The U-2 reconnaissance aircraft played a pivotal role in two of the most famous events of the Cold War. | In the mid-1950s, the United States was desperate to know what was going on behind the Iron Curtain. No information had come out of the Soviet Union since the Second World War.
In 1957, the USSR launched Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite. This, along with other advances in Soviet technology, led to concerns that they were becoming technologically superior.
The gathering of photographic aerial intelligence was deemed essential. Under the code name 'Bald Eagle', the US Air Force (USAF) solicited designs for an aircraft capable of making dangerous flights over the USSR.
They turned to the engineer Clarence Kelly Johnson and his team, known as the SkunkWorks. Johnson developed the first U-2, a high-flying powered glider that operated on the edge of space.
Entering service in 1956, with a flight ceiling of 70,000 ft, the U-2 was initially believed to be out of reach of Soviet fighters, missiles, and radar.
The US was fully aware that the U-2 overflights into Soviet territory were a deliberate violation of international norms. Every flight was at risk of being perceived as an unauthorised invasion of another country’s airspace.
Despite this, the uncertainty of the time and the need for information was too great to not take the risk. In four years, the U-2 completed 30 missions, contributing to approximately 90% of US hard intelligence.
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