BAILOUT at 70,000 feet
It would be safe to say that most young Americans who grew up during the Cold War era have a fleeting knowledge of only a few U.S. military aircraft; two of these would definitely be the SR-71 Blackbird and the U-2 Dragon Lady. Both arrived ahead of their time, and they provided the majority of the intelligence that was so desperately needed during that period. The U-2 was first to emerge from the famous Lockheed Skunk Works, and with the ability to reach an altitude of 70,000+ feet, Soviet fighters had very little chance of shooting one down, and surface-to-air missiles had not yet developed to a point to be effective against an aircraft at such altitude. It was subsonic and depended on its lofty ceiling to protect it. It proved to be a great success. Before production ended, 86 of these aircraft were built.
The aircraft’s first flight was recorded on August 1, 1955, at the top-secret Groom Lake facility known to the public as “Area 51.” The initial test that day was meant to be only a high-speed taxi run, but with its lengthy wingspan, the U-2 got airborne while only moving at 70 knots. After a period of fine-tuning, the U-2 went operational with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) sometime in 1957. The aircraft’s vast potential was evident by then. Its projected altitude of well above
