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U-2
DragonLady
The U-2, whose development
name at Lockheed was the CL-282 Aquatone,
needed an official name. It could not be named
with letters such as B for bomber and F for
fighter because its purpose was not for any
of those specific designations. Also, since
the project was under high secrecy, it could
not be called a reconnaissance plane. Finally,
the Air Force decided to call it a utility
plane. Since the designations U-1 (de Havilland
Canada "Otter") and U-3 (Cessna
310) had already been chosen, the designation
given to the plane was U-2. Initially, Clarence
"Kelly" Johnson adapted the F-104
Starfighter, replacing the low aspect ratio
blade wings with extremely large glider type
wings as a starting point.
High aspect ratio wings
give the U-2 glider-like characteristics and
make the aircraft extremely challenging to
fly, not only due to its unusual landing characteristics,
but also because of the extreme altitudes
it can reach. When flying the U-2A and U-2C
models (no longer in service) the maximum
speed (critical mach) and the minimum speed
(stall speed) approach the same number, presenting
a narrow window of safe airspeed the plane
must maintain. In these models over 90% of
a typical mission is flown within five knots
of stall speed.
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