The Spy Plane That Caused a Bug Spray Shortage (U-2)

It was supposed to last about two years. Seventy years later, the U-2 'Dragon Lady' is still flying. This is the story of the CIA's high-altitude spy plane: why the United States needed to see inside the Soviet Union, how Kelly Johnson's Skunk Works built a jet with glider wings (and started measuring weight in 'grandmothers'), the special fuel that caused a nationwide bug spray shortage, the accidental first flight at 'Paradise Ranch' (Area 51), why so many 1950s UFO reports were really U-2s, the coffin corner, the chase-car landings, Francis Gary Powers and the cover story that blew up, the Cuban Missile Crisis, aircraft-carrier U-2s, and why the Air Force still hasn't managed to retire it. Built from CIA, NASA, Smithsonian, National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, U.S. State Department, Lockheed Martin, U.S. Air Force, and Air & Space Forces Magazine sources. Where sources disagree (like the date of the first flight), we say so. If you liked this one: SR-71 Blackbird: How Do You Build a Plane Nobody Can Catch? Flight 19: The Squadron That Vanished CHAPTERS (estimated at 164 wpm; re-time from the real voice-over before upload) 0:00 Seventy Thousand Feet 0:30 A Hole in the Map 0:57 Grandmothers and Bug Spray 2:01 Welcome to the Ranch 2:45 Was It a UFO? (Sort Of) 3:22 July 4th, 1956 4:00 The Coffin Corner 5:22 The Cover Story That Blew Up 6:24 The Photos That Started a Crisis 7:04 Still Flying 8:04 Not Fast. Just Higher Than Anyone. 8:28 Outro T-Minus: curiosity starts here. History's biggest countdowns and strangest mysteries, one story at a time. Subscribe so you don't miss the next one. #U2 #ColdWar #History