The Secret History of the U-2

Chicago Tribune ^ | Jeffrey T. Richelson | August 19, 2013

[nickcarraway]

On Feb. 21, 1955, Richard M. Bissell, a senior CIA official, wrote a check on an agency account for $1.25 million and mailed it to the home of Kelly Johnson, chief engineer at the Lockheed Company's Burbank, Calif., plant. According to a newly declassified CIA history of the U-2 program, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the National Security Archive, the agency was about to sign a contract with Lockheed for $22.5 million to build 20 U-2 aircraft, but the company needed a cash infusion right away to keep the work going. Through the use of "unvouchered" funds — virtually free from any external oversight or accounting — the CIA could finance secret programs, such as the U-2. As it turned out, Lockheed produced the 20 aircraft at a total of $18,977,597 (including $1.9 million in profit), or less than $1 million per plane. In other words, the project came in under budget, a miracle in today's defense contracting world.

A source of deep pride for the U.S. intelligence community, the U-2 program survived the May 1, 1960, shoot-down of Francis Gary Powers over the Soviet Union, and the plane went on to spy for the CIA until 1974 — and the Air Force still operates the latest version today. Nevertheless, the agency has been holding back information about the U-2 for years. At a 1998 CIA-sponsored symposium to celebrate the U-2 program, one of the conference speakers was asked to refrain from mentioning how Chinese Nationalist pilots, based in Taiwan, flew agency U-2s over and near the People's Republic to gather intelligence on the PRC, including its nuclear programs. The speaker ignored the request, but that did not stop the CIA from maintaining that such information should remain officially classified.

[mylife]

It is one of the single most work horse platforms in 50 years.

[jonrick46]

The black and white photographic negatives produced by the U-2's advanced telescopic cameras were such fine grain that they could be examined by highly trained specialists using microscopes. I think they got some great resolution from those negatives. The 5000 feet of film weighed 300 lbs and had to be spooled from opposite directions to balance the aircraft. Each spool had a negative 9 inches wide that fed into the lens image. The combined image was 18 inches square! This enabled images with a resolution of 2.5 feet from 65,000 feet. That resolution is better than today's drones.

The camera:

Another element was thermal scanning. I am not sure if the U-2 had the same type of thermal imaging equipment as the SR-71 Black Bird. I was told that the capabilities of that equipment was stunning. In later years they used it to locate the position of buried bodies by a serial killer.

[sr4402]

A newly declassified CIA history from 20 years ago spills the story about Nevada's Area 51 and its secret mission — which was not to study UFOs, but to test the U-2 and other spy planes.

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/area-51-its-purpose-declassified-no-ufos-lots-u-2-6C10931555

[Coldwater Creek]

A family member, Rudolph Anderson was shot down flying the U-2 in the Bay of Pigs operation. That was our only aircraft.

My late husband was with a Navy VQ-2 squadron who would fly escort for Gary Powers. Lots of Black Opps.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

U-2s flew out of Japan in the late 1950s. One of the pilots, an American Indian, was a friend of my dad's when we lived there. I still have an old Zippo lighter with his name and unit.

[mylife]

RIP Rudolph Anderson.

[mylife]

http://www.history.com/news/the-cuban-missile-crisis-pilot-whose-death-may-have-saved-millions

I was 3 years old at the time of Rudolphs death.
What an amazing fellow.

He must have been an amazing man.

[mylife]

You are correct.
I am full of ****.

[mylife]

You are correct.
I am full of ****

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Cat_Squadron

[SunkenCiv]

NASA started using them for high altitude research. The problem with the tail was corrected after the Powers shootdown. Nice job on the book too, Clarence:

Kelly: More Than My Share of It All
Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson with Maggie Smith
http://www.amazon.com/Kelly-More-Than-Share-All/dp/0874744911

[The Great RJ]

Kelly Johnson and John Moses Browning represent the best examples of American genius. The SR-71 Blackbird like the 1911 pistol and 50 cal. machine gun are machines that cannot be improved upon even decades after their creation and despite giant leaps in design technology.

[Coldwater Creek]

I actually did not personally know him except through pictures and family history.

[mylife]

I did not know Duane Dively, but I swear I cried unpacking the wreckage.

Hat tip

[mylife]

The U2 Program was the stepping stone to Outer Space.

The Iconic space suit was developed on the U2 program.

They changed the world and are still major players.

If I wasn’t such an old **** I would love to go into space.
Imagine being the technician that fixed the optics on the Hubble Telescope.

[llevrok]

machines that cannot be improved upon even decades after their creation and despite giant leaps in design technology.

Done with slide rulers. Amazing.