The Continuing Story of the U-2 Spyplane 

By Chris Pocock

It’s the plane that just won’t go away! In 2017, the US Air Force bowed to pressure from field commanders, legislators and reconnaissance experts, by scrapping plans to retire the Lockheed Martin U-2 in Fiscal 2020. It was the third time this century, that the Dragon Lady had escaped the axe. The Global Hawk UAV, its high-flying rival, turned out to be an expensive and incomplete replacement. In 2022, the Air Force tried to ground the U-2 for a fourth time, publishing a plan to end U-2 operations in September 2024 and saying that it could now be replaced by satellites. Again, the combatant commanders (COCOMs) and the Congress objected. It remains in service.

This is not your father’s U-2. Take a proven airframe, with years of life remaining, and add the very best sensors and communication gear. Give it to a highly skilled pilot, and provide experienced support from a dedicated team. No wonder the U-2 Dragon Lady remains the most advanced reconnaissance aircraft in the world.

Chris Pocock has followed the U-2 Dragon Lady for 40 years. He has flown in the jet, and talked to hundreds of U-2 Dragon Lady pilots, maintainers, managers and commanders. His previous book “50 Years of the U-2” is the standard work on the aircraft’s history. Pocock continued the story in Dragon Lady Today in 2015, and published a second, updated edition of this informative paperback in late 2023.

$20.00 from Amazon in the US. Also available on Amazon’s international sites.

 Take a sneak peek at the book. The following links provide access to some of the pages in PDF format:

Front & back cover sample | Contents page sample | Pages 9-10 sample