Did you know the CIA has a Youtube channel?
"I mean sure we've got ten knots between stall and tearing the goddamn wings off, might as well bounce the fucker off the Kitty Hawk just to see what happens."
What I love is this passage:
- The test convinced Johnson that the fragile U-2 needed airframe reinforcement, strengthened landing gear, and an arrestor hook like other carrier-based aircraft. In addition, the carrier version of the plane would need “spoilers” on the wings to cancel the aerodynamic lift once the aircraft flew over the carrier deck. Modifications took just over seven months to complete.
For perspective, taking the U2 from "idea" to "thing flying in Nevada" took eight months. So... either a tailhook and wing mods was a royal pain in the ass or Kelly Johnson really didn't want to work with the Navy. So was this before or after Rule 15?
All little boys from 8 to 88 love the SR-71 because it is Buck Rogers' space ship. Few little boys know that before the SR-71 was brought into the white by LBJ, it was the A-12. The A-12 wasn't declassified until August 2007, nearly 50 years after it last flew.
The A-12 was called "Archangel." Before there was Archangel, there was simply "Angel" and before there was Area 51, there was "Watertown."
Well, and a stall speed of five knots. They probably could have gotten the deck crew to haul on a rope attached to the thing's nose to get it into the air. Its maiden flight had five landing attempts because again, get it in ground effect and it turns into a hovercraft. Frankly I'll bet they had problems with the damn thing kiting if they turned the flight deck into the wind before they were ready.