combat aircraft

back seat: ‘T+10 on speed will set you free’.

I thrashed on the controls, attempting

to maintain the centerline and applying

excessive cross-controls, allowing a skip to

3ft as the main gear contacted the runway

before the stall. I didn’t know it then, but

that would ironically be the last skip I

caused in 1,500 hours in the ‘Dragon Lady’.

Unfortunately, a gust of crosswind

resulted in a left crab on touchdown,

slamming the right wing onto the

tarmac. Immediately I felt and heard ‘MG’

on the controls applying full left aileron

and right rudder while  rewalling the

throttle. The heavy wing stayed down

for what seemed an eternity but was

probably just  ve seconds until the

engine rpm accelerated enough for

aileron e ectiveness, lifting the wing and

catapulting us o the runway, 20° o

heading, passing over the in eld grass

so desired by ‘the Goat’. ‘MG’ came over

the intercom with a cool voice: ‘I think

you might agree that you need to try that

again, hopefully with better results.’

I did try again and again with slightly

better results each time,  nally getting

the hang of the crosswinds and thermals

to the point that ‘MG’ was riding silently

in the back seat. The landing calls from

‘HoHo’ became routine as I acquired the

stall picture at 2ft, except for a continual

‘raise your right wing’ as the rpm

accelerated during take-o until I realized

that engine torque was the culprit and

started applying slight left aileron as the

engine accelerated. ‘MG’ quipped, ‘We

were taking bets on how long it would

take you to discover that.’ At just over two

hours, ‘HoHo’ commented that he’d seen

enough. Besides, it was ‘Miller time’ and

we called it a day.

Both IPs had warned

me that there were

two distinctly different U-2CTs

always looking to graze off the

side of the runway at Beale

Above: The U-2R

and subsequent

TR-1 cockpits

both featured a

centrally mounted

viewsight and

sparse digital

instruments.

Lockheed Martin

via author

Below:

A modern-day

U-2S — powered

by a GE F118-

GE-101 turbofan —

soars into the sky.

Gert Kromhout

to me, whereby I immediately started an

over-controlled snake dance down the

runway. ‘HoHo’ was casually transmitting

constant corrections. ‘Raise your right

wing, correct back to centerline, raise your

left wing, correct back to centerline, aft

on the yoke...’ This went on for 6,000ft of

runway before ‘MG’ mentioned that I was

over-controlling as there was only 3kt of

crosswind, before telling me to reposition

the yoke, which had been pulled back

against my chest, for take-o. As with my

 rst interview landings, I was once again

very grateful to be airborne, ‘MG’ quipping

that I might want to reduce power as we

passed through 500ft on our way to the

1,000ft closed pattern altitude.

My  rst landing was 3kt hot (fast) and

15ft at the ‘T’, causing me to work for a

longer interval while awaiting the stall

and generating another remark from the

http://www.combataircraft.net // September 2018 93

90-97 U2 part2 C.indd 93 20/07/2018 11:39