![]() The highest-flying aircraft available to America and its allies at the time was the English Electric Canberra, which could reach 48,000 feet (14,600 m). He and others believed that Soviet radar, which used American equipment provided during the war, could not track aircraft above 65,000 feet (19,800 m). Richard Leghorn of the United States Air Force (USAF) suggested that an aircraft that could fly at 60,000 feet (18,300 m) should be safe from the MiG-17, the Soviet Union's best interceptor aircraft, which could barely reach 45,000 feet (13,700 m). Existing US reconnaissance aircraft, primarily bombers converted for reconnaissance duty such as the Boeing RB-47, were vulnerable to anti-aircraft artillery, missiles, and fighters. Īfter 1950, Soviet air defenses aggressively attacked all aircraft near the country's borders-sometimes even those in Japanese airspace. Other 'C' camera designs were unsuccessful. The A-2C folded 240 inches (6,100 mm) f/20 system was rejected by Kelly Johnson, as it was larger than the available space. This single camera would provide configurable coverage up to horizon-to-horizon. This would use a larger 36 inches (910 mm) f/10 aspheric lens. Next, Baker and Scott began work on the A-2B. This produced the A-2 camera, containing three K-38 cameras with 24-inch f/8.0 lenses. Once that work was underway, Baker used his pioneering algorithms to perform ray tracing, calculating paths on the IBM CPC at Boston University. Scott did so by using the Hycon K-38 with a 24 inches (610 mm) lens, and modifying it to specifications for the expected altitude of the plane and using new anti-vibration and mounting techniques. īaker began designing the camera system in October 1954, well before the plane selection and construction began. The committee suggested a plane with advanced optics, flying above 70,000 feet (21,300 m). The best intelligence the American government had on facilities deep inside the Soviet Union were German Luftwaffe photographs taken during the war of territory west of the Ural Mountains, so overflights to take aerial photographs of the Soviet Union would be necessary. Land, who would design the specialized optics in the U-2. Saville, and included James Gilbert Baker and Edwin H. Overhage and was overseen by the Air Force's Gordon P. The Air Force commissioned the 'Beacon Hill Report' from Project Lincoln at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which was researched in 1951–1952 and delivered in 1952. military desired better strategic aerial reconnaissance to help determine Soviet capabilities and intentions, and to prevent being caught off guard as it had been in the Attack on Pearl Harbor. 3.1.7 Renewal of Eastern Bloc overflightsĪfter World War II, the U.S.3.1.4 Initial overflights of Communist territory.The newest models (TR-1, U-2R, U-2S) entered service in the 1980s, and the latest model, the U-2S, had a technical upgrade in 2012. The U-2 is one of a handful of aircraft types to have served the USAF for over 50 years, along with the Boeing B-52, Boeing KC-135, Lockheed C-130 and Lockheed C-5. The U-2 has also been used for electronic sensor research, satellite calibration, scientific research, and communications purposes. U-2s have taken part in post-Cold War conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, and supported several multinational NATO operations. ![]() was shot down in a U-2 during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. In 1960, Gary Powers was shot down in a CIA U-2C over the Soviet Union by a surface-to-air missile (SAM). It was flown during the Cold War over the Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, and Cuba. Lockheed Corporation originally proposed it in 1953, it was approved in 1954, and its first test flight was in 1955. It provides day and night, high-altitude (70,000 feet, 21,300 meters), all-weather intelligence gathering. The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed " Dragon Lady", is an American single- jet engine, high altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) and previously flown by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). ![]()
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