Comments on: U2 Spy plane takes off from Beale AFB

By: Clayton Green

Clayton Green — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 00:59:34 +0000

My son recently became a crew chief on U2′s at Beale and is heading for Korea soon. He loves crewing the bird.

By: US Visa Thailand

US Visa Thailand — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 04:47:51 +0000

US Visa Thailand…

[...]U2 Spy plane takes off from Beale AFB « The Daily Google Earth[...]…

By: Colin

Colin — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 19:55:58 +0000

I found another U-2! This one is parked outside a hangar at Al Dhafra Air Base in the UAE. Iran is right across the Gulf, so I assume the US is keeping snooping around there. 24°14’46.06″N 54°33’37.93″E.

By: TSgt (Ret) Glenn R. Chapman

TSgt (Ret) Glenn R. Chapman — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 05:30:59 +0000

I worked on the U-2A, U-2C, U-2E, and U-2F U-2 aircraft from 1958 to 1966. The last one of these that flew was in 1989. The few 1968 U-2R and 1980 now U-2S models still fly out of Beale. For the indiviual that wrote they they no longer do recon, he is 100% wrong! It is, to my knowledge, the ONLY USAF Manned Recon Bird. You bet it still does recon! I worked on some of the ones I talked about in the first paragraph during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. We were at McCoy AFB, Forida. Thank your God in Heaven above for this old girl! She really kept us out of WW 3! I wrote a book about my times with it called “Me and U-2: My Affair With Dragon Lady”. $20.00 including shipment. Go to if you want an autographed copy.

Glenn Chapman

By: A free website. Type your name and see what photocode would turn out

A free website. Type your name and see what photocode would turn out — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 07:13:22 +0000

A free website. Type your name and see what photocode would turn out…

[...]U2 Spy plane takes off from Beale AFB « The Daily Google Earth[...]…

By: City News Local

City News Local — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 20:56:17 +0000

City News Local…

[...]U2 Spy plane takes off from Beale AFB « The Daily Google Earth[...]…

By: tty

tty — Fri, 06 May 2011 19:52:13 +0000

I saw one making circuits-and-bumps at Akrotiri base on Cyprus in April last year. As someona has already said it was surprisingly noisy and it had an incredible climb performance. It seemed to go almost straight up after lift-off.

By: joe

joe — Fri, 06 May 2011 05:19:50 +0000

Visit the little airport in Cortez,CO some day. A U2 on a training flight with a solo Taiwanese pilot crash landed there around 1959 or 1960! The airport custodian was certainly surprised. That pilot went on to command the Republic of China Air Force and returned to visit Cortez decades later. There is a display about this at the airport.

By: JBaloun

JBaloun — Fri, 06 May 2011 03:30:47 +0000

The NASA ER-2 was operational when I was working at NASA Ames in the 1990s. When you heard the roar of engines and checked the clock it was always exactly 11:00 or exactly 11:30. The U-2 does not take off so much as it launches. There are few planes cleared for takeoff (cross the threshold and line up with the runway) at the *same* time as they are cleared to Class E airspace (FL 600+). The plane punches through all the airspace Class levels in one shot. It rotates to 45 degrees and continues to climb at exactly 45 degrees until it disappears as a thin white line (ER-2 version) in the blue sky, still climbing. The reason for 11:00 exactly is the tower has to coordinate with San Jose and San Francisco approach / departure controls to open a few minutes gap in the airspace for the ER-2 to shoot through. A truly amazing aircraft. When the aft fuselage is removed for engine servicing the structure is simple and efficient. Kelly Johnson made it right. The plane is not high tech. It is simply exactly the correct design for the mission. The differences are subtle. Johnson was a great designer.

By: Marv Conn

Marv Conn — Thu, 05 May 2011 22:21:15 +0000

I saw a U2 up close in Korea. I was in a C-131 taxiing and we taxied past a U2 that was waiting to take off. I thought that was cool.