it located the Tyuratam complex, the future Baikonur. On 1 May 1960 an SA-2 missile shot down Francis Gary Powers' aircraft near Sverdlovsk; he was convicted and exchanged in February 1962 for Rudolf Abel. In 1962 U-2s discovered the Soviet missiles in Cuba; they also operated from Taiwan and, in two 1964 missions, from aircraft carriers with the U-2G.

It was required to fly at 70,000 feet, about 21 km. Wingspan exceeded 24 m on the U-2A and grew to 31 m. It used the J57 engine without afterburner and later the J75 and F118, with special JPTS fuel. The bicycle landing gear has auxiliary wheels that drop off on takeoff, and landing is guided by a chase car. The U-2C followed, then the U-2F with in-flight refueling, the U-2R (whose weight rose from 10 to 18 tonnes), the TR-1 and the U-2S. In the Gulf War U-2s flew 260 sorties and over 2,000 hours. Just over 100 were built and about three dozen remain in service.