combat aircraft

spacers under the seat cushion. I thought

how archaic it must have been  ying

early  ghters.

When I was  nally seated in the cockpit

and strapped in by the PSD, I was o ered

some insight of how it must have been.

The instrument panel had a scattering of

instruments that only a design engineer

with no  ying experience could conjure

up. After demonstrating that I could exit

the aircraft in an emergency without

ejecting myself, the next hour was spent

on cockpit familiarization, followed by

a trip to the runway in the chase vehicle

for a close-up view of landings. There I

witnessed a student in his  nal phase of

initial quali cation training, battling 8kt

of crosswind while attempting to remain

wings-level over the centerline at 2ft,

awaiting the stall. With the ailerons and

rudder wagging wildly, the tailwheel

was slightly o center at touchdown

and ‘the Goat’ weathervaned violently

into the wind while the downwind

wingtip dragged on the runway, causing

a swerve across the centerline in the

opposite direction until the instructor

pilot (IP) took control, correcting back

to the middle of the 300ft wide runway.

‘PF’ casually commented that ‘the Goat’

was always looking to graze in the grass

o the side of the runway and that 15kt

was the maximum crosswind dictated by

the manual. Operationally, they landed

in whatever Mother Nature dished out,

intentionally dragging the downwind

wing on its titanium skid plate to remain

love one. I didn’t know it at the time but I

had just passed my  rst acceptance hurdle

— there was no room for teetotalers in the

U-2 business.

He picked up a plastic cup from behind

the bar and, handing it to me, said, ‘that

will be $20’. I pulled out my wallet and

slapped a ‘twenty’ on the bar, thereby

 ying over the next hurdle.

The boys enquired about my

background and were most impressed

to  nd out I  ew army helicopters in

Vietnam. It seemed no-one with a

helicopter background ever attempted

to break into the ‘Dragon Lady’ business.

They were less impressed with my

KC-135 credentials as an Instructor

and standardization/evaluation pilot.

When I felt like another beer, I reached

for another ‘twenty’ and put it on the

bar before pouring it from the ice-cold

keg and, clearing my third hurdle, was

informed that the  rst $20 covered me

for the whole interview. Later, while

being driven back to my quarters, I

silently prayed that I’d be around long

enough to recoup my investment at 25

cents a draft.

The following morning started with

ejection seat training conducted by the

physiological support division (PSD),

where I discovered that the ancient T-33

seat was useless below 120kt and 2,000ft

above ground level (AGL). Of course,

this was the region where 99 per cent

of my acceptance  ights would occur. I

was ejected upward in the trainer and

passed my parachute quali cations on

their simulator before being released to

the squadron.

There I found ‘PF’ waiting for me with

keys to the mobile vehicle, a Chevy El

Camino V8. He drove me to the  ight

line where I was measured for my sitting

height and my seat cushion height,

manually adjusted with 1in plywood

A U-2R over

Lake Tahoe,

photographed

before the engine

upgrade that

took the type to

U-2S standard.

Ted Carlson/

Fotodynamics

Above: The

cockpit of the

U-2, a cramped

environment for

long missions.

Ted Carlson/

Fotodynamics

‘SKUNK WORKS’ AT 75 // U-2 ‘DRAGON LADY’

86 July 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net

84-93 U-2 part 1 C.indd 86 22/05/2018 16:17