U2 and the "terminator line"

[Devildoc]

I have always loved the history behind the Skunk Works, SR-71 and the U2. This is a great clip about the U2, with some awesome photography.

Ride the U-2 to the "Terminator Line"

 

[Gunz]

One of a handful of great aircraft that just keep on going.

 

[Red Flag 1]

I have always loved the history behind the Skunk Works, SR-71 and the U2. This is a great clip about the U2, with some awesome photography.

Ride the U-2 to the "Terminator Line"

I think of the SR-71s, and all the flight records they set, and the aura around the SR-71 set it apart from the U-2; or did it?

The SR-71 came in after the U-2, and was the attention grabber. The U-2 just kept flying and doing it's job, and lo and behold, they retire the entire SR-71 program. In the public's mind comes the question of ," Why the hell would you scrub the magical SR-71 fleet, and keep the old, long in the tooth, piece of crap U-2?". In reality, it is a classic magician's trick of deception with the SR-71, while the U-2 gets upgraded, advances, and keeps on doing it's job.

Still, it would be nice to have the big, flat black, bad assed beauty, leaking on the tarmac; come out to fly every now and then.

 

[Devildoc]

The U2 is a maligned aircraft...old, slow, not sexy, but damn, the places it has been and the things it has seen.

Still, no rival to the SR-71 (has there been one??). When it was retired it was still WAY ahead of the technology curve. It takes balls to say "we are going to overfly you and take pictures and there is nothing you can do about it."

 

[Red Flag 1]

The U2 is a maligned aircraft...old, slow, not sexy, but damn, the places it has been and the things it has seen.

Still, no rival to the SR-71 (has there been one??). When it was retired it was still WAY ahead of the technology curve. It takes balls to say "we are going to overfly you and take pictures and there is nothing you can do about it."

Talking to an older Blackbird Pilot, we of course spoke of speeds the aircraft would cruise at, and we never said anything about max speeds. He did grin and say that if he was flying from this base in Ca, and had to make a swing up the East Coast, you start the turn, a little before Alabama.

 

[DA SWO]

I think of the SR-71s, and all the flight records they set, and the aura around the SR-71 set it apart from the U-2; or did it?

The SR-71 came in after the U-2, and was the attention grabber. The U-2 just kept flying and doing it's job, and lo and behold, they retire the entire SR-71 program. In the public's mind comes the question of ," Why the hell would you scrub the magical SR-71 fleet, and keep the old, long in the tooth, piece of crap U-2?". In reality, it is a classic magician's trick of deception with the SR-71, while the U-2 gets upgraded, advances, and keeps on doing it's job.

Still, it would be nice to have the big, flat black, bad assed beauty, leaking on the tarmac; come out to fly every now and then.

One belief was Mcpeek killed the SR out of spite.
Story was he didn't pass their selection process and took it out on them when he was CSAF.

 

[Red Flag 1]

One belief was Mcpeek killed the SR out of spite.
Story was he didn't pass their selection process and took it out on them when he was CSAF.

I can believe that, very easily.

 

[AWP]

Dragon Lady's still doing great things. Watching them take off is an experience.