In the late 1960s the airframe was enlarged by more than one-third over the original structure, bringing the aircraft to a fuselage length of 63 feet (19 metres) and a wingspan of 104 feet (32 metres). It was designed by Kelly Johnson, head of the Lockheed Corporation’s famous, semisecret “Skunk Works,” based on the fuselage of the supersonic F-104 Starfighter interceptor. Its exact operational specifications are secret.
The U-2, built of aluminum and limited to subsonic flight, can cruise for many hours above 70,000 feet (21,000 metres) with a payload weighing as much as 3,000 pounds (1,350 kg). Strategic intelligence-gathering missions have continued, but the U-2 also has been used for battlefield reconnaissance and surveillance in numerous conflicts and tension spots where the United States has been engaged since the Vietnam War in the 1960s. On May 1, 1960, a U-2 was shot down over the Soviet Union, precipitating the U-2 Affair, and in 1962, during the Cuban missile crisis, a U-2 took photographs that confirmed the presence of Soviet nuclear-armed missiles in Cuba. Air Force (USAF) to monitor electronic emissions, to sample the upper atmosphere for evidence of nuclear weapons tests, and to photograph sites deep within the territory of the Soviet Union, China, and other Cold War enemies. A prototype flew in 1955, and the last plane in the series was built in 1989.Īt first the plane was used by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the U.S.
Perhaps the most famous spy plane ever built, the U-2, also known as the Dragon Lady, has been in service since 1956. U-2, single-seat, high-altitude jet aircraft flown by the United States for intelligence gathering, surveillance, and reconnaissance. The pilot was sentenced to 10 years’ confinement, but he was exchanged for a Soviet spy in 1962. U-2 reconnaissance plane over the Soviet Union and caused the collapse of a summit conference in Paris. The U-2 Incident was a confrontation in 1960 between the United States and the Soviet Union that began with the shooting down of a U.S.
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