Generally when planes become operational they are already obsolete technologically. This is one of the few airplanes that was ahead of its time. It even had features that were stealthy and probably helped those understand some of the principles of stealth technology being used today. It was a sad day when the Air Force retired that airplane. Of all the airplanes I've seen or worked on in the Air Force that one is my favorite.
You could sense the pilot's sadness as they talking about the retirement of this plane.
The CIA and Lockheed Martin were just go-getters in those days. I wonder if our government could accomplish something like that today. The U2 went from green light to test flights in less than a year, if I recall correctly.
Generally when planes become operational they are already obsolete technologically. This is one of the few airplanes that was ahead of its time. It even had features that were stealthy and probably helped those understand some of the principles of stealth technology being used today. It was a sad day when the Air Force retired that airplane. Of all the airplanes I've seen or worked on in the Air Force that one is my favorite.
The amazing thing is that it was all done with a slide rule. Kelly Johnson didn't have the luxury of computers for calculations