Chasing the U-2 Dragon Lady
Posted on Monday, November 3rd, 2008 at 3:34 pm[Vimeo http://vimeo.com/2155133 w=550]
Update: It sure would have been real nice if I’d mentioned at the time that Meredith is awesome for knowing that I’d get a real thrill out of this, and for making it happen. One of the best day’s ever, thank you! And thank you to Jen and Pilot Ted for having us stay for the weekend.
Yesterday I got to grin from cheek to cheek like a little kid and say “oh shit!” and really mean it.
I buckled myself into a souped up Camaro sports car and held on while the US Air Force Major in the driver’s seat accellerated from 0 to 100 in around 6 seconds. Out the passenger window, I could see the object whose speed we were trying to match: a U-2 spy plane, lining up to land.
Still accelerating, we swerved off the taxiway and onto the active runway, just as the U-2 flew over the threshold. We raced to catch up with it. Between us and the plane was a second car; driving it was the U-2 pilot’s wingman. Over the radio we listened as he guided the plane down, foot by foot. At the last second the pilot dropped the tail of the plane and then its nose, and then battled to keep the wings stable. Then we backed off as the jet engine roared again and the plane lept back up into the air, and looped around for another go.