U-2 Dragons

^^Gord^^ · 15 Apr 2012 at 12:16

Managed to catch two U-2S Dragons arriving at RAF Fairford as part of an airframe rotation on Friday......

A bit of background info on my site.... http://www.fast-air.co.uk/u-2-dragon-april-rotation/

A.N.Other · 15 Apr 2012 at 14:57

Always thought they were strangely beautiful. Nice shots.

Bluelion · 15 Apr 2012 at 15:52

Ooh nice catch! Did you see if they were using a car on the runway to help it land?

^^Gord^^ · 15 Apr 2012 at 21:53

Bluelion said:
Ooh nice catch! Did you see if they were using a car on the runway to help it land?

They used a talkdown car on both landings. Was rather impressed on the timing to swing it onto the runway behind the U-2.

Tomsk · 29 Apr 2012 at 13:50

Free ebook - Remembering the Dragon Lady.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Remembering-Dragon-Lady-Memoirs-ebook/dp/B0072L0ERO

ajf · 29 Apr 2012 at 22:46

Damn, lucky B***, sorry, person

One aircraft I would just love to see. If they fly from Fairford maybe they can get one for RIAT this year?!?

Thanks for the book link too Tomsk.

TheBigCheese · 29 Apr 2012 at 23:07

Cheers Tomsk!

Great shots Gord.

^^Gord^^ · 30 Apr 2012 at 22:42

Tomsk said:
Free ebook - Remembering the Dragon Lady.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Remembering-Dragon-Lady-Memoirs-ebook/dp/B0072L0ERO

Thanks! Downloaded and starting to read it.

ajf said:
Damn, lucky B***, sorry, person
One aircraft I would just love to see. If they fly from Fairford maybe they can get one for RIAT this year?!?

Thanks for the book link too Tomsk.

I've missed that a few times, was good to finally catch two.

Its possible one will be at RIAT but the USAF are cutting back on air show appearences this year so the odds aren't good.

Ben Cole · 30 Apr 2012 at 23:18

Few years back I was on radar in work and saw something get airborne from the Brize vicinity. It caught my attention because of the Dragon callsign. ( I had no idea it meant anything specific)

At first, nothing untoward but as it passed FL400 I got a flight readout from the computer.

Sure enough, aircraft type U2. Watched it continue up to FL640. Still the highest thing ive seen in 13 years of being an ATCO.

^^Gord^^ · 30 Apr 2012 at 23:31

They transit as either Dragon 21 or Dragon 51 depending on which direction they are going.

Did you hear about Flight Lieutenant Mike Hale's Lightning F3 that intercepted a U-2 at 66,000ft in the 80s? He zoom climbed his F3 up to 88,000ft before descending on the U-2. Bet he didn't see that coming!

Ben Cole · 1 May 2012 at 00:06

Think I've heard that anecdotally. Never read it in a reputable medium though.