Scoop!

Flying the U-2 'spy plane'

The world was stunned when Francis Gary Powers was downed over the Former Soviet Union flying the Lockheed U-2 in 1960. In context, the U.S. has conducted more than 50,000 such ‘surveillance’ flights since WWII, using aircraft carrying national colors and designations (U.S. Air Force, Navy, etc.), flying ‘mostly’ in international airspace. The U-2 was an unmarked spy plane. Dangerous stuff. I can’t say more: this arena remains highly classified, up to advanced UAV and spy satellite work.

The CIA, who commissioned the U-2 in 1955, and its brilliant designer Kelly Johnson at Lockheed’s ‘Skunk Works’ in Burbank, California, thought its ability to fly high would keep it safe. True, for a while.

The Soviets knew it was there, from their radar. They bagged it with SAMs—surface-to-air missiles. While learning, they downed some of their own fighters attempting interception via dive/pull-up/Keplerian zoom. They didn’t care. In the FSU, as in today’s Russia, people are expendable, objects of the State. Similar U.S. tests showed the F-106 as the best interceptor. One was witnessed by a horrified U-2 driver as it tumbled past the U-2’s nose at high (classified) altitude, taking tens of thousands of feet to recover. Fresh underwear, please.

Secrets don’t keep. As details leaked, the U-2 intrigued the world. Its height capability (then classified) and endurance (~12 hours) stunned insiders. Everyone wondered about its design, performance and flight characteristics. As a pilot with thousands of hours in sailplanes (gliders much like the U-2—high-aspect-ratio wings, but mercifully without the noisy fire hazard), I was curious. I act on my curiosities.

“U-2: Geopolitical/military past and technological/aerospace present mix in the imagination. What is it? Complex, high-altitude observation system that happens to be an airplane? Demonstration of Lockheed’s skills? Powered sailplane? All the above. Pilots worldwide wonder about this mystical beast . . . ”

That’s how my report (not quite, see the ending) started, words to accompany my photos taken at Beale AFB, near Sacramento, California, and in the cockpit, very (then classified) high—say, 60,000 feet. I had that elixir, an ‘exclusive:’ first photojournalist to fly, photograph and write about one of the world’s most famous yet mysterious aircraft. I was in aviation and journalism heaven . . . extremely high.

One of freelancing’s rare joys is unearthing and controlling a scoop—if you’re lucky, properly connected, with a cooperative editor. How did I get into that cockpit, assigned by a major world publication?

I called the U.S. Air Force Strategic Air Command (SAC) in Omaha, Nebraska. Connected to Public Affairs—they treat polite journalists kindly—I asked to fly, write about and photograph their U-2. They said they’d consider it; they didn’t say ‘no’ and they extended hope. A definite ‘maybe.’

I called the managing editor: “SAC is considering my request.” True. He said he’d review my story and pix. I conveyed that conditional acceptance to SAC. I had the matched set. I reported to Beale AFB, checked into the BOQ and talked to U-2 and SR-71 pilots of the 9^th Strategic Air Wing that evening at the bar. Great stories. They love to fly. But . . . intimidating, high-octane pros.

Next morning, after the traditional high-protein/low-bulk breakfast, flight physiology conducted a medical. Approved, my instructor, astronaut-in-embryo CAPT Denny Gagen, USAF, indoctrinated me in this difficult, fascinating airplane. I note the central, bicycle landing gear with tiny wheels, much like a sailplane, the untwisted wing (no tip washout) that stalls from root to tip, right now, without warning, though tiny leading-edge ‘bumps’ give a warning burble at critical airspeed. Innovative, negative-going flaps in a1955 design—they call it ‘gust control.’ An unforgiving piece.

The proposed flight was briefed. Laced into a pressure suit, I pre-breathe O2 for an hour to avoid the ‘bends’—a risk after sudden decompression, when nitrogen in the blood creates bubbles at the joints that deliver excruciating pain. We ride in a van, carrying portable O2 units, and strap into the two-seat CT-2. Final checklist. Engine startup, taxi in waddling gait on the bicycle gear, wings supported by ‘pogo’ outriggers.

Takeoff: rotate at 85 knots and pull up to 60° for climbout, the Pratt & Whitney J-75 producing a reliable 17,000 pounds thrust without afterburner. As we rotate, the ‘pogo’ wheels fall from their sockets for ground-crew recovery.

Three hours over the Sierra. It flies like a well behaved sailplane: smooth, easy, needs rudder to coordinate, non-assisted, cable controls. The airframe is fragile. Don’t ‘pull’ more than ~2G, though higher-G gusts can be tolerated in updrafts. At maximum altitude, the ‘window’ between departure (stall) and tuck is two knots. So: a gentle hand on the yoke, meticulous airspeed control.

Landing is a challenge: energy management is crucial. Fly a flat approach: this bird floats in ground effect. We approach at stall speed +10%, not stall +25% fighters use. Another U-2 pilot, alongside in a pickup, calls altitude and attitude, ensuring touchdown at correct, two-point attitude: “Two feet, nose high; one foot, on attitude; touchdown.” Though back from near space, I will never come down from this flight.

The late Ernest Gann, a renowned flying writer, got into that cockpit years later. I scooped him. Hold the applause. I was lucky. SAC accepted me because the bird was no longer TOP SECRET. They processed my film and kept some photos; they knew that a huge pilot audience would read the piece as potential recruits; the magazine took my exclusive.

Why not name the publication where my original article appeared? Because, when I asked permission to excerpt my own text, they demanded a fee triple the pittance they paid me to write it. Just to . . . excerpt my own piece! Such sweet people. So this true story uses none of my original material, except perhaps conjunctions, plus definite and indefinite articles, and the word ‘aviation.’ Imagine violating a copyright by plagiarizing oneself!

____________________________________________________________________________John Joss, a freelance writer in San Francisco, was the first photojournalist to fly and write about the U-2.