VARIOUS: AMERICA'S U-2 SPY PLANE USED TO DURING THE COLD WAR AGAINST THE SOVIET UNION STILL GOING STRONG AFTER 50 YEARS
Record ID:
835774
VARIOUS: AMERICA'S U-2 SPY PLANE USED TO DURING THE COLD WAR AGAINST THE SOVIET UNION STILL GOING STRONG AFTER 50 YEARS
- Title: VARIOUS: AMERICA'S U-2 SPY PLANE USED TO DURING THE COLD WAR AGAINST THE SOVIET UNION STILL GOING STRONG AFTER 50 YEARS
- Date: 31st July 2005
- Summary: (W1)ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) DEFENCE ANALYST JOHN PIKE AT HIS DESK SOUNDBITE (English) JOHN PIKE, PRESIDENT OF GLOBALSECURITY.ORG, SAYING: "At that very high altitude there's not much air to keep it aloft and not much air to keep the thing pointed in the right direction, so learning how to fly this airplane is an extremely difficult challenge and any pilot who masters it, I think, is very well thought of in the flight community." (W1)OSAN AIR BASE, SOUTH KOREA (RECENT) (REUTERS) SCU: PILOT, MAJ. ROBERT CREEDON, WEARING PRESSURE SUIT AND ADJUSTING HELMET TECHNICIAN ADJUSTING SUIT CLOSE-UP OF TECHNICIAN CREEDON DRINKING GATORADE THROUGH A TUBE SOUNDBITE (English) U-2 PILOT, MAJOR MERRYL DAVID, SAYING: "I don't find it that bad. I guess it's like putting yourself in a suit and putting yourself in a telephone booth for a couple of hours. To me, it's not so bad. I've got a little bit of movement and room. It doesn't bother me at all. I don't have any claustrophobia or anything like that." PILOT (MAJ. ROBERT CREEDON) WALKING TOWARDS PLANE CREEDON CLIMBING STAIRS CREEDON IN COCKPIT U-2 TAXIING THROUGH RAIN SOUNDBITE (English) MAJOR BRIAN DICKINSON SAYING: "One of the biggest challenges is overcoming the fear of the actual environment that we fly in. Flying about 70,000 feet has its own risks, if something goes wrong physiologically we put ourselves in a position where we could potentially die." AIRPLANE ON TARMAC AT NIGHT, RETURNING FROM MISSION CREEDON WALKING DOWN STAIRS, SHAKING HANDS WITH SQUADRON COMMANDER SOUNDBITE (English) U-2 PILOT, MAJOR ROBERT CREEDON, BEING ASKED WHETHER HE KNEW THE U-2 PILOT WHO CRASHED IN THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES RECENTLY, SAYING: "I did. Duane [Dively] was a good friend of mine, he was a student of mine as well, I've known him for well over ten years. It's a tragedy that hits everybody in the family, some more so than others, depending upon the relationship, but it's something that you have to overcome, get through it."
- Embargoed: 15th August 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: OSAN AIR BASE, SOUTH KOREA; UNSPECIFIED IRAQ LOCATIONS; GUANAJAY, CUBA; ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA & WASHINGTON, D.C. & NEAR BEALE AIR FORCE BASE, CALIFORNIA & LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, TEXAS, UNITED STATES
- City:
- Country: Cuba Usa Korea, Republic of
- Topics: General,Technology,Transport
- Reuters ID: LVA5QGWIRV2NCXHIT6ZUZEOQU59U
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: The U-2 reconnaissance plane, used by the U.S. to
spy on the Soviet Union during the cold war, is still
delivering the goods after 50 years.
The U-2 -- the American spyplane made famous during
the cold war -- is turning 50. Originally designed for the
Central Intelligence Agency, the U-2 first flew officially
in August 1955 and was soon conducting clandestine Cold War
missions over the Soviet Union.
Experts say the jet has probably been deployed to
monitor every conflict involving the United States in some
way since its inception; in all cases it has been used to
gather secret information for U.S. intelligence and the
military. Today, the U.S. Air Force operates a larger,
more powerful version of the U-2 with a range of more than
4,000 miles (6,400 km). Three main forward operating
locations on Cypress, near Abu Dhabi and at Osan Air Base
in South Korea give the U-2s easy access to the world's
political and military hotspots.
It's also famously difficult to fly and land. Major
Brian "Bubba" Dickinson, 35, is a veteran pilot with the
5th Reconnaissance Squadron based at Osan; he says the
50-year-old design makes for a rough ride.
"At low altitude, it's very difficult to fly. It's all
cables and pulleys, it's not hydraulically assisted in
terms of flight controls," he says, "so it's a real bear to
fly when you're down low which makes the landing even more
challenging. But up high, once you get about 60,000 feet,
the airplane flies like it's on glass. It's a really
tremendous airplane to fly up at altitude, as well."
U-2 pilots are a distinctive group; generally older and
less aggressive than the average fighter jockey. Still,
they're required to handle both an aging airplane and
state-of-the-art reconnaissance gear for hours at a time.
John Pike, a defense analyst with the
Globalsecurity.org think tank, says the demands of the
mission are well known in aviation circles.
"At that very high altitude there's not much air to keep
it aloft and not much air to keep the thing pointed in the
right direction," he remarks, "so learning how to fly this
airplane is an extremely difficult challenge and any pilot
who masters it, I think, is very well thought of in the
flight community."
Before each mission, intelligence and operations
officers brief the pilot, who then heads for medical checks
with physiology specialists and crucial help putting on the
$250,000 spacesuit that will keep him or her alive in case
of an emergency.
Flights are long and tiring; up to nine hours or more.
Pilots can drink or eat astronaut-style food through a
tube inserted through the helmet rim; caffeinated foods are
popular during the last hour prior to landing. But though
the suit adds a significant burden, pilots are able to
adapt.
Major Merryl "Hubu" David is a 34-year-old former navy
helicopter pilot from the Bronx who is serving her first
operational tour at Osan. "I don't find it that bad," she
says, "I guess it's like putting yourself in a suit and
putting yourself in a telephone booth for a couple of
hours. To me, it's not so bad. I've got a little bit of
movement and room. It doesn't bother me at all. I don't
have any claustrophobia or anything like that."
The exact cruising altitude of the is classified; Air
Force officials simply say "above 70,000 feet." Many experts believe
t
he jet can reach 90,000 feet or more. But
at these altitudes, the pilot's blood would boil without
pressurization, meaning certain death within 30 seconds.
As an additional precaution, pilots must breathe pure
oxygen for an hour before take-off and then throughout the
mission to reduce nitrogen in the blood and so cut the risk
of the bends.
"One of the biggest challenges is overcoming the fear of
the actual environment that we fly in," explains Maj.
Dickinson. "Flying about 70,000 feet has its own risks, if
something goes wrong physiologically we put ourselves in a
position where we could potentially die."
It's hardly an idle concern. U-2 pilot Duane Dively
died in a crash in the United Arab Emirates in June, after
a mission over Afghanistan. With the U-2 roster at about
85, such an accident resonates throughout the entire
community, says fellow pilot Major Robert Creedon: "Duane
was a good friend of mine, he was a student of mine as
well, I've known him for well over ten years. It's a
tragedy that hits everybody in the family, some more so
than others, depending upon the relationship, but it's
something that you have to overcome, get through it."
Crisis and anxiety have been with the U-2 program since
its earliest years. On May 1, 1960, the Soviet Union
brought down a U-2 piloted by Francis Gary Powers and put
him on trial. Washington initially said it was a civilian
weather reconnaissance flight off course but then-President
Dwight Eisenhower later said it was a distasteful but vital
necessity to avoid a Pearl Harbor-style surprise attack.
"When Francis Gary Powers was shot down that was
basically the last time that the U-2 flew over the Soviet
Union," says John Pike, the defense analyst. "The CIA had
always known that the U-2 would have a limited lifetime,
they had hoped that it would continue to fly but after Gary
Powers was shot down that was the end of the U-2 flying
over the Soviet Union."
Powers was convicted and sent to a Soviet prison, but
was later freed in a spy swap in divided Berlin. Speaking
after a Senate committee hearing in 1962, he explained the
circumstances preceding the crash. "It seemed to be an
explosion," Powers told reporters, "I don't know what
caused it but I feel that it was not in the aircraft
itself." When asked whether he thought it was a rocket,
Powers replied: "I can't say that. I just know or think,
that it was external."
Still, despite the headlines, the U-2 program persisted.
Explains John Pike: After the U-2 stopped flying over the
Soviet Union it continued to be very important for
reconnaissance over China, over North Vietnam, and
certainly during the Cuban Missile crisis."
Pike says the plane is still valuable because it can
peer into territory otherwise off-limits and stay overhead
longer than satellites. "I think there's little doubt
that the U-2 continues to operate against targets like Iran
and like North Korea," he says. "It gives a persistent
surveillance capability that drones and spy satellites
simply don't provide."
North Korea -- which says it has nuclear weapons and is
building more -- regularly accuses the United States of
flying U-2s to peer at strategic targets on its territory
from near the fortified Demilitarized Zone that bisects the
Korean peninsula. But even as they focus on the tactical
value of the mission at hand, pilots can't help but be
caught up in the beauty and serenity of the upper
atmosphere.
"You get to see so much of the world, and the curvature
of the earth, and the sky," says Maj. Dickinson. "The dark
blue sky that's above and the ground that's below. I think
there's a sense of overwhelming accomplishment and I
wouldn't necessarily describe it as peace, but comfort.
That you're up there and you are alone, and there's
something about being up there by yourself that is truly
rewarding."
On the runway at Osan, a second pilot waits in a sports
car as the U-2 approaches.
As the matte-black craft prepares to touch down, the
car surges on to the runway and gives chase.
Within seconds, the car is right behind the
glider-winged jet, which seems to fill the windshield as it
moves toward the ground. The pilot needs the car to count
down as the runway cannot be seen over the plane's long
nose.
For their part, the U-2 crews are proud that their
vintage aircraft has managed to play a significant role in the
intellig
ence community; indeed, it's been around
longer than any of them have been alive.
Says Major David: "You know, we're still doing what
we're doing and this is after fifty years, celebrating our
fiftieth anniversary. And we're still, even with our
antiquated systems, we're still kicking butt. So that's
what I like."
The U-2 made its official first flight on August 8,
1955.
Earlier, unofficial flights took place on August 1 and
August 4. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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