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Lockheed U-2

1955 reconnaissance aircraft family by Lockheed

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The U-2 is a family of reconnaissance aircraft built by Lockheed starting in 1955, designed to fly at extremely high altitudes for spy missions. It became historically significant as a tool for gathering intelligence during the Cold War, though its use was also controversial, particularly after a U-2 was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960.

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The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed the "Dragon Lady", is an American single-engine, high–altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) since the 1950s. Designed for all-weather, day-and-night intelligence gathering at altitudes above 70,000 feet (21,300 meters), the U-2 has played a pivotal role in aerial surveillance for decades.

Lockheed Corporation originally proposed the aircraft in 1953. It was approved in 1954, and its first test flight was in 1955. Between 1956 and 1962, U-2 aircraft conducted covert reconnaissance missions over the Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, and Cuba, gathering critical imagery intelligence throughout the Cold War. In 1960, CIA pilot Gary Powers was shot down in a U-2C over the Soviet Union by a surface-to-air missile (SAM). Major Rudolf Anderson Jr. was shot down in a U-2 during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.