This might be of interest too:
https://www.academia.edu/5901305/Undetected_Media_Intelligen...
Inside America's U-2 Spyplane [video]
21–30 of 35 posts
Re: Inside America's U-2 Spyplane [video]
#22Does anyone know why the U-2 is still flying but the SR-71 was retired from service? At least on paper the SR-71 seems like a clearly superior aircraft in a very similar role.
Re: Inside America's U-2 Spyplane [video]
#23if you're interested in the mechanics of flying a u-2 and the protocols usaf pilots used (at least in the 50s and 60s), i transcribed a series of letters my grandfather wrote about it after his career ended. https://hyperstition.al/u2-james-black/
Amazing stuff.
Vernier is correct, hands off should have been handed off.
Re: Inside America's U-2 Spyplane [video]
#24The details about the camera equipment seems to be newly declassified. Super interesting.
The U2 pilots typically don't even know what sensor equipment they're using either - it's all super hush-hush. They basically go up, fly their routes, and land without knowing what's going on underneath.
Re: Inside America's U-2 Spyplane [video]
#25I've been there! Friends/family of U2 pilots sometimes get to ride in the chase cars, which follow the jets as they land.
You basically go from 0 to 95 in a few seconds to catch up with the landing U2. It's definitely worth the trip to the base, which is north of Sacramento - they're amazing aircraft.
Re: Inside America's U-2 Spyplane [video]
#26What is the benefit vs satellite imagery?
Re: Inside America's U-2 Spyplane [video]
#27What is the benefit vs satellite imagery?
Flexibility of mission and sensor.
Re: Inside America's U-2 Spyplane [video]
#28wow, they still use analog film
When what you’re after is very high resolution, film still scales better than digital; the largest (somewhat common) film format is 8x10». A sheet of slow (fine grain) film at this size can capture detail way beyond what any digital sensor I know of - surely it can be scanned with the equivalent of multi-gigapixel resolution - and if one were to develop such a monster sensor, it would have a hard time competing with…
Film alone doesn't determine performance - the whole instrument must be considered. The OBC trades "resolution" for area coverage rate. The digital electro-optical imagery from the U-2 is produced using an instrument (SYERS-2) with a different optical design. Intelligence Imagery (IMINT) is rated on the NIIRS scale and the OBC imagery is most-likely unclassified now due to it being at the mid-range of the NIIRS scale.
You make a good point about the scanning. Any wet film product these days must generally be scanned to allow for further production in our "soft-copy" world.
Re: Inside America's U-2 Spyplane [video]
#29if you're interested in the mechanics of flying a u-2 and the protocols usaf pilots used (at least in the 50s and 60s), i transcribed a series of letters my grandfather wrote about it after his career ended. https://hyperstition.al/u2-james-black/
Very interesting, thanks for posting the link.
I saw a minor typo, but couldn't find an email address for you, so posting here in the hope you see it. In the first paragraph of the addendum you have an "Out contact" that should be "Our contact".
Re: Inside America's U-2 Spyplane [video]
#30if you're interested in the mechanics of flying a u-2 and the protocols usaf pilots used (at least in the 50s and 60s), i transcribed a series of letters my grandfather wrote about it after his career ended. https://hyperstition.al/u2-james-black/
In the spirit of "thanks so much for recording this, but minor edits", assuming the below should be "every".
"From there you reduced the indicated by 2.5K for over one-thousand feet"