Cougerdriver...if you were offered an interview, I'm sure Huggy would be more than happy to watch the Dragon Lady serve you some humble pie as your interview pilot. Huggy would be the last person in the U-2 community you might want to insult.

Exactly. But not to worry....that's why the interview exists. We see if you can handle the jet, but only if you aren't first sent home for douchebaggery. And yes, Huggy is the man.

Wheelz

Edited September 14, 201213 yr by WheelzUp

Huggy is the man.

QFT.

Thanks again for the ride on Tuesday, Huggy. I dropped off the video in the office next to your ops desk.

sts

My God. Don't worry, that sunshine is firmly implanted in Huggy's ass.

Buy some damn knee pads for shit's sake.

No worries, we were having fun regardless of your involvement.

A great photo posted by Beale AFB's Facebook...

Beale AFB Facebook

Further to this, a little article and great video to go with it... https://airman.dodlive.mil/2012/09/u-2-above-all/

Further to this, a little article and great video to go with it... https://airman.dodliv.../u-2-above-all/

Cool video!

Take my word for it, Huggy's a totally adequate pilot.

You should have seen him in the mighty MC-12. Monitoring the Copilot Monitoring the Autopilot never looked so intense.

My friend Keith nailed a pretty good shot of the U-2 at the Sacramento airshow. Though some might appreciate...

He's at www.kbvp.com

THAT's a keeper!

I had no idea you could fly to the moon in one of those things. Is this picture a classification breach?

I had no idea you could fly to the moon in one of those things. Is this picture a classification breach?

Might be able to get that far out with the wing pods removed. (I didn't even realize that they were removable...)

I'd like to get out to Beale and just watch one day...

Further to this, a little article and great video to go with it... https://airman.dodliv.../u-2-above-all/

At 6:05 is that thing landing on a carrier???

At 6:05 is that thing landing on a carrier???

Yup! The U-2G. As far as I know it was only used operationally a few of times

Edited October 21, 201213 yr by MichaelBuckle

Yup! The U-2G. As far as I know it was only used operationally a few of times

That is not a U-2G. That is a U-2R, which is much larger... the same airframe being flown today.

The U-2G was a modified U-2C model. You are correct that the U-2G flew a couple of operational sorties, watching the French set of nukes in the Pacific.

The U-2R never flew operationally off of the carrier.

That is not a U-2G. That is a U-2R, which is much larger... the same airframe being flown today.

The U-2G was a modified U-2C model. You are correct that the U-2G flew a couple of operational sorties, watching the French set of nukes in the Pacific.

The U-2R never flew operationally off of the carrier.

Oh yes, didn't even realise the U-2R was carrier capable!

But now I look at the image I can see it's a U-2R. What was entailed in making the aircraft capable of landing on a carrier, just the addition of a hook or more?

They also put a deflector-cage in front of the tail wheel and on the wingtips to keep them from snagging the the cable.

Additionally, the flaps could be lowered to 50 degrees, vice the normal 35 degree max setting. That added a lot of extra drag, and gave the power response they needed.

I just learned something on this forum...

a couple from Beale

a couple from Beale

as the aircraft is flown today, are the control surfaces still so heavy as to require a yoke? or if it was redesigned today would they give it a stick?

as the aircraft is flown today, are the control surfaces still so heavy as to require a yoke?

Not so much a function of the "heaviness", but more along the lines of needing a large throw. The yoke rotates 120 degrees.

or if it was redesigned today would they give it a stick?

If the aircraft were designed today, it wouldn't look anything like a U-2 , since the current U-2 fails all the test pilot evaluations on the Cooper-Harper scale. But if everything remained the same, a standard stick would not work. That's why we have the yoke.

Edited October 23, 201213 yr by Huggyu2

Ah, the ol' Cooper-Harper scale...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper%E2%80%93Harper_rating_scale

That is not a U-2G. That is a U-2R, which is much larger... the same airframe being flown today. The U-2G was a modified U-2C model. You are correct that the U-2G flew a couple of operational sorties, watching the French set of nukes in the Pacific. The U-2R never flew operationally off of the carrier.

I think we should bring this program back!