Not Your Fathers U-2

[Talyn]

The photographer's ride of a lifetime....

The U-2 Dragon Lady As You Have Never Seen It Before

Professional photographer Blair Bunting just flew an unprecedented air-to-air shoot at around 70,000-feet in the legendary U-2 spy plane.

www.thedrive.com

 

[HayesGreener]

The U2 pilot's vision is so restricted by his helmet and gear that he cannot see how close to the ground he is or the attitude of his wings on takeoff and landing. He is basically riding a 40,000 pound bicycle. He needs another u2 pilot in a high performance chase car right behind him on takeoffs and landings to give him altitude information and to keep the wings level . When I was at Osan AB in South Korea I talked to the mechanic who maintained the Camaro they were using at the time. He said he had the best job in the Air Force.

 

[MrMichaelActual]

I think James May did this in 2009 but without all the cool pictures.

 

[Recusant]

I think James May did this in 2009 but without all the cool pictures.

He did and here's the video:

 

[mikep]

Thanks for posting. growing up i was fascinated with anything dealing with flight or space exploration. I was the only 10 year old kid with a subscription to “Air & Space Smithsonian” magazine, i think. I still remember the issue on the SR-71.

 

[MrMichaelActual]

You dont usually hear them talk about the other aspects of flying in a seat for 10+ hours... when they land you usually have pee dripping down from the antenna's due to the pee can overflowing... sometime the oldtimers would 'pop the seal' on their helmet so they could smoke on their way back after they were below pressure altitude.