its performance. All study of the manual
had to be conducted behind the cypher-
locked squadron doors. Paralleling these
studies was the even more guarded
examination of the top-secret flight
manual for the U-2R, because after these
three flights I would be soloing any of the
variants available.
Rarely were there more than two of the
eight U-2Rs at Beale and that was only if
one was out of the ‘Skunk Works’ major
phase maintenance being outfitted
with the latest sensors for operational
deployment. Soloing one of these
national assets, without ever even taxiing
her, was a frightening thought as I delved
into her secrets on a daily basis.
Finally, the afternoon arrived on which
‘MG’ and I would slip the surly bonds of
earth. He was there to instruct and I was
to conduct the entire mission, except for
the first landing demo, with his inputs
as needed.
The taxi out to the runway was sloppy
as I tried to remember not to over-
correct on the rudder pedals that only
produced a maximum of 6.5° of travel onthe dual Teflon-treaded tailwheels. ‘MG’
had to remind me to start my turns very
early or risk taking out a taxiway light
— or worse — with the outrigger ‘pogo’
wheels. Cleared onto the runway to
hold at the intersection gave us 6,000ft
available. I finally found the centerline
after overshooting and coming to a stop.
While I ran the pre-take-off checklist,
the maintenance team scurried under
the wings to remove the safety pins
that would allow the ‘pogos’ to fall
free as soon as the wings produced lift
about five seconds after brake release.
Meanwhile, ‘HoHo’ circled ‘the Goat’ in
the mobile on a last-chance inspection
looking for leaks, loose panels, take-off
trim and any other non-airworthy items
before clearing us to go.
The time had arrived. I was reminded
to pump up the brakes and stand on
them as I brought the throttle forward
to 80 per cent rpm. Any higher and ‘the
Goat’ would simply drag the rubber
off the main gear tires. With one last
glance at the engine instruments, I
released the brakes and firewalled thethrottle, producing 94 per cent rpm (103
was available after forcing the throttle
outboard through a gate and further
forward, but was generally not used on
training flights).
The acceleration was the closest thing
to a catapult shot that the air force could
offer as I was pressed back in my seat
and ‘HoHo’ transmitted, ‘‘Pogos’ clear,
raise your right wing.’ In less than 250ft
of runway ‘the Goat’ leapt into the air as
we rotated skyward, passing 45° of pitch
on the ancient J-8 attitude indicator. On
the intercom ‘MG’ blurted, ‘Keep pitching
up to maintain 180kt!’, well below the
low-altitude structural limit of 240kt and
almost immediately followed by, ‘Power
back and level off!’ We had reached our
10,000ft clearance limit before crossing
the end of the runway as we headed
toward the Sutter Buttes for some stalls
in landing configuration to reacquaint
myself with how ‘the Goat’ felt just 2ft
above the runway, before she stalled. We
then cleaned up to balance the jet by
transferring fuel from the heavy to the
lighter wing, another unique procedureSo graceful,
yet potentially
deadly. Releasing
the ‘inner
Dragon’ during
the most critical
phase of flight is
never far from a
U-2 pilot’s mind.
Ashley Wallacehttp://www.combataircraft.net // September 2018 91
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