FighterControl

Hi.
Whilst visiting Beale AFB, CA a while ago I managed to take some shots of the preserved aircraft on base.

Firstly a D-21 supersonic reconnaissance drone.

IMG_1333 by S DEMPSTER, on Flickr

IMG_1323 by S DEMPSTER, on Flickr

Think this is a U-2C model
IMG_1349 by S DEMPSTER, on Flickr

IMG_1347 by S DEMPSTER, on Flickr

And finally the SR-71A
IMG_1332 by S DEMPSTER, on Flickr

IMG_1328 by S DEMPSTER, on Flickr

Thanks for looking.
Stewart

Lovely beasties..thanks for posting them.

Love the pictures of that SR-71 Blackbird. They really have kept it in excellent condition.

Lovely, blue skies 24/7 always help don’t they!

Great set there, Stewart

Thanks for posting

Paddyboy

Cranberry wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 06, 2020 8:45 am

Lovely, blue skies 24/7 always help don’t they!

I do get just a tad jealous after another day of shooting grey aircraft against a grey sky!

Great post Stewart - saw that U-2C deployed at Wethersfield in 1975 in a 2 tone grey colour scheme, along with 5 others.

cheers,
Graham

Great info as ever Graham, I'll dig some other U-2 static displays out and post soon.

Stewart

The only photo I have somewhere is the T-38 at the Wheatland Gate as the RQ-4 was still sight sensitive when I was on-base so people were getting silly about cameras, now it's on it's way out!

Here are afew more U-2 static displays.

This one was taken at Davis Monthan AFB, AZ
IMG_1964 by S DEMPSTER, on Flickr

Laughlin AFB, TX
IMG_2598 by S DEMPSTER, on Flickr

Palmdale, CA
IMG_0722 by S DEMPSTER, on Flickr

And Palmdale, CA again.
US Trip 2014 2043 by S DEMPSTER, on Flickr

Cheers
Stewart

Hi all.

Here are the rest of my U-2 static airframe shots.

I double checked the serial and article numbers on the net, corrections and comments always welcome.

56-6680 art.#347
On display as U-2C at National Air & Space Museum(Smithsonian, Washington, DC).
Not the best pictures I've ever taken, very cramped and not easy to fit into one shot.
IMG_0142 by S DEMPSTER, on Flickr

IMG_0141 by S DEMPSTER, on Flickr

IMG_0140 by S DEMPSTER, on Flickr

56-6681 art.#348
On display as U-2C at NASA Ames Research Center, NAS Moffet Field, CA
IMG_1636 by S DEMPSTER, on Flickr

56-6682 art.#349
On display as U-2C at Museum of Aviation, Robbins AFB, GA
IMG_0962 by S DEMPSTER, on Flickr

56-6692 art.#359
On display at Imperial War Museum, Duxford, UK
Duxford 09 012 by S DEMPSTER, on Flickr

56-6701 art.#368
On display as U-2C at SAC Museum, Ashland, NE
US 2011 247 by S DEMPSTER, on Flickr

56-6722 art.#389
On display as U-2A at USAF Museum, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH
US 2011 974 by S DEMPSTER, on Flickr

Excellent post, I didn’t realise there were so many preserved U2’s

Great Post never get tired of SR 71s and U 2s.

Great add-ons there, Stewart

Thanks for posting

Paddyboy

Always nice to see "C" models with the sugarscoop.

Hi

Not sure if Lord Luxton of Fairford has records of theses frames visiting the UK back in the day, or indeed anyone else with information.

Stewart

Razzor01 wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 16, 2020 9:40 am

Hi

Not sure if Lord Luxton of Fairford has records of theses frames visiting the UK back in the day, or indeed anyone else with information.

Stewart

Ha,ha, some nice additions Stewart. Saw 56-6680, 700, 701, 707, 714 and 716 at Wethersfield in '75 and 56-6722 at RAE Bedford in '67. 80-1098 did go through Alconbury a few times but I always managed to miss it.

Seeing the comment from dragonchaser that "I didn’t realise there were so many preserved U2’s" - I wondered if this counts as 'preserved'?

Military Museum Beijing, U-2C 3512 RoCAF (56-6691) brought down by a missile over mainland China in January 1965, pictures taken on 24 November 2009.

Good stuff Stewart

stainless wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 01, 2020 7:09 pm

Seeing the comment from dragonchaser that "I didn’t realise there were so many preserved U2’s"

This one didn't really count as 'preserved. more 'Shot down bits'

56-6676 Lockheed U2A Dragon Lady Bits by eLaReF, on Flickr

Sadly, the pilot, Major Rudolf Anderson, USAF lost his life in the shoot-down at the start of the Cuban Missile Crisis on 27th Oct 1962

The Museo de la FAR has since closed so current whereabouts not known