MY NOSTALGIC TRIP TO TUCSON

How did I get so interested in the U-2 Dragon Lady? I am often asked, so here’s the answer.

I made a nostalgic trip to Tucson AZ recently, 50 years after my first visit. I had gone there in 1973 to see the Military Aircraft Storage and Disposal Center (MASDC), nicknamed “The Boneyard”, the large desert site next to Davis-Monthan AFB where the US military stores its retired aircraft. I stayed for a month, volunteering with the Pima County Air Museum (PCAM), which was being established in a compound just outside MASDC.

From there, I watched strange, long-winged spyplanes making spectacular take offs, and seemingly floating in the circuit. At the time, the USAF’s U-2 wing (the 100^th SRW) was based at D-M.  It didn’t move to Beale and consolidate with the SR-71 Blackbirds in the 9th Wing until 1976. During my stay in Tucson, I resolved to learn more about The Dragon Lady. Four books later, I am still learning.

Tucson has expanded substantially since 1973, and so has the museum, known today as the Pima Air & Space Museum. MASDC has become the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG), but looks much the same. The U-2s have long gone, but until recently one of the original U-2Cs (56-6716) was displayed outside at the base.

Strangely, this has now gone as well. The USAF Museum headquarters decreed that it be dismantled and moved to the museum at Hill AFB, UT. This airbase has no U-2 history. Andrew Boehly, the director of collections for the Pima museum, told me that they made a pitch to house the U-2 inside one of their hangars. To no avail.

I thoroughly recommend a visit to the Pima Air & Space Museum. It has expanded massively since I was there all those years ago. The 80-acre site now boasts six hangars and no less than 360 aircraft. About 120 of them are outside, but most remain in good condition thanks to Tucson’s hot, dry climate. The museum has an excellent website. Plan on spending at least half a day there.

While in Tucson, I spent some quality time with four notable U-2 veterans who retired there. John Dale was a C-130 pilot who became “Mr Drone” at SAC HQ and with the 100^th SRW, which operated the Ryan Firebee jet UAVs colloquially known as the Lightning Bugs. When that program ran down, he became commander of the U-2 squadron. After that, he did senior staff jobs and commanded the RC-135 wing at Eielson AFB, AK.

After retiring from the Air Force, John again got involved with UAVs, first with Ryan and then Boeing, where he worked more UAV programs: the high-altitude Condor and the Darkstar. (The latter was a joint venture between Boeing and the Skunk Works).

John has spent his second retirement in Alaska and Tucson. He is now 90 years old, still in good shape, and owns and flies a Bellanca Cruisair and a Stinson 108-3, both of 1947 vintage. All told, he has been flying since 1953!   

Dave Young was responsible for today’s U-2 squadron in Korea being nicknamed The Black Cats. A former F-100 pilot, he flew with the CIA’s Detachment H from 1970-74, including as an instructor pilot with the ROCAF 35^th Squadron on Taiwan – the original Black Cats. When that folded, he returned to the USAF and commanded the U-2 detachment at U-Tapao, Thailand. When that ended, he opened the detachment at Osan, where he revived the Black Cat insignia. He then transferred to Beale and later commanded the 9^th Wing there. After the Air Force, Dave worked in the aerospace industry, including some time at the Skunk Works.

Glenn Perry flew the high-altitude RB-57F on nuclear weapons fallout sampling missions before checking out in the U-2 at D-M in 1974. He flew operational missions in the Dragon Lady, before returning to the sampling business as an operations officer, directing missions on the WC-130, WC-135 and B-52.

Last but not least, Eli Karson was an intelligence officer and wing historian with the 100th SRW in the mid-1960s. He deployed to Vietnam with the wing, which flew the Firebee UAVs over the North, as well as U-2s.

Finally, I was John’s guest at the regular Friday lunchtime meeting of a group of veteran military flyers in the Hacienda del Sol, a restaurant and hotel in the foothills of the Santa Catalina mountains near Tucson. They are known as “The Friday Pilots”, and they are a very entertaining bunch. They even have their own website, where you can learn more about them. Moreover, they have published two books, which are collections of their stories in their own words. Well worth buying!