The U -2 Spy plane may be old, but it is celebrating its 70th birthday by setting new records -Jalopnik

Not many 70-year-olds can place endurance or distance records. But the U-2 Spy plane did both on July 31. It left Beale Air Force Base in California and flew a zigzag round around the Continental United States, which flew over each of the lower 48 states. By the time it landed 14 hours later, the 6,000 nautical miles had flown and it had set a new record for the longest and furthest flight of every plane in its class.

The actual plane used for this historic flight was not 70 years old, but the U-2 as a model has been employed since 1955. At that time it made the name for itself, used in many large conflicts around the world. It is so versatile that it has done everything, from collecting intelligence about the Soviet Union to helping border control to chasing a Chinese espionage balloon to conducting scientific research for NASA.

But what else would you expect from an airplane that can fly to the edge of the room at 70,000 feet? We are talking about an aircraft that has been able to avoid decisions of the enemy territory for decades, even if anti -aircraft technology has become consistently more refined. And the flight of July showed that the U-2 is still an exceptional plane. This record flight shifted the well-known limits of what the plane can do and offers a suitable swan song for the U-2, which the US Air Force has decided to retire next year.

The U-2 had its first flight on none other than Area 51, at the time known as Groom Lake, Nevada. The spy aircraft, in view of the “CL-282” instructions, was initially developed by Lockheed’s Semi-Secromine Skunk Works program for the CIA. Exploration satellites were not yet developed and the US had to know what the Soviet army was planning. So the U-2 has been developed to penetrate and take pictures, deep in USSR airspace.

The U-2 left for the first time on August 1, 1955, completely by accident. Lockheed test pilot Tony Levier carried out a high-speed test with the plane, not to leave the ground. But with an original wingspan of 80 feet (raised to 103 feet in later versions), and a wing surface of 600 cubic feet, was the U-2 and is essentially a glider. An airplane with that a lot of wing and a relatively small hull tendency to lift the ground off the ground, what it was exactly what it did, while Levier taxi it at 70 knots or about 80 miles per hour.

Levier had some difficulty landing the plane, but one bouncing, a bloated band, somewhat leaking land equipment and later burned -out brakes, he managed to get it safe. The damage turned out to be small and the U-2 was repaired on time to take its first officially planned flight a few days later, on August 4.

Shortly after the CL-282 was used, the US Air Force took over and renamed it “U-2”. The “U” stood for “utility” to hide the fact that the plane had to be used for espionage. And it effectively spied, took photos deep in USSR territory and provided invaluable intelligence. Information that it has collected would be essential to inform the decisions of American leaders for the coming years.

However, all this espionage did not take place without incidents. An important top was planned for 14 May 1960 between US President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Khroosjsjov. But on 1 May a U-2 espionage aircraft was shot over the Ural Mountains in Russia. The pilot, Francis Gary Powers, was captured by the Soviets, who were furious with the Americans for spying and invading their airspace. The top collapsed and the tensions of the US-Soviet increased.

Fast Vooruit to October 14, 1962. U-2 Spy aircraft flying the exploration of Cuba, photographed a newly built Soviet rocket site, which created a 13-day impasse that ended in the Soviets who removed their rockets. A U-2 was shot over Cuba during this crisis, but if U-2 aircraft had not made the discovery when they did, medium-sized nuclear weapons could have found a permanent house at the door of America.

The U-2 would continue to play an important role in collecting intelligence. At the beginning of 2023, a strange object in the air above the American midwest attracted the attention of the public. The U-2 was called to investigate and photos were taken from the cockpit. The object turned out to be a Chinese espionage balloon, which was even shot but not before the U-2 pilot took a selfie with the balloon.

The U-2, also called ‘The Dragon Lady’, can fly straight to the edge of the room, at 70,000 feet. Flying at this height has enabled it to penetrate enemy territory and to keep it unnoticed long enough to take photos with high resolution of sensitive sites. It was also used during the Cold War to scan the upper atmosphere for signs of nuclear tests.

However, flying this bird is not easy. A day or two before a flight starts, pilots prepare by adjusting their sleep hours and diet. The diet part is important because the pilot has to wear a closed, under pressure authority. So you can imagine why eating beans for the flight can be a bad idea. On board the plane, pilots are fitted with water, their choice of gorade and mixed food in buses with a metal straw that can be pushed into their helmet by a portal. Their space suits are equipped with mechanisms with which they can relieve themselves. This mechanism runs in storage tanks under the chair.

The pilots usually do not collect the intelligence themselves. This is largely treated at a distance by someone on the floor, while pilots can concentrate on flying the plane.

Landing of the plane is not easy, ether. The long wingspan creates so much lift that the U-2 continues to slide while the pilot tries to touch. This phenomenon is known as “land effect”. Visibility is also a problem, which means that countries require the use of a chase vehicle.

The recent record -breaking flight was called “70 years on 70,000 feet” and took place on July 31, 2025, just under 70 years from the date of that casual first flight on August 1, 1955. It was presented for the first time 11 years ago by one of the pilots who would eventually fly the mission, but the Brass did not grow it until the aircraft 70^one Birthday came.

That pilot who suggested the flight was the 64-year-old Cory “Ultralord” Bartholomew, a civil flight instructor at the 9th reconnaissance wing. Bartholomew started flying with the Air Force in 1988, later worked as a commercial pilot and flew to NASA, then returned to the Air Force in 2020 as a citizen. The other pilot is a lieutenant colonel who is only known for safety reasons for safety reasons for his call name, “Jethro.” Jethro was the second pilot who reached 3000 hours that the U-2 would fly into active service.

On July 31 they were suitable and climbed into a TU-2s, a two-seater version of the U-2, and left from Beale Air Force Base in California. Flying directly for 14 hours, traveling 6000 miles, the Air force said in a press release that the plane “had pushed itself outside the well -known borders.”

But Bartholomew disputed this in an interview with The war zone. “The truth is that we don’t really maximize the reach of the aircraft,” he said. “I could do this again next week and let the plane fly further and longer.” The real limitation, he said, was how long the air force pilots let stay in the air during a single flight.

With the flight of July 31, the U-2 proved that it is still capable of amazing performance. It can fly higher than any other public known non-orbital military planes. Nevertheless, the Air Force is planning to retire it in the tax year of 2026. The Ministry of Defense has wanted to do this for years and would already have it retired, if the congress had not been pushed back and the U-2 had kept during the flight by refusing to use money to get rid of it.

The congress continues to reduce and this year the Air Force has paused pension efforts on the U-2 because of the actions of the House Appropriations Committee. In fact, the U-2 still flies to missions. But this delay is probably temporary. No new U-2s have been built since 1989, which means that the planes in the current fleet require a lot of maintenance. Currently, aircraft that are needed to be required are not being employed. The implication is that the fleet can be retired due to simple wear.

Why does the Air Force want to retire such a legend? All that maintenance is expensive. But the army is also concerned that the U-2 is unable to escape detection about enemy airspace in conflicts with parties such as Russia and China, because anti-aircraft technology continues. Even countries that are not big powers develop technology that can make U-2 outdated.

No replacement for the U-2 has been announced, but some expect it to be the RQ-1880 drone, a stealth bomber lookalike also developed on Area 51 and stored on Beale Air Force Base. Whatever the future is, the legacy of the U-2 will live on.