Dragon Lady not showing her age at 70, Breaks Altitude and Endurance Records

U-2 Dragon Lady Sets New Records on 70th Anniversary as Retirement Looms

Historic endurance flight spans all 48 contiguous states while Congress battles Air Force retirement plans

By [Aviation Week Staff]

BEALE AIR FORCE BASE, California - Seventy years after the very first Lockheed U-2 Dragon Lady's accidental maiden flight in 1955 by Tony LeVier over Groom Lake, Nevada, the U-2 would finish the longest single flight this platform had ever attempted, flying across all 48 contiguous states of the United States, marking a bittersweet milestone as the legendary reconnaissance aircraft faces retirement.

When the Dragon Lady landed the next day at Beale AFB, it had flown longer than 14 hours and traveled over 6,000 nautical miles, breaking the endurance records for an aircraft of its class. The specially designated aircraft, using callsign DRAGON 70, was heard communicating with the Atlanta Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) in which he stated that the aircraft had departed from their Californian base at 9:30pm the previous evening, intending to return the following afternoon.

The record-breaking flight was piloted by Cory "ULTRALORD" Bartholomew, 1st Reconnaissance Squadron (RS) assigned flight safety officer and U-2 instructor pilot, and Lt. Col. "JETHRO", 1st RS instructor pilot and U-2 chief pilot. The mission represented 11 years of planning and preparation to test the absolute limits of both aircraft and crew capabilities.

Engineering Marvel Born from Cold War Necessity

The U-2's remarkable journey began in the early 1950s when the CIA began a covert effort to develop a reconnaissance plane that could reach an altitude of 70,000 feet, high enough (it was thought) to avoid detection by Soviet radar. Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, Lockheed's best aeronautical engineer, responsible for the P-38 and the P-80, was tasked with creating this revolutionary aircraft.

Under the code name "Bald Eagle", it gave contracts to Bell Aircraft, Martin Aircraft, and Fairchild Engine and Airplane to develop proposals for the new reconnaissance aircraft. Officials at Lockheed Aircraft Corporation heard about the project and decided to submit an unsolicited proposal. Johnson's design emerged victorious, leveraging his innovative approach at Lockheed's Advanced Development Projects division, better known as Skunk Works.

The first flight was entirely unplanned. During a planned high speed taxi test, the prototype U-2, known as Article 341, lifted from Groom Lake – commonly known as Area 51 – at only 70 knots. Test pilot Tony LeVier soon discovered the U-2's infamous difficult landing process for the very first time, slightly damaging the airframe when attempting to bring it back onto the ground.

Kelly Johnson, in order to make the remote location seem more palatable his workers began referring to it as Paradise Ranch, which was then shortened to the Ranch. This facility, now known as Area 51, became the birthplace of revolutionary aviation technology.

Operational Legacy and Modern Relevance

The U-2's operational history spans seven decades of intelligence gathering missions. It was flown during the Cold War over the Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, and Cuba. In 1960, Gary Powers was shot down in a CIA 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.

Despite its age, the aircraft continues to provide unique capabilities. The U‑2 also gained new relevance post-9/11, supporting missions across Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and other regions where high-altitude surveillance was essential. Its ability to loiter above contested airspace for hours while collecting multiple forms of intelligence made it an irreplaceable asset in a world of rapidly evolving threats.

The U-2 can fly higher than any other non-orbital platform the U.S. military has, at least that we know about. A very public show of those capabilities came last year when a Dragon Lady flew over a Chinese spy balloon to gather intelligence about it as it soared through U.S. airspace before it was ultimately shot down.

Technical Evolution and Modern Upgrades

The current U-2S variant represents decades of continuous modernization. The current U‑2S variant, introduced in the mid-1990s, features a more powerful General Electric F118 engine, advanced electro-optical sensors, synthetic aperture radar, and cutting-edge data link systems that allow for near real-time transmission of intelligence to ground commanders.

In the late 1960s, the Skunk Works developed a new generation of U-2s. The U-2R (pictured overflying the Golden Gate Bridge in 1985) was substantially larger and more capable than the earlier U-2A and U-2C. The R version was 63 feet long, compared to just under 50 feet for earlier models, and it had a gross weight of 40,000 pounds, double that of its predecessors.

Congressional Battle Over Retirement

The Air Force's plan to retire the U-2 fleet by 2026 faces significant Congressional resistance. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's signing of a critical waiver to make the controversial move a reality. This mechanism allows the Secretary of Defense to jettison congressional requirements that would ensure the capabilities lost by the end of the U-2 program would be replaced in a cost-effective manner.

Air Force leaders have considered retiring the U-2 fleet for nearly two decades, asking Congress in some years to ditch the Cold War-era workhorse or, in others, to retire the RQ-4 Global Hawk drones that were meant to replace it. Now both are on the chopping block.

The House Appropriations Committee released a draft of the annual defense spending bill for the upcoming 2025 Fiscal Year that includes language blocking the retirement. Elsewhere in the appropriations bill, lawmakers included provisions that would block the Air Force from being able to "divest or prepare to divest" the U-2 spy plane, as the service has said it wants to do in 2026.

Future ISR Architecture

The Air Force plans to replace U-2 capabilities with a combination of space-based assets and potentially classified unmanned platforms. With the ability to fly at altitudes in excess of 70,000 feet, demand from combatant commanders continues, Collins said, so the Air Force wants to keep the fleet in flying shape into 2026.

"There's going to be a lot more space involved," Williams said. "Especially in the contested environments the U-2 and these platforms fly in, it's a different problem and a different answer."

Commemorating Seven Decades

The anniversary flight honored the U-2 community's rich heritage. The flight on the 70th anniversary was not used only for breaking the records, but it was also used to honor the legacy of the Lockheed U-2. In fact, the service mentioned that the flight paid tribute to all those who had gone before and earned the privilege to be a member of the tight-knit U-2 community, which has just over 1,000 pilots qualified to fly the aircraft.

"11 years ago, I realized just how far we could hypothetically fly the U-2 if we really wanted to push its limits to see just what it could do," said "ULTRALORD". "Now that were on the 70th anniversary of the U-2, 70 years at 70,000 feet, it seemed right to demonstrate the true capability of this aircraft".

The flight also showcased the aircraft's enduring public appeal, with appearances at major airshows throughout 2025. This anniversary has been noted during many of the U-2's public appearances during 2025, especially at the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) at RAF Fairford, UK, and at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in Wisconsin.

As the U-2 Dragon Lady approaches its potential sunset, the record-breaking anniversary flight serves as a powerful reminder of the aircraft's extraordinary capabilities and the dedicated community that has operated it for seven decades. Whether Congress will ultimately allow the retirement of this iconic platform remains an open question, but the legacy of Kelly Johnson's revolutionary design is secure in aviation history.

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U-2 Dragon Lady Breaks Altitude and Endurance Records During 70th Anniversary Flight - The Aviationist