#u-2 spy plane

[usafphantom2]

#OTD in 1962, a U-2 confirmed the presence of Soviet intermediate-range ballistic missiles in Cuba, which led to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Pictured here is the SA-2 surface-to-air missile (SAM) site under construction at La Coloma.

@airandspace via X

[headlinehorizon]

The Future of the U-2 Spy Plane: A Critical Analysis of the Biden Administration's Decision

A look into the Biden administration's plan to abandon the use of the Lockheed U-2 spy plane and its potential consequences for national security.

[xtruss]

NASA Flew a Modified U-2 Spy Plane Into Thunderstorms to Study Super-Energetic Gamma-Rays

An international group of researchers captured 'the most detailed' data on gamma-rays and thunderclouds ever.

— By Brett Tingley | Space.Com

NASA Pilots flew a high-altitude science aircraft directly into thunderstorms and recorded incredible data on gamma-ray flashes.

Thunderstorms can create powerful updrafts and downdrafts of wind that accelerate air and water to high speeds. As ice crystals collide in these swirling air currents, electrons are stripped away from them, generating the electric fields that produce lightning. Under certain conditions, these free electrons can also create flashes of gamma rays, the shortest and most energetic waves in the electromagnetic spectrum. Thunderstorms can emit two different types of gamma-ray radiation: Short gamma-ray flashes and longer gamma-ray glows that can last from minutes to hours.

To better understand these phenomena, an international group of scientists flew NASA's high-altitude ER-2 (Earth Resources 2) aircraft as close as safely possible to thunderclouds that stretched as high as 10 miles (18 kilometers), according to a statement from NASA's Marshall Flight Center in Alabama. Doing so allowed the team to gather "the most detailed airborne analysis of gamma rays and thunderclouds ever recorded," according to the statement.

A NASA ER-2 aircraft flies a mission for ALOFT mission to study gamma-rays in thunderclouds. (Image credit: NASA/Carla Thomas)

Researchers from the University of Bergen in Norway, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and three different NASA centers participated in the study, known as Airborne Lightning Observatory for Fly's Eye GLM Simulator and Terrestrial gamma-ray flashes, or ALOFT. The data the program has gathered could "help scientists see when storms are strengthening and provide extra lead time of information to keep the public safe from the threat of lightning," NASA's Timothy Lang said in the statement.

The joint team that worked on the Airborne Lightning Observatory for Fly's Eye GLM Simulator (FEGS) and Terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (ALOFT) field campaign takes a break in front of NASA Armstrong's ER-2 aircraft following its safe return from a mission on July 24, 2023. (Image credit: NASA)

The aircraft flew out of Tampa, Florida and conducted over 60 hours of observations. A unique gamma-ray detector developed at the University of Bergen enabled researchers to collect data in real-time, enabling them to direct pilots towards thunderclouds that actively glowed with gamma-ray radiation.

Another instrument aboard the aircraft, the Fly's Eye GLM Simulator (FEGS), captured data in the near-infrared and ultraviolet wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum that are emitted by lightning yet are invisible to current satellites. "These smaller, less dense flashes are known as precursors of when storms are turning severe," Lang said.

NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center's ER-2 aircraft flies just above the height of thunderclouds over the Floridian and Caribbean coastlines to collect data about lightning glows and terrestrial gamma ray flashes. (Image credit: NASA/Carla Thomas)

The high-altitude NASA ER-2 aircraft used in the study is one of only two in the agency's possession. The aircraft can fly extremely high in the sky, above 99% of Earth's atmosphere. They were based on the Lockheed U-2 spy plane and were acquired by NASA in 1981 and 1989, respectively.

NASA's two ER-2 aircraft have flown more than 4,500 missions to date, and one of them set an extreme altitude record for its weight class in 1998 when it got 68,700 feet (21 kilometers) above Earth, according to a NASA fact sheet. (For perspective: Commercial airliners generally cruise at altitudes around 35,000 feet, or 11,000 m.)

NASA's ER-2 aircraft have been used to conduct studies on new satellite sensors, global warming and ozone levels, atmospheric phenomena and even snowfall.

[nocternalrandomness]

U-2 coming into RAF Fairford for RIAT 2024

[wheelsgoroundincircles]

Lockheed U-2 Reconnaissance aircraft

On September 13, 1985, Major Doug Pearson made history when he destroyed a satellite with a missile launched from his F-15.

Declassfied Footage From U2 Spy Plane

North American X-15 Rocket-powered aircraft

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Strategic reconnaissance aircraft

Lockheed NF-104A Aerospace Trainer

[todaysdocument]

Memorandum for the Record Authored by Andrew J. Goodpaster

Collection DDE-WHOSS: White House Office, Office of the Staff Secretary: Records of Paul T. Carroll, Andrew J. Goodpaster, L. Arthur Minnich, and Christopher H. RussellSeries: Alphabetical Subject FilesFile Unit: Intelligence Matters (9)

[stamped and struck through at top and bottom of page] TOP SECRET [/stamped and struck through at top and bottom of page] March 4, 1959 MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD: The the President's request, I advised General Twining that the President has decided to disapprove any additional special flights by the U-2 unit in the present abnormally tense circumstances. A. J. Goodpaster Brigadier General, USA [stamped on right margin] The Dwight D. Eisenhower Library [/stamped on right margin] [stamped on lower right margin] DECLASSIFIED E.O. 12065, Sec. 3-204 MR 78-44 #18 By DJH Date 12/12/80 [stamped on lower right margin

[dronescapesvideos]

Lockheed/Skunk Works U-2 Dragonlady Spy Plane

SPY PLANES (VIDEO) https://youtu.be/D6qlSFMtXwQ

[boeingboingboing]

I did this sketch somewhere in late months of 2023 i think. But anyway yeah I drew this Siddeley like a year later to see how much I've changed. I'll do a full body drawing soon..

[maknine-one]

Dragon Lady

[thebreakfastgenie]

Also if you're gonna mention youtube in a We Didn't Start the Fire update why would you not sing the it way Billy Joel sings U-2. Come on now.

[usafphantom2]

The old test bird 80-1067 went through PDM and took off from Beale yesterday, marking the last U-2 delivery

Not a very interesting shot, but glad I was able to witness it circling Palmdale before heading north

@TaskForce23 via X

[histrorybygosh]

U-2 Dragon Lady

The plane has been in service since 1956 and 33 are still in use.

Primary function: high-altitude reconnaissance Contractor: Lockheed Martin Aeronautics   Power plant: one General Electric F118-101 engine Thrust: 17,000 pounds

Speed: 410 mph Range: more than 7,000 miles (6,090 nautical miles) Ceiling: above 70,000 feet (21,212+ meters)

[smbhax]

“In this image released by the Department of Defense on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023, a U.S. Air Force U-2 pilot looks down at a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon as it hovers over the United States on Feb. 3, 2023. (Department of Defense via AP)”

[postpunkindustrial]

Negativland – Fair Use: The Story Of The Letter U And The Numeral 2 Book and CD

From a description from the Bleak Bliss blog

“In 1991, Negativland’s infamous U2 single was sued out of existence for trademark infringement, fraud, and copyright infringement for poking fun at the Irish mega-group’s anthem “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” In 1992, Negativland’s magazine-plus-CD "The Letter U and the Numeral 2" was sued out of existence for trying to tell the story of the first lawsuit. In 1995 Negativland released "Fair Use: The Story of the Letter U and the Numeral 2," a  270-page book-with-CD to tell the story of both lawsuits and the fight for the right to make new art out of corporately owned culture.

The overwhelming (and very funny) "Fair Use" takes you deep inside Negativland’s legal, ethical, and artistic odyssey in an unusual examination of the ironic absurdities that ensue when corporate commerce, contemporary art and pre-electronic law collide over one 13-minute recording (and to hear the actual single itself, go here: I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For - 1991 A Capella Mix (7:15) I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For - Special Edit Radio Mix (5:46) (Links inactive see below)

The book presents the progression of documents, events and results chronologically, contains the suppressed magazine in its entirety, and goes on to add much more that has happened since, to illuminate this modern saga of criminal music. Also included is a (at the time) definitive appendix of legal and artistic references on the fair use issue, including important court decisions, and a foreword written by the son of the American U-2 spy plane pilot shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960.

Packaged inside the book is a full-length CD containing a new 45-minute collage piece by Negativland, “Dead Dog Records”- which is both about artistic appropriation and an extensive example of it- plus a 26-minute “review” of the U.S. Copyright Act by Crosley Bendix, Director of Stylistic Premonitions for the Universal Media Netweb.”

For the book Fair Use doscumenting the legal battle between SST and Negativland you can get it from my Google Drive HERE

For rhe accompanying CD you can get that from my Google Drive HERE

And here is the thing that started it all you can get it Here

[nocternalrandomness]

Headed home after the Airshow