Heads up on TV tonight

BBC2 7-30 James May flies in a U2

I think this a repeat of what was shown over Christmas. If you like May you will enjoy this. I do and you certainly feel that you are participating in the experience with him.:)

At RAF Akrotiri back in the 80s I worked alongside the USAF on the airfield during their operations. The crew would follow their U2 down the taxiway, then chase it down the runway and pick up the outriggers dropped by the pilot at rotation. On this particular day the U2 rotated nose up 70+ degrees and from my angle I could see the port outrigger still attached, they reckoned that by the end of the runway she would be about 10,000′. The ground crew drove over to me smiling and said he has released it. Sure enough about a minute later there was a small plume of dust rising in the overshoot area off the airfield. Whether they found it (intact) I don’t know, I doubt it. The pilots were great, although they didn’t talk much about U2 ops, they were all Vietnam veterans and often would act as duty pilots in ATC. If you was interested, they would talk about their exploits (long after their duty bit had finished!) and take time and care to explain air warfare hithero unknown to us limeys. I had/have a great deal of respect for these men.

Baz

I arranged a trip for about 8 enthusiasts to visit RAF Alconbury in 1989. We were shown around a parked A-10 and then to a hangar to view TR-1 “079” . The pilot let us each sit in the cockpit 😮 although it was on maintenance. He dropped a hint that Ernest Gann the author of “Fate is the Hunter” had visited recently gathering information for his last book ” The Black Watch”.
We got to see the building where they suit up and medical facility. After a visit to Burger King on the base it rounded off a great visit,so glad we did it as it has all gone now.

It’s great that the USAF allowed the flight.
I’m not sure many other countries would allow a foreign TV presenter such an opportunity.

Brilliant, throughly enjoyed watching this.

Brian.

Watching the u2 depart Akrotiri was a highlight of my op Granby detachment, the climb was awesome.