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The U 2 plane by Lockheed has been popularly nicknamed the "Dragon Lady", is an American built single-jet engine, high altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) and previously was also flown by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It gives day and night, high-altitude of approximately 70,000 feet or 21,300 meters, all-weather intelligence gathering.
Some of features of U 2 plane are as follows:
Crew: 1
Capacity: 2,300 kg payload
Length: 63 feet
Wingspan: 103 feet
Height: 16 feet
Wing area: 1,000 sq ft
Empty weight: 7,257 kg
Max takeoff weight: 18,144 kg
Fuel capacity: 11,200 litres
Powerplant: 1 × General Electric F118-101 turbofan engine with 17,000 lbf thrust
Cruise mach number: Mach 0.715 at 72,000 ft or 22,000 m
Cruise speed: 413 kn (765 km/h) at 65,000 ft or 20,000 m
Stall speed: 65 kn (120 km/h)
Range: 6,090 nmi (7,010 mi or 11,280 km) plus
Endurance: 12 hours
Service ceiling: 80,000 ft (24,000 m) plus
Rate of climb: 9,000 ft/min (46 m/s)
Time to altitude: 60,000 ft (18,000 m) in 12 minutes 30 seconds
Lift-to-drag: 25.6
Wing loading: 40 lb/sq ft (200 kg/m2)
Thrust/weight: 0.425
Fuel consumption: 910 lb/h (410 kg/h) in cruise
What makes U 2 spy plane:
Firstly, U 2 plane was designed keeping in mind that the airframe weight should be minimum. But this also give the aircraft very less margin for error.
Secondly, its high aspect ratio give the U 2 plane almost glider-like characteristics, with an unbelievable engine out glide ratio of about 23:1.
Thirdly, the U 2 plane's flight controls are specially designed for high-altitude flight with the controls requiring light control inputs at operational altitude. However, this very characteristic make lower altitude flight at higher air density and with lack of a power-assisted control system, very difficult.
Fourthly, U 2 plane doesn't have a typical tricycle landing gear, instead it uses a bicycle configuration with a forward set of main wheels located just behind the cockpit and a rear set of main wheels located behind the engine and rear wheels are coupled to the rudder to provide steering during taxiing. In order to maintain balance while taxiing and take-off, two auxiliary wheels called "pogos" are attached under each wing.
Fifthly, because of the very high operating altitude and the cockpit's partial pressurization which is roughly equivalent to 28,000 feet (8,500 m) pressure altitude, the pilot has to wear a partially pressurized space suit, which give the pilot's oxygen supply and also provides emergency protection in case cabin pressure is lost. Also to decrease the risk of developing decompression sickness, pilots are also made to breathe 100 percent oxygen for an hour before taking off in order to remove nitrogen from the blood.
Sixthly, the U 2 plane is capable of simultaneously collecting signals, imagery intelligence and air samples. Imagery intelligence sensors include likes of wet film photography, electro-optic, or radar imagery with the latter from the Raytheon ASARS-2 system. It can also use both line-of-sight and over-horizon data links.
So now you decide does the features above make U 2 plane rightly a worthy spy plane.
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