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I remember watching these things come and go out of Osan ROK. They had a hellacious deck-angle when they left the ground.




When I was flying C-5s, one of the guys in my squadron used to fly these. He didn't talk about it much, but I'm sure he had some stories to tell, nonetheless.


In truth, as I recall, these guys were like vampires. Take-off at dusk and back on the ground well before sun-up.




Just for comparison, a U-2A, the type which made Gary Powers famous back in the day. She looks slender and graceful, like a ballerina. In contrast, the current moniker "Dragon Lady" seems to fit just fine.


U-2R and U-2A by Kazunori Ito

Great shots.

Excellent set. Really enjoyed them.


Rich

Very atmospheric set of pics,  8-) Great stuff

Well done...very nice...

Awesome set! I saw one of these at Davis Monthan a couple years ago.  He happened to be flying over when the airshow was going on so he requested permission to drop down and make a couple passes before heading back up to "45,000 feet."  I remember the announcer saying the climb rate is classified but it should only take him a couple minutes to get there.  Amazing.

I've been seeing this bird fly everyday for the past six months and damn are they loud when they take off. I'm actually surprised they were still flying when I got to my deployed location. One of 5 aircraft still in service with their original operator after more than 50 years.

Great shots of an old bird..

Thanks everybody. It's an interesting bird with a fascinating history. And the politics behind it are at least as interesting as the technical specs. Mix up Lockheed, the White House, the CIA and DoD, and you've got a story rivaling anything out of Hollywierd.

Oh we know about how loud it is considering the hangers for it are right next door to the fire station. We all get a nice massage when they decide to perform full throttle engine runs because that's when every building in the area starts shaking and they always seem to coincide their take offs when our roll call and shift change in the mornings lol. I think they do it on purpose haha.