Thought some here would dig this - one of our deployed jets just rolled over 25k hours of flight time, it's the second U-2 to achieve that milestone. Pretty amazing consididering a few of its capes are still superior to any other platform out there, manned or unmanned.
The link is to the AF article about it and the e-mail is from a retired Maj Gen that flew Deuces & SRs way back when. And by the way, the guy flying this particular jet as it crossed the 25k hour threshold - former Marine Hornet bubba...
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123173393
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I just read of the awesome accomplishment of reaching the 25,000 hour marker in U-2 #337. That's hard to believe. I first checked out in the U-2 in 1957 (that's over 52 years ago, folks) and then flew that little A model for 9 years before moving to the Habu. I have always been impressed with the way this bird has been constantly on the front line in locations all over the world. Some are locations that most people have forgotten about. There has never been an airplane in the history of aviation that has an international footprint like the U-2. From it's birthing nest at Area 51 there have been pogos on the tarmac in Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Turkey, Japan, Puerto Rico, Panama, Alaska, Guam, Viet Nam, Formosa, Thailand, Korea, India, Pakistan, Philippines, UK, Germany, Cypress, France, Norway, at least one Navy carrier ops, and others that even I've forgotten about. Being uncleared, I also don't know exactly where you guys operate from these days either so I'll just use the term Sandbox to round out the list. In addition to places, there has also been a wide cross section of folks in the cockpit from the Air Force, the Agency, Navy, Marines, NASA and our civilian company pilots. I guess that doesn't include the hundreds of “wanna be's” out there. Of course there have been lots of pieces and parts deposited in locations around the world, from the top of the Andes to the depths of the South China Sea and from the jungles of SEA to the desert dust of the Middle East. That doesn't count the museum displays in Beijing, Moscow and Cuba where the bird sits in obvious defiance of it's unfortunate circumstance, but that's the price of doing the mission. The real tragedy is that we have all lost lots of good buddies in the process, but that too goes with the package.
What a tremendous design our friend Kelly did for us, and our country. Even though we've been through a couple of versions and many mods, such as inflight refueling and carrier ops, the basic machine concept is pretty much the same. Who could have ever imagined that. I'm sure Kelly didn't when one of his first ideas involved taking off on a cart and landing on a skid. After all, it probably wouldn't be around very long to fly operationally and it will be easy to repair. In fact, some thought was given to forgoing cockpit pressurization.
Of course we original guys think only a candy ass pilot would need to fly with a flameout proof engine, an ejection seat, spoilers, GPS, glass cockpits, a hot snack and a two seat trainer. You have missed all the fun of that first flight being solo, squeezing into that lovely partial pressure suit, trying to find individual targets through the drift sight, an ADF being your only nav aid, and shooting celestial navigation at night over the Arctic. As one of our Alaska commanders said, when asked about the potential for rescue if a bailout was made over the North Pole, “If you are lucky, your chute won't open”.
Having said all that, we all know that the reason the bird is such a sweetheart is our maintenance crews. I congratulate everyone who has ever turned a wrench, plugged in a recon system or just stood on the ramp with a smile on their face as they watched the beautiful Dragon Lady soar into the sky and go do it's duty for God and country. 25,000 hours is one hell of a lot of flying time and I'm sure Kelly is smiling down on all of you for making it happen. My hat is off to the current folks in the trenches. Pass on my appreciation to the stripes on the ramp.
Maj Gen (Ret)
The link is to the AF article about it and the e-mail is from a retired Maj Gen that flew Deuces & SRs way back when. And by the way, the guy flying this particular jet as it crossed the 25k hour threshold - former Marine Hornet bubba...
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123173393
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I just read of the awesome accomplishment of reaching the 25,000 hour marker in U-2 #337. That's hard to believe. I first checked out in the U-2 in 1957 (that's over 52 years ago, folks) and then flew that little A model for 9 years before moving to the Habu. I have always been impressed with the way this bird has been constantly on the front line in locations all over the world. Some are locations that most people have forgotten about. There has never been an airplane in the history of aviation that has an international footprint like the U-2. From it's birthing nest at Area 51 there have been pogos on the tarmac in Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Turkey, Japan, Puerto Rico, Panama, Alaska, Guam, Viet Nam, Formosa, Thailand, Korea, India, Pakistan, Philippines, UK, Germany, Cypress, France, Norway, at least one Navy carrier ops, and others that even I've forgotten about. Being uncleared, I also don't know exactly where you guys operate from these days either so I'll just use the term Sandbox to round out the list. In addition to places, there has also been a wide cross section of folks in the cockpit from the Air Force, the Agency, Navy, Marines, NASA and our civilian company pilots. I guess that doesn't include the hundreds of “wanna be's” out there. Of course there have been lots of pieces and parts deposited in locations around the world, from the top of the Andes to the depths of the South China Sea and from the jungles of SEA to the desert dust of the Middle East. That doesn't count the museum displays in Beijing, Moscow and Cuba where the bird sits in obvious defiance of it's unfortunate circumstance, but that's the price of doing the mission. The real tragedy is that we have all lost lots of good buddies in the process, but that too goes with the package.
What a tremendous design our friend Kelly did for us, and our country. Even though we've been through a couple of versions and many mods, such as inflight refueling and carrier ops, the basic machine concept is pretty much the same. Who could have ever imagined that. I'm sure Kelly didn't when one of his first ideas involved taking off on a cart and landing on a skid. After all, it probably wouldn't be around very long to fly operationally and it will be easy to repair. In fact, some thought was given to forgoing cockpit pressurization.
Of course we original guys think only a candy ass pilot would need to fly with a flameout proof engine, an ejection seat, spoilers, GPS, glass cockpits, a hot snack and a two seat trainer. You have missed all the fun of that first flight being solo, squeezing into that lovely partial pressure suit, trying to find individual targets through the drift sight, an ADF being your only nav aid, and shooting celestial navigation at night over the Arctic. As one of our Alaska commanders said, when asked about the potential for rescue if a bailout was made over the North Pole, “If you are lucky, your chute won't open”.
Having said all that, we all know that the reason the bird is such a sweetheart is our maintenance crews. I congratulate everyone who has ever turned a wrench, plugged in a recon system or just stood on the ramp with a smile on their face as they watched the beautiful Dragon Lady soar into the sky and go do it's duty for God and country. 25,000 hours is one hell of a lot of flying time and I'm sure Kelly is smiling down on all of you for making it happen. My hat is off to the current folks in the trenches. Pass on my appreciation to the stripes on the ramp.
Maj Gen (Ret)
