Talk about fiction… what sort of cloud cover would be at 80,000 ft that would make descending lower improve visibility? At its operational height there is no cloud cover, if it was to descend below cloud cover to improve visibility then it would be descending below about 10,000 ft, in which case it had better watch out for a wide range of SAMs.

Get over yourself. If a target is obscured by clouds and you want the photo bad enough, you have to get under the clouds. In no way was I trying to imply that there were mythical clouds at 70,000 feet :rolleyes: However, I wasn’t aware of what TEEJ posted, so I stand corrected regardless.

But seriously, clouds at 80,000 feet? Do you really think my intelligence has degraded that much?

If the U-2 had to descend to be hit by a SAM over the USSR there would be no reason not to keep sending them.

The ironic part is that this was going to be the last U-2 overflight all along, and the CIA had to fight to get Presidential approval for it.