U2 aircraft10/30/2022 Photos taken by U-2 spy planes in the 1950s revealed archaeological sites that were discovered whem the film was declassified and made available to researchers. Animals would instinctively follow those lines leading into pens acres wide, becoming trapped and killed for food. People in what is now southern Jordan would draw lines in the earth traveling thousands of feet, sometimes with low walls or even just flat stones embedded in the ground. The large-scale prints of the U-2 images at the Penn Museum show enormous hunting traps dating back about 9,000 years. If you could stand back 70,000 feet, or roughly 13 miles away, the ancient world comes into view. “But when you pull back, you can see, ‘Oh, there’s a riverbank and a woman with a parasol, or a church,’ or whatever is in that impressionistic painting.” They don’t necessarily make sense,” she said. You don’t understand their relationship to a broader pattern. “If you stand very close, you only see the little dots of paint that are different colors. Hammer likens archeological landscapes to staring at the brushwork of an impressionist painting. Soil discoloration visible in U2 images suggest the city was originally much larger. The main settlement mounds were once surrounded by a city wall. U-2 spy plane film shows Ur, Iraq, one of the earliest cities in southern Iraq. Subtle gradient differences in the earth can suggest the shapes of ancient cities that have long since disappeared. Patterns come into view showing leftovers from built environments. These images do not offer a bird’s-eye-view, rather at 70,000 feet high they are akin to a god’s-eye-view. You can read about that accident by paging down this Forum section until you reach the post: “U-2 Trainer Crash Report”.WHYY thanks our sponsors - become a WHYY sponsor The only other U-2 to have crashed since then was two-seat trainer 80-1068 on 20 September 2016. Duane Dively, a very experienced pilot, was tragically killed when he flew into the ground while trying to troubleshoot the problem in a dark cockpit on a dark night. The power takeoff shaft from the engine failed, disabling the hydraulics and the electrics. In fact, this was the aircraft that crashed on 22 June 2005 when returning to Al Dhafra after an operational mission. Incidentally, on page 97 of DRAGON LADY TODAY, I mistakenly listed U-2S 80-1082 as still operational. Some parts from 1089 will be used to restore 1099. He evidently did not see the U-2, and impacted the trailing edge of the right wing with such force that he was killed, and the wing was pushed forward into the fuselage. This is 80-1089, which was being towed at night in late 2016 when it was hit by a speeding ground vehicle driven by a local worker. Unfortunately, I hear that another U-2S that was also damaged in a ground accident at Al Dhafra, is a write-off. Earlier attempts by the Air Force to repair it were unsuccessful, but now Lockheed Martin will do the work at the Palmdale depot. But the jet had to be airlifted back to the US. Fortunately, flames did not spread to the fuel lines or sump tank. When the unstable liquid fired, some of 1099’s mainframes were burnt. The tank is situated in the right fuselage. The ESS is essentially a tank of hydrazine that can spool up the U-2’s F118 powerplant inflight, sufficiently to relight it at high altitude. While the jet was undergoing phase maintenance, with the engine removed, the Emergency Start System (ESS) was mistakenly activated. The total will change to 32 because the Air Force has decided to rebuild 80-1099, the single-seat model that was damaged in a ground accident at Al Dhafra airbase, UAE, in August 2008. The answer is currently 31, comprising 25 single-seat U-2S models that can fly operational missions four dual-cockpit TU-2S trainers and two ER-2 versions that fly science missions for NASA. I am often asked that question, usually by someone to whom I have just explained that the Dragon Lady remains the world’s premier reconnaissance aircraft, and was not retired years ago!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |