U2

[pavulon]

Tomorrow I hope to work for a U2 pilot who's short career ended when he crashed one in training. Last time I worked for him was a few years ago. He seemed like a remarkably normal fellow leading a very blue-collar life. I hope life is treating him OK and to learn a few things about the U2!!

[Nostril Cheese]

At least its the cool U2.

[onewhippedpuppy]

At least its the cool U2.

Yes, the airplane is not a douche.

[drcoastline]

Anyone who makes it to the point of being able to be anywhere within 100 feet of a
U2 is worth being associated with, crashing it or not. They are better people to be associated with than most people.

Just my .02

[kevin993]

Cool. Had the good fortune to see the NASA ER-2 fly on Saturday. It is the civilian version of the U-2. It made quite a wonderful sound accelerating upwards into the sky.

[Nostril Cheese]

I think I remember reading somewhere that the U2's fuselage is just an F-104 with longer wings?

[biosurfer1]

My friend is a U2 pilot and while still an awesome job, the stories of how cramped and boring the flights are sort of take away from the "coolness".

[Embraer]

talk to the U2 guys just about everyday. both AF and NASA. cool airplane. it's neat talking to them on the tac freq. since their suit is positive pressure, it really sounds like you're talking to an astronaut.

[john70t]

There's another U-2. Once used by the WW2 Russian Night Witches https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polikarpov_Po-2

[71scgc]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Yes, the airplane is not a douche.

This...

Carter

[flipper35]

Originally Posted by Nostril Cheese

I think I remember reading somewhere that the U2's fuselage is just an F-104 with longer wings?

One of the concepts was to use the F104 but that's as far as it got.

I can't imagine flying something whose stall speed and VNE at altitude are just a few knots abort.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Yes, the airplane is not a douche.

From the Harbor Freight archives:

[Hawkeye's-911T]

^^^^Still laughing my a$$ off!!

[pavulon]

Had a long conversation with the pilot today. Turns out he was B-52 pilot for a time. He talked about how the nuc's they carried were all very similar or identical, all pre-programmed for the targets assigned to them and varied in destructive power according to their destinations. He didn't have a ton to say about the U-2s other than it was pretty weird to "climb up to 70,000 feet, shut everything off and disappear". The other thing he mentioned was having to "pull the shades" at cruising altitude in order to keep cockpit temps reasonable.

The plane he crashed is mounted on a pole at Beale AFB. His version of "exiting the plane" involved a 15-20 ft launch from his seat directly followed by a 15-20 ft return to earth landing on his back between a wing and the fuselage.

All in all, he remains a very modest fellow.