Dark Eagles: A History of the Top Secret U.S. Aircraft

51

Pocock, Dragon Lady, 22. Comparing the X-16 and the U-2 indicates just how farsighted Johnson was. The X-16 represented aeronautical conventional thinking, a conventional aircraft that attempted to perform an extraordinary mission. Johnson realized it would take an extraordinary aircraft. In contrast to the large X-16, Johnson used as his model the aerodynamic efficiency of a glider. One example of this was the two engines of the X-16.

Conventional wisdom held this made the aircraft more reliable. However, if an engine was lost, altitude could not be maintained. In reality, two engines meant more weight and complexity. None of the U-2s lost over 'denied areas' — the USSR, China, or Cuba — was due to flameouts.

52

Pocock, Dragon Lady, 18.

53

Francis Gary Powers and Curt Gentry, Operation Overflight (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970), 3–5.

54

Pocock, Dragon Lady, 18. These requirements were a mixture of security and the demands of flying the U-2. The need for a Top Secret clearance is obvious. As reserve officers, their resignations would not attract notice. (Many pilots left for airline jobs.) Because of the U-2's demanding nature, good 'stick and rudder' men were needed. The F-84 had poor handling and an unreliable engine. (Thirteen pilots had been killed in crashes at Turner AFB in the previous year.) This was good preparation for the U-2.

55

Pocock, Dragon Lady, 23.

56

Powers and Gentry, Operation Overflight, 21, 33.

57

Ronald Rubin, 'A Day at the Ranch,' Gung-Ho (July 1983): 57.

58

Francis Gary Powers, Flight Log (Central Intelligence Agency, Washington, D.C.: May 1956-April 1960).

59

Shaw, 'Interview with Bissell,' 20.

60

Evaluation, July 6, 1956 (Francis Gary Powers File, Central Intelligence Agency: Washington, D.C.).

61

Miller, Lockheed U-2, 90, 91.

62

Pocock, Dragon Lady, 20–22.

63

Powers and Gentry, Operation Overflight, 30–33.

64

Shaw, 'Interview with Bissell,' 21. The U-2 could glide 250 nautical miles from 70,000 feet. The descent took 73 minutes. This was for 'still air' conditions only, as one member of the first group learned in early 1956. He suffered a flameout over the Grand Canyon. As the plane descended, he pointed it toward the Ranch, less than 100 miles away. The U-2 entered a strong jet stream, which nearly pushed it backward. After several relight attempts, it looked as if he would have to land on a dirt strip in the canyon.