combat aircraft

H

AVING SURVIVED THE

rather intense two-week

interview process required

for acceptance into the U-2

‘Dragon Lady’ program,

I returned to Loring AFB

awaiting orders to join the 99th

Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron

(SRS) and start my quali cation training

in the U-2C/CT and U-2R. It had been

a stressful try-out for this ‘special duty,

selectively-manned’ unit in which my

aeronautical abilities were challenged

by arguably the most dangerous

operational aircraft in the world to  y.

After three  ights and 4.9 hours in the

U-2CT, I was deemed capable of landing

somewhat safely by stalling the aircraft

at exactly 2ft above the runway surface,

and then  ying the long wings while

delicately balancing on the bicycle

landing gear until one titanium wing

skid or the other contacted the asphalt.

In other words, I was ‘trainable’.

As well as various evaluations, most

important was the critical acceptance of

the fellow pilots before I would be allowed

to touch a U-2R. While they carefully

appraised my desirability to join their

tight-knit fraternity, I was put through a

gauntlet of medical, psychological and

physical testing, culminating in a day-long

astronaut physical at Travis AFB.

I pulled through the main gate at Beale

AFB on New Year’s Eve 1978, to start my

long sought-after training to become a

U-2 pilot. I couldn’t have been happier. I

would have nearly two months of ground

school along with an introduction into

worldwide operational deployments

and physiological support division (PSD)

training in what for so long was a top-

secret ‘black world’ program that relatively

few in the air force knew existed.

Dating ‘the Goat’

My instructor pilots (IPs) would be ‘MG’

and ‘HoHo’, who were very experienced

in both the U-2C and U-2R models and

designated to give instruction to novice

pilots during their initial quali cation (IQ)

phase. This consisted of three  ights in the

U-2CT — nicknamed the ‘Two-Headed

Goat’ — and soloing in either the U-2C

or the CT before progressing to mission

quali cation in the U-2R. ‘MG’ would serve

as my IP, with ‘HoHo’ as mobile for the  rst

two  ights in mid-afternoon thermals and

crosswinds before switching to become

my instructor for a  nal night  ight.

Since it had been nine months since

my last acceptance  ight, I was a little

concerned that what little touch I had

acquired might have disappeared.

However, ‘MG’ reassured me that he

had felt the same on his  rst IQ  ight

and found it was similar to riding a

bicycle — a little wobbly at  rst but

constantly improving. Unlike my interview

 ights, where I was expected to adapt

to the unconventional taxi and  ight

characteristics of the aircraft without

adequate instruction, these IPs were quick

in giving me pointers and techniques to

help me succeed. Over the previous two

months they had provided my ground

instruction, delving into the ‘special access’

U-2C  ight manual. That classi cation

meant that, even though the C-model

was no longer used operationally, there

were still carefully guarded secrets about

In the second of a series of features, former U-2 pilot Lt

Col (ret’d) Rick Bishop explains how he learned to fl y the

demanding U-2.

REPORT RICK BISHOP

90 September 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net

90-97 U2 part2 C.indd 90 20/07/2018 11:37