U2
Posted on May 24, 2010
Filed Under Blog, Linkage, Space, Technology
Jalopnik recently ran a couple of articles on the U2 spyplane which are worth reading. The first covered the U2 itself, a sublimely elegant aircraft that was concieved of in that strange time where jet power was becoming common but satellite surveillance still required a canister drop of film from orbit.
The Dragon Lady
There’s something ethereal about that shape, isn’t there? Designed to fly at the edge of atmosphere, those long wings eked out whatever lift they could. James May recently took an emotional flight in the “Dragon Lady”; of all the things that’s he’s been priveleged enough to do, I think this is the finest and most unparalleled by far (it really is worth watching in fullscreen if possible).
The second of Jalopnik’s posts is rather more down-to-earth, but still pretty thrilling nonetheless, concerning the chase cars that would follow the U2 on its perlious, knife-edge of landing.
Not quite as cool as U2-equipment, I once had the opportunity to buy a MiG-25 Foxbat flight suit, which was for all intents and purposes a space suit. The Foxbat was designed to hunt down U2s, and later SR-71s; it never did, but it was still a Mach 2.5+ fighter-interceptor that was effectively a tiny cockpit ahead of a pair of massive afterburning turbines. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to purchase the suit (it wouldn’t have fit me anyway, designed for a 5-foot tall Soviet airman), but it would’ve been a nice part of that strange (and deadly) competition that played out throughout the fifties, sixties, and seventies.
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