Dragon Lady at the Boat

[Notanaviator]

Just came across this, and can't recall it being posted before... based on my limited familiarity with the U-2, would imagine this had a somewhat robust pucker factor for whoever got the tap on the shoulder for this test. Would love to hear the perspective from Huggy or others on how this approach would be flown. Pretty cool footage.

 

[HuggyU2]

Here's a link to a post I made a while back with some additional info. I also posted some pages from the old flight manual showing the U-2 carrier pattern.

The U-2 flaps go to 35 degrees when "full"... however, for the boat, they lowered them to 50 deg to get a ton more drag and higher power settings for better response. I don't think the Navy pilots that trained up the U-2 pilots are still alive, but I'll check. Would be great to get them to Tailhook.

 

[Notanaviator]

Thanks @HuggyU2 , and apologies for not tracking that down! I couldn't get any hits for 'U-2 Carrier,' but figured this would have been brought up before. Would you double check the link? Would love to check it out.

 

[Gatordev]

I think this is what you're looking for here.

 

[HuggyU2]

Thanks, Gatordev, for fixing my buffoonery.

 

[HeartofTexas]

I'll be honest, I first read this title and thought the hairdresser from RTC Great Lakes made her way onto a carrier ?

 

[Hair Warrior]

How America really flew the U-2 spy plane off aircraft carriers - Sandboxx

Landing a U-2 on a conventional airstrip is often considered to be one of the most difficult jobs in aviation, so you'd think that landing a U-2 on the pitching deck of an aircraft carrier would be all but impossible. But you'd be wrong. As any "Dragon Lady" pilot will tell you, nothing about flying

www.sandboxx.us

@HuggyU2

 

[OscarMyers]

How America really flew the U-2 spy plane off aircraft carriers - Sandboxx

Landing a U-2 on a conventional airstrip is often considered to be one of the most difficult jobs in aviation, so you'd think that landing a U-2 on the pitching deck of an aircraft carrier would be all but impossible. But you'd be wrong. As any "Dragon Lady" pilot will tell you, nothing about flying

www.sandboxx.us

@HuggyU2

@HuggyU2, lets talk about what's really important in the U-2 community as relayed by my classmates. "Cut one for show and one for go..."

 

[SlickAg]

@HuggyU2 the dude mentioned on page 83 is pretty involved in Hook and probably still goes each year...

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/unlimited-horizons.pdf