Tamerlane's Thoughts: Beale Air Force Base U2s

Thursday, November 06, 2014

Would love to visit this place.

Alan said...: Just read a book detailing how difficult to fly that thing is--as told by the former head of Lockheed's Skunk Works, pilots are within a <1% envelope of irrecoverable stall for 95% of 8 hour plus missions.; November 7, 2014 at 11:40 AM
Maxichamp said...: @Alan: What's the name of the book? I need a good read.

This would explain why so many ROC U2s crashed in China.; November 7, 2014 at 12:09 PM
Alan said...: Skunk Works by Ben Rich, the ex-Skunk Work head.

Tells the stories of many interesting planes, but mostly the U2 and SR-71 with incredible political, engineering and personal detail. Fantastic read.; November 7, 2014 at 9:17 PM
Alan said...: And yes, that's what he attributed those crashes to-less well-trained foreign pilots and even longer missions.; November 7, 2014 at 9:18 PM