The U-2 Spy Dragonlady Secretive Origins And A Glimpse Of Area 51 | Declassified Upscaled Video

[Music] so where did it come from let's follow this transport plane and find out this is the desert of western nevada already well known for its nuclear tests by the atomic energy commission here at yucca flats adjoining this aec test site is an active aerial gunnery range early in 1955 by presidential order 60 square miles of this prohibited area were set aside for a special purpose there's a narrow air corridor to reach this spot on the map air charts order closed to all personnel and aircraft except on orders from the chief of staff u.s air force the name of this isolated spot in nevada is watertown and its very isolation is of the greatest importance the specialists that come off this transport are hand-picked they are checked every time they arrive at watertown overall security in this area is the highest yet to be maintained in this country even higher than that of the manhattan project selection of watertown was dictated by several unique considerations the area is isolated from prying eyes by the aec range with lethal reminders of past atomic explosions aec guards maintain regular patrols supplies destined for watertown channel into the area through regular aec routes watertown radio and teletype communications the angel is referred to as an article her pilots are called drivers the geographical spot of groom lake is called home plate the angel was designed to do a single job obtain the largest amount of reconnaissance information ever collected on any single flight for the first time in jet history it is possible to inspect 400 square miles with a single cartographic photograph for the first time in jet history sensitive electronic equipment is being carried to heights where it can search for any number of radio tv or radar signals and record this information for detailed analysis there are already 12 alternate equipment loads for the u2 development of the angel and the information gathering equipment that it carries is the result of the most experienced judgment applied at every critical point a select group of capable dedicated men in industry and government working with trust and cooperation completed this specific project at the utmost speed the idea for the angel itself was born when lockheed started a design study on the maximum altitude possible from a jet airframe for reconnaissance purposes the angel then called the cl 282 took sufficient form to be presented as a proposal members of the killian committee a portion of the scientific advisory group defined the technical feasibility and urgency of the program the optical and photographic concepts were envisioned by dr james baker and dr edwin h land the original cl 282 proposal was then modified to produce even more spectacular results on december 9th 1954 the go-ahead was given and lockheed's chief engineer kelly johnson called together his tiny 26-man special projects engineering group here were the problems they faced to design build an airplane and fly it in eight months an airplane that would cruise well above seventy thousand feet one that would travel almost as far as a b-52 and remain in the air for ten hours a plane that would be completely reliable with forced landings out of the question a plane that would be the world's most stable aircraft for high altitude photography a plane that would be flexible in concept to carry at least 12 different equipment loads and have no one penalize the others in weight a plane that would weigh only one and one-half times the weight of the power plant weight was the critical factor in the whole project designers said they would trade their collective grandmothers for 10 pounds of empty weight pounds in fact were called grandmothers but weight could not be saved at the expense of reliability a real engineering challenge met with proven know-how and a basic design so simple that it was almost revolutionary the angel is simplicity itself all controlled surfaces are cable operated the tail section of the fuselage attaches with only three bolts the inside of the 80-foot wing is just four big fuel tanks the interior of the fuselage is plain and uncluttered the cockpit canopy stressed to handle a pressure differential of five pounds per square inch is operated by hand the pant leg engine intake ducts presented a problem at altitude near perfect ram air distribution was needed to keep the engine running the final intake on the angel gives as good pressure distribution as would be found in a power plant wind tunnel a unique gust relieving feature was designed into the wing of the angel to reduce tail loads and wing bending in turbulence the flaps tilt 4 degrees upward and the ailerons tilt 10 degrees to completely change the airfoil characteristics during development of the angel kelly johnson met with each member of the special projects group at seven every morning any problems occurring on the previous day were discussed and corrective decisions were made immediately subcontracting was virtually impossible 87 percent of the prototype angel was fabricated in one building in burbank components were run through the company's big presses at night and on sundays then hidden from day shift workers the cnj manufacturing company for clarence johnson was formed in an unmarked downtown warehouse to handle shipments from vendors in unmarked trucks designers of the angel couldn't even get into a high-speed wind tunnel so calculations were made with computers 50 of production took place in this building at bakersfield at peak production of the 50 u2's only 600 people were involved just one man in every 60 on the lockheed payroll the angels were completely assembled here checked out disassembled and shrouded in canvas for airlift to watertown fuel and hydraulic fluid were added for the first time at watertown and the angels were tested by company pilots because of its long thin wings the angel has been referred to as a jet glider it has the world's most efficient lift drag ratio for powered aircraft 25.6 to 1. that's better than many competition sail planes from 70 000 feet the angel can glide 300 miles without power the engine for this aircraft was originally the pratt and whitney j 57-37 a ten thousand five hundred pound thrust unit built for the b-52 a later eleven thousand five hundred pound version known as the d-31 was developed specifically for the angel pratt whitney president jack horner and chief engineer wright parkins crammed a normal three-year engine development program into 12 months the new engine has a 16-stage compressor with nine stages in the low range and seven in the high pressure chamber the low range compressor is driven by a hollow shaft and turns at a lower speed than the high compressors the pratt whitney engine operates at full power for the duration of the flight at sea level this unit gulps nearly 9 000 pounds of fuel per hour at 70 000 feet this drops to 700 pounds per hour at seventy four thousand six hundred feet the engine will quit from oxygen starvation in early stages of the program as many as six flame outs occurred on a single flight with the new fuel system and turbine design of the dash 31 engine flameouts have ceased to be a critical problem an improved ignition system ensures air restarts at high altitudes in the first 20 months that the angel flew logging over five thousand hours in the air there were just two forced landings away from watertown both planes equipped with the older dash 37 engines landed at kirkland air force base albuquerque new mexico after each development flight a careful accounting is made of fuel consumption a special fuel dubbed lighter fluid was developed by shell oil company specifically for the angel and the finished product was shipped to nevada in tank cars labeled lf-1a this blend will not boil at the low pressures encountered at altitude yet will still give adequate air starts it is so in volatile that fire seldom follows a mishap a simple 100 gallon slipper tank has been developed to fit each wing for extremely long flights these pressurized tanks contain enough fuel to carry the angel to cruising altitude where they have no significant effect on speed or range even after the addition of an external drag chute three times the normal oxygen supply improved braking and an autopilot the final all up weight was within 10 pounds of the original proposal the angel exceeded original performance limits in both ceiling and range when the prototype angel was flown across death valley to watertown lockheed also found itself in the transportation business their own dc-3 made almost daily flights to watertown with a hand-picked crew of flight line mechanics the first unofficial name for watertown was paradise ranch this description was dreamed up tongue-in-cheek to encourage key personnel to accept assignment on this special project before they could be told what it involved anyone for golf many newcomers guessed that the project involved an atomic powered aircraft and were astonished to find that they were to work with two days later in a rainstorm the angel went to eight thousand feet that day it took five attempts to land the plane because it would fly on idle engine thrust the unusual bicycle landing gear designed for the lightest possible structure weighs 257 pounds a conventional gear on a comparable aircraft would weigh 750 pounds and take room out of the wings that is vital for fuel wing mounted pogos drop off during takeoff again in the interest of saving weight weight and space that paid off in an extra fifteen hundred feet of altitude and one hundred miles in cruising radius as the operation at watertown grew in scope more transportation was required a daily military air transport shuttle system was begun with c-54s from burbank in bad weather one of these transports crashed into charleston peak a few miles north of las vegas 14 members of the watertown project were aboard the program has not been without other casualties one angel crashed at watertown another disintegrated over an indian village named wide ruin in arizona a third with lockheed pilot robert seeker aboard disappeared near watertown by the time this plane was found some information about the project at watertown reached the public this nearly three years after its conception that dust cloud is an actual crash rescue crews rushed to the end of the runway where an angel has landed short the pilot here was uninjured but emergency crews take no chances with leaking fuel salvage operations mean that this fallen angel will soon fly again to rejoin its sister ships already in the air this project has had fewer mishaps and is normal with new aircraft yet unique ground handling equipment designed solely for the angel operates as well at this crash scene as it does on the flight line not all the difficulties at watertown have come from the angel herself extremes in weather wind sand and heat snow cloud burst biting cold an ever-present headache but the angels must be ready for tomorrow's flight it's almost all work and no play for the temporary desert dwellers at watertown just 72 airline miles distant is las vegas however none of watertown's workers can visit these bright lights or refreshing scenery security is just that rigid meanwhile back at the ranch volleyball pool a 16 millimeter movie in a tiny converted mess hall are just about the only diversions those who remain over a weekend may explore long deserted gold mines remnants from another era of rugged desert pioneers here as seen by few men is what the world looks like from seventy thousand feet these scenes were photographed over arizona by ray gowdy one of the five lockheed test pilots who have handled all development and production testing of the angel training of new pilots begins with the t-33 for familiarization flights the pilot must be able to hold the t-bird inches in the air for the length of the lake so that he will be able to hold the angel at the same altitude until its broad wings lose all their lift this mastered he graduates to the angel and transition landings on the dry lake a chase car and chase plane both with two-way radio are used during this phase of training seat belts in the chase car are good insurance the new angel pilot makes at least three landings with the pogo's install she's a little easier to handle that way takeoffs are smooth from groom lake a wide circle as the chase plane plays follow the leader now turn in on final approach says the instructor in the chase plane your air speed is 92 knots the chase car pulls into line and picks up speed he's leveling off just a little high and at 72 knots here comes the stall the best way to land the angel is in a full stall just like the old fashioned airplanes with tail wheels the broad dry lake at watertown makes an ideal location for this type of transition training after the landings improve the pogo safety pins are removed and the new pilot is on his own sometimes the drivers taxi right up to the hangar doors not bad at all for an airplane that's supposed to be hard to handle on the ground after a number of day flights the new angel pilots are ready for night transition and long cross-country flight it's no accident that the complete angel and all its intricate cargo can be disassembled and packed quickly ready for airborne transport everything about the angel can go aboard a cargo plane cameras in their doghouses engines lab equipment and supply ground support equipment and of course the angel the result of foresight and planning engineering precise and rapid manufacturing that's it what it is and what it can do a vital chapter in modern american achievement from the desert wastelands of watertown it's but a matter of hours to anywhere in the world where reconnaissance might be desired the most important airplane the most important cargo in the air today is in this single package the inquisitive angel [Music] there was a day in 2011 when i'm told i was the highest person on earth literally [Music] on that day i traveled to the space equivalent altitude of seventy thousand feet thanks so much we'll see you tomorrow it was a voyage to the edge of infinity for a few minutes that i will remember for the rest of my life i stared through the frost formed on the canopy of our aircraft as deeply as i could into forever i'm gary sinise and this was my high flight [Music] thank you so much there will be a time on wednesday when you're the highest person on earth congratulations on this yeah [Music] how are you i'm gary thank you [Music] over the years i've been blessed with many opportunities to visit our servicemen and women in the distant and often dangerous places where they live and work in 2010 through a friend of mine who worked for the uso i was invited to take a flight on the legendary u2 spy plane as enthusiastic as i was i didn't fully realize all that a u2 flight involved by the time i boarded an airliner to return home i would have met a group of people and flown to a place i would carry with me for the rest of my life [Music] beal is an 86 000 acre base that was opened in october of 1942 as an army training site for armored and infantry divisions it also served as a prisoner of war encampment during world war ii it transferred to the air force in 1948 the ninth reconnaissance wing is a highly specialized group of more than three thousand personnel in four groups the ninth mission support group the ninth medical group the ninth maintenance group and the ninth operations group [Music] and beale is headquarters for our youtube program the u2 dragon lady is one of the most amazing defense systems ever developed by the united states she is a baby boomer she was born in the 1950s when we began to realize just how little we knew about the newly emerging superpower the soviet union [Music] once the ussr became a nuclear power it became a matter of national security that we find a way to carry out reconnaissance over her doing that meant flying at an altitude higher than any defensive aircraft or surface-to-air missile could reach that meant flying to a height considered the very definition of space design of such a watershed airplane became a priority of the legendary kelly johnson and lockheed martin's advanced development programs better known as the skunk works johnson was an aeronautical genius who developed over 40 aircraft including the p-38 lightning the p-80 shooting star the f-104 starfighter and the sr-71 blackbird the u2 program like many successful military programs began in the political environment so after world war ii ended obviously political tension developed between the soviet union and the united states there was very little known about the interior of the soviet union so in 1953 to 54 the united states secretly ballots a program to produce an airplane that can fly above the suspected ranges of surface-to-air missiles at that time and clarence kelly johnson and his skunk works come out and he says i can take an f-104 starfighter i can take that fuselage and i can take the wings off and i can marry it to extremely efficient glider wings high aspect ratio wings long thin wings that are extremely efficient up high their target altitude was 66 000 feet so the first youtube flies in 1955 and in 1956 we employed it operationally for the first time for the overflight mission of the interior of the soviet union may 1st 1960 when gary powers was shot downs did two things one it exposed the u2 program crucified made it so the second thing it did uh even in that particular airplane's demise was confirmed forest that the soviets did in fact have missiles that could reach that high and really through the ingenuity of its engineers its pilots we've taken this cold war system and morphed how we employ it so that it becomes relevant and effective at pretty much all levels of war in the over 50 years of the u2 dragon ladies existence barely 1 000 pilots have ever flown her so this wall is all of our solos every pilot that has soloed the jet we've been alone and unafraid in the u2 has his name and his solo number up on a plaque on another wall in beale's officers club are the portraits of those who have lost their lives while serving in the youtube program this is truly sanctified ground i was starting to understand what a rare opportunity i was being given the chance to join the high flyers club to go to the top of the dragon ladies ride 70 000 feet that's twice as high as any commercial airliner flies it's 40 000 feet higher than mount everest the world's tallest mountain if it all goes well for a few incomparable minutes i will be the highest human on the planet there you go bud thank you for serving [Music] after all these years of traveling in support of our troops it is likely that i've been on more military bases than many of those who actually serve in the armed forces i'm impressed with every visit our bases are special places islands of efficiency productivity orderliness and civility they are places that stick with you that inspire you to do a little better and be a little better when you return to your own neighborhood it was a great welcome to beale [Music] [Music] the first steps you take to get to 70 000 feet are toward the flight surgeon's office this whole adventure can end right here so for a high flight or high altitude flight things we look for include one making sure that they'll fit into the ejection seat and can safely eject so it's unique to each airframe has different parameters and so we just got to make sure that they're kind of meeting the standards for that and that's the first thing we look at second one relates a lot to decompression sickness the idea of kind of going from a high pressure situation up to a low pressure area when that happens we have gases in our body that will kind of off gas into our bloodstream much like opening a bottle of a coca-cola or you know product like that where you can then get a bunch of bubbles that pop out and as a result of that it can lead to some problems that we would have to later use a hyperbaric treatment or hyperbaric chamber to treat and things we also want to look at is because gas expands if there's ear sinus issues going on or they can't clear those areas or if they have dental pain dental pressures again that gas in those areas can expand and create a lot of problems so we wouldn't want them to fly if we had those issues in the in the mix to be honest i do have a few problems with my ears and sinus and i've never been to seventy 000 feet before i'm anxious to go but i'm also a little apprehensive mr smith this is your 1042 it's your clearance to fly go up to altitude and get on the plane great i'm good to go you're good to go sir have a nice flight great thank you 70 000 feet is a hostile environment for human beings at that altitude a catastrophic loss of pressure will cause your bodily fluids to begin to boil within seconds so there are some things you have to know and do before the air force takes you to the edge of space j ford will be the pilot for our mission competent measured calm prepared irreverent funny uh injection so our controlled ejection altitude we want to be at least 2000 feet above the ground uh for some reason the airplane goes out of control today uh we want to eject immediately we don't want to wait no but uh i'll be i'll let you know if that happens um please do yes uh physiological incident so if any time during the flight you're feeling bad or funny or you just have any questions about tave wise you know why do i feel this way ask let me know so you know bad news does not get better with age um then especially if it's you know bubbles in your brain and spinal column so uh we can uh we can do a little bit to fix those so uh let me know and if you're having any sort of gi problems you know let that gas out as it's starting to build up don't hold it in and [Music] keep holding it and keep holding it and then things can get messy yeah thank you appreciate it hi guys jump on in you want me in this one all right i mean everybody that comes out here is already i mean they're already a good pilot um so it's just a matter of like being alone i do because you're up there by yourself for how long uh 12 plus hours just flying so you get used to it to a certain extent but yeah it is hard on the body so but the altitude that you're at that that will be inside the in the airplane is about 28 29 000 feet so if you think about it you're sitting on top of mount everest for you know you land and you you feel like you got run over by a truck sometimes yeah and then so i'm gonna yep [Music] how are you i'm gary thank you thank you hi welcome sir my name is heather going to be together got the full pressure suit today fantastic thank you the physiology briefing is an attention getter to say the least i started learning what can happen to the body at altitude and i was introduced to my newest best friend my spacesuit basically open this guy up you should be able to feel that it's open and go ahead and just add a little bit of air volume close off the suit just a little bit you'll feel the suit you don't want to fully inflate it but just add a little bit of extra a loss of pressure in the airplane instantly makes the spacesuit my life support system there are any number of dangers to humans at seventy thousand feet which can result in a very bad day will somebody be asking me how i'm feeling or you know i'm just describing what's going on with me there's hypoxia which is deficiency in the amount of oxygen reaching the tissues at first you feel euphoric just before you become totally incapacitated decompression sickness this is what scuba divers call the bends it too can be fatal altitude sickness illness caused by swift ascent to a high altitude resulting in a shortage of oxygen characterized by hyperventilation nausea and exhaustion heather fox the youtube pilot who led the briefing knows her subject and the symptoms all too well in about february 2009 was flying a sorority over afghanistan and started to feel bad with the decompression sickness basically had started having symptoms of nausea vertigo a little trouble staying conscious felt like i was going to pass out so at that point realized it was decompression sickness and started to turn towards my home base although ejecting at the location i was at probably would not have worked out very well so at that point that the choice was to bring the aircraft back it was about a four-hour flight home which was probably the worst four hours of my life i must say and and just started the flight towards home i will say that we've got folks up here doing this every day and most of the time it goes well so this isn't something that happens to a lot of folks but it happened to me that day but it's something we all know that's that's out there and gladly do it to support the the troops that we're supporting on the ground it's something that we want to do [Music] they call getting fitted for your spacesuit spacesuit integration and it is a process [Music] they had some trouble fitting my face shield and seemed a little concerned about it for a while now so when you put the mask back on just press on because there's aluminum um strip around your face she might want to just press down so they actually conform to her face sorry it should go like this 1.1 800. all right that was successful we're moving on the barca lounges they use are really comfortable but after you lie there for a few minutes you have a little time to reflect i remember one of the crew asking what i was thinking to be honest i was thinking i'm glad my wife doesn't know all that's involved in this you start getting ready to fly by pre-breathing pure oxygen you do 10 or 12 minutes on the elliptical machine to really start sucking it in this pre-breathing of pure oxygen eliminates the nitrogen from the blood and tissues minimizing the risk of the bends i mentioned earlier once this process starts you can't breathe normal air again you have to hold your breath while putting your helmet on then carry the auxiliary unit with you so you continue to breathe only pure oxygen [Music] i was starting to get a bit tired but my day was only beginning to help me recognize the onset of hypoxia or other altitude related illnesses the team placed me in the altitude chamber three two one the first thing that i'm looking for is make sure that he's feeling comfortable in the suit he's comfortable moving around in it while it's fully inflated at altitude that he knows where a lot of the things that heather mentioned earlier today are the vent air the controller how to be able to use that how to be able to urinate to be able to identify his hypoxia symptoms that's very important there's not going to be anybody sitting back there with him so he definitely is gonna need to be able to identify those on his own remember you're talking to an actor remember what i said about ear troubles i really felt them in the chamber watch what happens to the beaker of water when the altitude simulated in the chamber reaches 60 000 feet at that height the air pressure is so low your normal body temperature of 98.6 degrees will boil your own body's fluids things that make you think still not done now i have to learn the art of egress getting out of the u2 if something should go wrong on the ground or in the air of course if you do find yourself hanging from a parachute at 70 000 feet you also need to know how to control it ouch [Music] this night the leadership at beale hosted a dinner for us it is such an honor to be able to talk with these folks they are the best in the world at what they do i hope they understand the degree to which they all inspire and sustain the rest of us all i can say is god bless our troops i retire a tired man i feel like i've been drinking from an informational fire hose all day it all kind of runs together i don't know how much i actually remember if something did happen would i really be able to save myself well there's no turning back tomorrow i will visit a place i have never seen before and will likely never see again it all starts to feel slightly surreal i'm certainly ready to sleep i only hope i can [Music] in many ways it's just another day at the office for my pilot jay ford over a light breakfast we went over the flight plan again essentially we'll just be making a big loop over northern california the apprehension i took to bed last night has left me let's do this jay takes a final look at the anticipated weather great news we're going to encounter severe clear with a little luck i might be able to see forever hey thank you very much thanks for uh serving the usa folks are awesome it's great to be here thank you for your support you bet have a safe lecture thank you bye is it possible to feel like a veteran without actually having flown in the airplane yet folks we got a timetable to meet we got someone to get into a suit two people actually well last night i was able to uh tell mr sinise that our motto that we always cheer in big groups uh is very fitting for him today but for his high point today we want to hook him up yeah here you go have a great play yesterday i had trouble with my gloves my face plate i fumbled the fitting of those personal collection devices everyone always is so curious about when one is wearing a spacesuit i worried about holding my breath long enough to put my helmet on and get the pure oxygen flowing through it but today well i feel like i've been here before [Music] [Music] in fact i'm a little surprised at how much of my training i do recall i'm ready [Music] this is so cool i admit it i've always been a space groupie when i was preparing to play astronaut ken mattingly in ron howard's apollo 13 i got to meet jim lovell and a number of the astronauts i met gene kranz the flight director who did so much to get that badly damaged craft and her crew home i sat in the nasa mission control room where it all took place and let my imagination have its way [Music] there was a space shuttle launch about the time we were starting to film i just had to see it i flew down to the cape and just went out by myself to stand with the others who had gathered to watch i was mesmerized [Music] i watched the ignition this great and terrible belch of smoke and fire coming from the huge nozzles at the bottom of the shuttle and its tanks there was a slight delay while the sound and shock waves rolled across the water to the observation area when they hit i could literally feel them in my chest clear to my heart what an emotional experience i'm truly sorry for anyone who did not have the opportunity to see a shuttle launch in person as an actor i'm used to playing parts the spacesuit certainly brings back memories of roles i've played but this is no role it is about to get very real first they integrate you into your space suit [Music] then you and your spacesuit have to be integrated into the airplane i had to test my ability to reach those levers and handles i would have to pull if it became necessary to get out of the u2 for any reason there comes a moment when you have to arm your ejection seat if you have to make an emergency exit there is an explosive charge that literally blows your entire seat out of the plane with you in it i was keenly aware that i was sitting on a bomb [Music] and you started approved cleared to wheel airport as filed on departure flight runway heading maintained by level two three zero expect flight level six zero zero five minutes after departure nor got a punch frequency 353.7 squawk four four five four actual departure is on request and four four five four on the squad for opinion yeah we'll be making the uh right turn out of parking uh proceed down to bravo city nine two make right turn out of parking runway one five taxi via golf bravo one five golf bravo for opinion [Music] so begins a journey like none other i have ever taken [Music] the traditional salute to the dedicated ground crew that keeps this extraordinary bird flying i know the camera crews are out there somewhere whatever happens there'll be pictures and there are the chase cars [Music] funny thing about the u2 it is flown by one pilot but it can't actually be flown by one pilot that's because when the u2 tries to land its high aspect ratio wings do not want to stop flying the only way to get it back to the ground is by affecting a complete stall at just the right height over the runway so other youtube pilots and chase cars called mobiles must race along and tell the pilot in the plane exactly where he or she is in relation to the ground at every moment look at those incredible wings they are so long they have to be supported by little wheels on the ends called pogo wheels the pogos have to cleanly drop off as soon as the plane is airborne and then be removed from the runway that is why the chase car mobiles are needed on takeoff as well [Music] sure [Music] extinct [Music] all right [Music] we are cleared to go [Music] [Music] i can't believe how the u2 just pops into the air an airliner needs 5000 feet a mile or so to gain enough air speed to take off we're off in less than a tenth of that only four or 500 feet [Music] [Music] [Music] this u2 is so smooth i almost feel serene inside it yet the altimeter clearly shows it is climbing like a homesick angel okay good morning with you three thousand climbing uh [Music] oh yeah all right if you want to you can open your t-block and do as you please at this point you probably need to get open a little bit you get a pretty good amount it sounds strange to say it but so far the flight feels like a relaxing breather from all the intense training i've been doing for it well considering morning opinion 92 with your 19.8 climbing 230 direct opinion speaking 902 also center climate above flight level 600. jay has a mirror so he can see me i didn't know until we got up there that that was the only way jay and i could make eye contact the altimeter continues to spin higher higher so we're at uh almost 29 000. yep just passing through 29 approaching 30. and we've been airborne for about five minutes that's fast yeah he went from the bottom of the mount everest all the way to the top in five minutes and i don't know i think most people train for like four months to try and do that [Music] your perspective really changes quickly man-made objects look like toys if you can see them at all mountains start to look like sand dunes or snow mounds like jay said we are higher than everest's 29 000 feet in no time [Music] my cockpit sits about a foot higher than jay's that's why in level flight i will be the highest person on earth when we top out [Music] it's a pretty view up here yes it is it gets better too [Music] very special so i can see how you get uh get a little hooked on this yeah it's uh it's pretty darn special all right so here's 45 000 feet so uh we'll just continue to set the new personnel altitude records for you for the rest of the day that did not take long [Music] all right so there's 50 000 feet our cabin altitude so your body is at uh 24 000 feet almost 25. so we'll gain over another 20 000 feet but we have an altitude can only go up without another i'm from georgia originally i grew up there born in albany down to the south and when i moved north of atlanta when i was two i could join the air force win uh 1998 so i went to the air force academy out in colorado springs and got my degree in computer science i went to mississippi for a year for pilot training at columbus air force base then uh moved back to georgia to robins air force base down by macon and i was there for four and a half years before i came here okay well fairly yep there's 60. so we are now well above the space equivalent zone for uh if we didn't have the suit and we stepped outside you'd boil to death followed shortly thereafter by freezing to death since it's uh almost minus 60 degrees centigrade outside [Music] the u2 is not an easy airplane to fly the thinner the atmosphere the faster the plane has to go in order for the wings to provide adequate lift to maintain the required air speed at seventy thousand feet the u2 has to fly at the top edge of its speed envelope if it drops by even five or ten knots the wing can stall if that happens the plane can become uncontrollable u2 pilots call this narrow operating window the coffin corner [Music] this is incredible wow yeah it really is it never gets old best view in the world getting a little darker up here yes it is yeah if you look up towards the sun the sky is pretty much totally black up there and then as you look closer to the earth where most of the atmosphere is since we're above most of it now you get that nice uh thin blue line of all the stuff that keeps us alive [Music] but do stay hydrated okay i'll keep drinking i'm making movies back here awesome we are really up here [Music] six thousand [Music] [Applause] [Music] it's amazing it's just uh you you get almost speechless yeah using words to describe what it feels like it looks like to be up here it's uh just not adequate it's just so smooth it feels like a glider [Music] i have to remember to stay hydrated while i'm up here [Music] at seventy thousand feet we are twice as high as any airliner i have ever flown in there is a vastness out there that i can feel to the depths of my being but that i cannot describe in words i fully understand why some astronauts have felt compelled to become writers and painters at some point even the prominent geographic features on earth like mountains and large lakes become so small you almost feel like you are leaving them behind when you travel to the outer edge of everything you have ever known a sense of isolation starts to set in i thought of the expression mother earth we used so glibly and it suddenly seemed deeply profound [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] one three mom i'm home [Music] awesome that's fantastic all right [Music] incredible wow look at that reception party [Music] [Music] come hmm [Applause] my people are here i return to god's good earth a different person i leave beale air force base a far richer man emerson wrote that there is no history only biography there are hundreds if not thousands of biographies attached to the u2 dragon lady from kelly johnson to francis gary powers to jay ford there have been thousands of dedicated airmen on the ground that have kept her flying there are countless gallant soldiers who are alive today because a u2 was there to tell them what awaited them over the next sand dune leave beale as i leave so many military bases with a deep and profound appreciation for those who serve our country in harm's way remember this is an all-volunteer force these are men and women who believe so deeply in the core principles of america they willingly offer their lives to defend them no greater love has any man or woman than to lay down his or her life for another i thought about that up there on the purple edge of space with my life in j ford's hands and i thought about it when i touch back down on the ground after seeing the earth in a way i had never seen before and will likely never see her again i'm gary sinise and that was my high flight i wish you could have been there [Music] [Music] [Music] hi i'm gary sinise i hope you enjoyed high flight and for information about the gary sinise foundation's mission to serve and honor the needs of our defenders veterans first responders their families and those in need please visit our website at www.garysinisefoundation.org thank you

Channel: DroneScapes

Views: 56,281

Keywords: U-2, CIA, declassified CIA, declassified video, u-2 spy plane, u-2 dragon lady, u-2 plane, skunk works, area 51, declassified cia operations, cia spy, the inquisitive angel, Watertown, AdKey:3-Xg6wP8wBnrop, Watertown facility, Kelly johnson lockheed, u-2 accident, U-2 story, spy plane story, u-2 prototype, u-2 landing, u-2 takeoff, declassified cia missions, spy plane scene, spy plane crash, u-2 crash, spy plane, kelly johnson lockheed skunk works, skunk works projects

Id: A2daO5MCGTU

Length: 65min 41sec (3941 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 02 2022