A Very Special Dragon Lady at RAF Fairford 13th Sept 17

[bigcrow]

A real personal highlight for me was catching this ultra rare U-2S at RAF Fairford on Wednesday evening returning from a 10 hour mission snooping on the Russians. A pretty unique fit, ASARS nose, ruby pods on the wings & a Spur Dorsal with CDL link. Complete with Jaguar F Type chase car & 'Quid 09' call-sign to maybe confuse the Ruskies?...

#1

80-1083\BB U-2S 9th RW, 99th RS, Beale AFB, Ca by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#2

80-1083\BB U-2S 9th RW, 99th RS, Beale AFB, Ca by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#3

80-1083\BB U-2S 9th RW, 99th RS, Beale AFB, Ca by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#4

80-1083\BB U-2S 9th RW, 99th RS, Beale AFB, Ca by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#5

80-1083\BB U-2S 9th RW, 99th RS, Beale AFB, Ca by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#6

80-1083\BB U-2S 9th RW, 99th RS, Beale AFB, Ca by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#7

80-1083\BB U-2S 9th RW, 99th RS, Beale AFB, Ca by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#8

80-1083\BB U-2S 9th RW, 99th RS, Beale AFB, Ca by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#9

80-1083\BB U-2S 9th RW, 99th RS, Beale AFB, Ca by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

#10

80-1083\BB U-2S 9th RW, 99th RS, Beale AFB, Ca by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, on Flickr

[BOLLO]

Cracking Stu,hoping I get to see her before she departs when ever that will be .

[ChrisCwmbran]

Superb photos!

[iain s]

Epic mate.

[TAFFEVANS]

Very nice Stuart, where was that taken at FFD? Regards Taff.

[tonkatom]

Very very nice,lovely looking machine.Especially like the head on shot

[Philwinward]

Great shots. Interesting to see that the "BB" code has been painted over, but the squadron stripe with the Maltise crosses is still visible.
Phil

[prefontaine72]

Excellent selection there Stuart brilliant mate

Dougie

[The Phantom]

Yes very cool plane

A great set of images

[GhostFlight91]

Excellent

[saint1]

Great shots. Interesting to see that the "BB" code has been painted over, but the squadron stripe with the Maltise crosses is still visible.
Phil

Great shots, No4 for me.

When on deployment they tend to remove the Beale 'BB' marking. From Dragon Lady book by Chris Pocock.

[slogen51]

Excellent

She is a kinky lady

[Cornish-guy]

What a great set of photos thanks for sharing, I wonder if there are bump stops under the wing tips due to the way they touch the ground when they lean over?

C.

[garyscott]

What a great set of photos thanks for sharing, I wonder if there are bump stops under the wing tips due to the way they touch the ground when they lean over?

C.

There are. Quite literally, under the wingtip pods are replaceable rubber skid strips. Great set of shots OP!

[Cornish-guy]

What a great set of photos thanks for sharing, I wonder if there are bump stops under the wing tips due to the way they touch the ground when they lean over?

C.

There are. Quite literally, under the wingtip pods are replaceable rubber skid strips. Great set of shots OP!

Thanks

C.

[Punkrunner62]

Top stuff as usual Stuart.Thanks for posting once again.
Cheers.

[Jutter]

Wow, amazing. Wish I had been there at the north crash gate.

Gr. Menno

[Knife 04]

Very nice Stuart - thanks for posting up

Cheers

Darren

[garyscott]

What a great set of photos thanks for sharing, I wonder if there are bump stops under the wing tips due to the way they touch the ground when they lean over?

C.

There are. Quite literally, under the wingtip pods are replaceable rubber skid strips. Great set of shots OP!

Thanks

C.

Hrers a link to a (Large!) image, where the skid strip can be seen, image found on net, not mine. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... _TR-1B.jpg

[matt e]

great set