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Description
| Manufacturer: | Lockheed | |
| Base model: | U-2 | |
| Designation: | U-2 | |
| Version: | A | |
| Designation System: | U.S. Air Force | |
| Designation Period: | 1952-Present | |
| Basic role: | Utility | |
Specifications
| Length: | 49' 7" | 15.1 m | |
| Height: | 13' | 3.9 m | |
| Wingspan: | 80' | 24.3 m | |
| Empty Weight: | 11,700 lb | 5,306 kg | |
| Gross Weight: | 15,850 lb | 7,188 kg | |
| Max Weight: | 21,000 lb | 9,523 kg | |
Propulsion
| No. of Engines: | 1 | ||
| Powerplant: | Pratt & Whitney J75-P-37A | ||
| Thrust (each): | 11,000 lb | 4,988 kg | |
Performance
| Range: | 2,200 miles | 3,542 km | |
| Cruise Speed: | 460 mph | 740 km/h | 400 kt |
| Max Speed: | 494 mph | 795 km/h | 429 kt |
| Ceiling: | 55,000 ft | 16,763 m | |
Known serial numbers
Examples of this type may be found at
| Museum | City | State |
| United States Air Force Museum | Wright-Patterson | Ohio |
Recent comments by our visitors
| Norm Dubay , CO | Randy Cain if you are out there you submitted a photo of a U-2A cockpit. The color appears to be an interior green, were all of these this color? 10/17/2012 @ 13:18 [ref: 67317] |
| David Sternik Renton, WA | Was with 4080th SRW Laughlin AFB. Used to watch the newbys do go-arounds in the pattern. On hot days, the U-birds simply floated the length of the runway, and saw as many as 3 go-arounds with the U-3A Blue Canoe in parallel off the U-2's wingtips...naturally a good distance between them. Any plane driver knows that thermals rise like mad-mothers off concrete or macadem, so the ground cushion made it a bitch for newby to stall-land through those thermals. I used to lay on the quadrangle grass behind the barracks and look directly up into a blue sky and occasionally saw our Bird at very high altitude turn, thus flashing sunlight off the fuselage or wing. At far end of Laughlin runway, one could see a bird on a short gravel strip and fire dept trucks washing it down...probably one of the HASP birds come back with beta radioactive particulates stuck to the fuselage. Those were the days! 02/08/2012 @ 23:48 [ref: 52468] |
| David Sternik Renton, WA | Was with 4080th SRW Laughlin AFB. Used to watch the newbys do go-arounds in the pattern. On hot days, the U-birds simply floated the length of the runway, and saw as many as 3 go-arounds with the U-3A Blue Canoe in parallel off the U-2's wingtips...naturally a good distance between them. Any plane driver knows that thermals rise like mad-mothers off concrete or macadem, so the ground cushion made it a bitch for newby to stall-land through those thermals. I used to lay on the quadrangle grass behind the barracks and look directly up into a blue sky and occasionally saw our Bird at very high altitude turn, thus flashing sunlight off the fuselage or wing. At far end of Laughlin runway, one could see a bird on a short gravel strip and fire dept trucks washing it down...probably one of the HASP birds come back with beta radioactive particulates stuck to the fuselage. Those were the days! 02/08/2012 @ 23:48 [ref: 52467] |
| David Sternik Renton, WA | Was with 4080th SRW Laughlin AFB. Used to watch the newbys do go-arounds in the pattern. On hot days, the U-birds simply floated the length of the runway, and saw as many as 3 go-arounds with the U-3A Blue Canoe in parallel off the U-2's wingtips...naturally a good distance between them. Any plane driver knows that thermals rise like mad-mothers off concrete or macadem, so the ground cushion made it a bitch for newby to stall-land through those thermals. I used to lay on the quadrangle grass behind the barracks and look directly up into a blue sky and occasionally saw our Bird at very high altitude turn, thus flashing sunlight off the fuselage or wing. At far end of Laughlin runway, one could see a bird on a short gravel strip and fire dept trucks washing it down...probably one of the HASP birds come back with beta radioactive particulates stuck to the fuselage. Those were the days! 02/08/2012 @ 23:47 [ref: 52466] |
| Jim Campbell Mifflinburg, PA | Started as a Crew Chief in 1958 on the U 2 and worked and traveled with it till retirement in 1973, worked my way up to line chief, was with the first group to land at Bien Hoa air base Vietnam, Mar 5th 1964 on my 29th Birthday, The high light of my life was spent with the U 2, a lot of good memories , SOUP Campbell USAF Retired 04/23/2011 @ 18:10 [ref: 37550] |
| Jim Burke Palmdale, CA | In addition to Jim Ellis's comment regarding the photograph identified as a "U-2A." That photograph is definitly not of a "A" model cockpit. There are several components installed in that cockpit that were not around in the "A" model days. 05/04/2010 @ 05:44 [ref: 26125] |
| Glenn Chapman Tucson, AZ | I was with the U-2 from July, 1958 to April, 1966 while in the Air Force. You have done a fair job in your description, but there are some mistakes, especially by a couple of comments. The only refuelable U-2s were the three U-2E models, and the U-2F models.
More if required. 03/02/2008 @ 20:31 [ref: 19842] |
| John\'Niqua Libbett Greenville, MS | yes it was an incident with this aircraft. it included major anderson. i am in afjrotc thats how i know 11/16/2007 @ 08:57 [ref: 18562] |
| Tom Bowen Hampton, VA | Did you know that some early versions of the U-2 were refuel in flight capable? 10/02/2007 @ 18:47 [ref: 18083] |
| Jim Ellis Lincoln, CA | The U-2 cockpit photo is actually a U-2S cockpit, not an "A" because of the red guarded ESS switches on the left console behind the throttle. Those acft were first delivered in the mid 1990's. 06/05/2005 @ 18:24 [ref: 10406] |
Recent photos uploaded by our visitors
