Lockheed Martin's Dragon Lady At 60
Aug 20, 2015
Guy Norris | AviationWeek.com
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- NextPrev1 of 10Lockheed Skunk Works chief engineer Kelly Johnson proposed the CL-282 design in 1954 for the U.S. Air Force’s requirement for a reconnaissance aircraft capable of overflying the Soviet Union without being detected or intercepted. The original proposal for what would eventually become the U-2 combined a shortened version of the fuselage of the recently defined XF-104 Starfighter with a large, glider-like high-aspect ratio wing. The CL-282 was to have been powered by a General Electric J73, but by the time the aircraft design came together under the CIA-led Project Aquatone in late 1954, the fuselage had grown to house the Pratt & Whitney J57 engine preferred by the Air Force. The wings had also been extended to carry more fuel for longer range.
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Sixty years after Lockheed Martin Skunk Works began the modern era of high altitude spy planes with the creation of the U-2, we take a look back at the some of the key events in the Dragon Lady's history.
