We definitely love the Dragonlady. You know she has lift but it isn't until you see her light for circuits that you realise just how much! Ad astra ❤️ Always amazes me it was essentially just a slightly shortened F-104 Starfighter fuselage with new wings 😳 Great to see & fantastic capture Nikos!
Fantastic footage of this incredible, aircraft. It's very special to witness it & hear those engines whine. Thank you Ted Coningsby, tremendous capture.
U2 hanger was right across street from my Interior Electric shop of 803rd CES at DMAFB, Tucson Az in mid 70's...watched them come and go daily...STEEP climb was very cool!
Trully awesome take off from an eerie looking aircraft. Lift extrodinare to Dissappear like a rat up a drainpipe.. Yet to catch one of these myself but wont be long. Great footage Nikos and Ted thank you ❤
A great alarm clock most days of the week too!! I am on top of the hill in Highworth and can see the U2 take-off. On these dark mornings now, watching her red beacon light climb at such a rate is impressive!
An impressive rate of climb and a great sight and sound. This was also a hand launch on the port wing, presumably due to an issue with the pogo wheel. You can see the airman run and hit the deck as the take off run commences. Nicely captured Nikos and Ted.
A real blink and you miss it moment, so little runway used to get airborne, amazing piece of tech especially considering it's age! I am convinced it coudl use the roof of a Volvo estate to take off. The other thing from that stream, I would love to drive that AMG chase car, I bet thats great fun too! Thanks for the footage Ted & Nikos, the snippets evoke smiles everytime you post a highlight. Keep up the wonderful work and I really hope you've all thawed out from being up in t'north with us this week
Oii Oii Nick glad you enjoyed this one. We had no idea that the U-2 could even take off like this. Yeah we’ve manage to thaw out and although it was a little on the ice cold side, was so worth it.
Looks like either an issue with the pogo wheel on that wing or a practise run of a manual launch on that side where they have to hold the wing up until the second she's about to start rolling. Always fun to see and must be an epic feeling to hold on to the dragon lady until the last moment!
Oii oiii good question. The U-2 is powered by a lightweight , fuel efficient General Electric F118-101 engine, which negates the need for air refueling on long duration missions. But I think they did have one experimental version that could. But as mentioned, with such efficiency (6.5 hours on just internal fuel alone), there is no requirement for this feature. In fact, adding a refuelling probe would take up valuable space for the cool stuff that it is equipped with
Weight and complexity in the design phase deemed unnecessary. The aircraft was designed and put into service in the mid 1950's . Clarence " Kelly " Johnson , genius . . .
I suppose if you fly a plane that’s designed to fly above 60000 feet you’d like to get that high quickly, a slow accent with no bathroom breaks would be a bit uncomfortable. Lol
Takes off like a glider, howls like a bomber! What a treat to see this aircraft in action! Thanks Ted and Nikos
Oii oiii Ellesee 🤙🏼 great sound and impressive climb
Goes up like a paper plane. It's always impressed me how fast it climbs. Great clip, thank you. ✌️😎
Oii Oii Rob really impressive climb
We definitely love the Dragonlady.
You know she has lift but it isn't until you see her light for circuits that you realise just how much! Ad astra ❤️
Always amazes me it was essentially just a slightly shortened F-104 Starfighter fuselage with new wings 😳
Great to see & fantastic capture Nikos!
Oii Oii Matt thanks man. Incredible rate of climb from take off
Just fantastic to see this aircraft.
Just takes off no runway needed. Outstanding.
Oii Oii Ann. Yeah, not a lot of runway needed for this
Blimey I didn't fire nothing like that from my catapult I had when I was a kid😲. Amazing stuff!👍
Oii Oii Roy 🤙🏼amazing indeed
That never gets boring.
Wowser!! This Lady may not be STOVL but by gum, she doesn't need much runway for take-off. Thanks so much for the awesome video!! 🎉🎉🧸
Fantastic footage of this incredible, aircraft. It's very special to witness it & hear those engines whine. Thank you Ted Coningsby, tremendous capture.
Oii oiii Margo it sure is incredible. We couldn’t believe the climb
U2 hanger was right across street from my Interior Electric shop of 803rd CES at DMAFB, Tucson Az in mid 70's...watched them come and go daily...STEEP climb was very cool!
Amazingly short take off……first time I’ve seen one of these leave the ground 😳fantastic shot thanks Nikos….🤟
Oii Oii Julian, this was worthy of a quick climb Friday candidate. Never knew it could take off like this 🤙🏼
Very impressive. Thank you!
Trully awesome take off from an eerie looking aircraft. Lift extrodinare to Dissappear like a rat up a drainpipe.. Yet to catch one of these myself but wont be long. Great footage Nikos and Ted thank you ❤
Oii Oii Dan 🤙🏼 it was an impressive climb out. Couldn’t believe it
Holy cow the way it just lept off the runway!
What was it? 8 or 9 seconds of takeoff roll and WHOOSH up she goes! 😮
Amazing wasn’t it
I worked with her for many years. She was my favorite.
A great alarm clock most days of the week too!! I am on top of the hill in Highworth and can see the U2 take-off. On these dark mornings now, watching her red beacon light climb at such a rate is impressive!
An impressive rate of climb and a great sight and sound. This was also a hand launch on the port wing, presumably due to an issue with the pogo wheel. You can see the airman run and hit the deck as the take off run commences. Nicely captured Nikos and Ted.
Oii oiii Si, we had no idea it could take off like this. Absolutely incredible
Cotswold based I see / hear this every day 👍🏼😎
A real blink and you miss it moment, so little runway used to get airborne, amazing piece of tech especially considering it's age! I am convinced it coudl use the roof of a Volvo estate to take off. The other thing from that stream, I would love to drive that AMG chase car, I bet thats great fun too! Thanks for the footage Ted & Nikos, the snippets evoke smiles everytime you post a highlight. Keep up the wonderful work and I really hope you've all thawed out from being up in t'north with us this week
Oii Oii Nick glad you enjoyed this one. We had no idea that the U-2 could even take off like this.
Yeah we’ve manage to thaw out and although it was a little on the ice cold side, was so worth it.
Awesome work Ted🇺🇸! Nikos your support and videography is incredible!
That short take off is amazing. Lady in Black and DarkOps, nothing else to say.
Oii oiii Tim thank you very much
That bird is something else.
Is there a ground crew member moving away at the last minute on the right looking at screen
Looks like either an issue with the pogo wheel on that wing or a practise run of a manual launch on that side where they have to hold the wing up until the second she's about to start rolling. Always fun to see and must be an epic feeling to hold on to the dragon lady until the last moment!
Love it! Quality
Thanks Dan 🤙🏼
Cool sound delay too! 👍 👍
*😮 Spectacular*
It always blows my mind that the Dragon Lady shares the same fuselage as the Starfighter.
Kelly Johnson . . .
Impressive 👍🏼🫡
The short rate of take off and climb was mind boggling IMO. 🇺🇸👍
Sure was
Even today you can still see the F-104 DNA in the fuselage....
A very clever design, like a glider. Awesome lady for her age ❤
Thanks @TedConingsby Nikos
Oii oiii Julie 🤙🏼
Sweet!
Human Pogo port wing, fantastic . . .
Nikos,i thought all TR1's had been reworked to U2S.nice catch.👍
Not 100% sure about that
The ground crew member was holding the wing up due to its missing pogo. It was removed prior to flight.
Oi oi that’s one impressive takeoff with very little runway needed ,
Oii Oii Alan 🤙🏼 sure was impressive
@ loving the channel nic
Wonderful Day this was, lovely to post as having Ted withdrawal
Wonderfull
Ooohhh yeah
Guess what Ted wants for Christmas
wow, almost no take off roll, it can take off from your backyard
Can the U2 do air 2 air refuling?
Oii oiii good question. The U-2 is powered by a lightweight , fuel efficient General Electric F118-101 engine, which negates the need for air refueling on long duration missions. But I think they did have one experimental version that could. But as mentioned, with such efficiency (6.5 hours on just internal fuel alone), there is no requirement for this feature. In fact, adding a refuelling probe would take up valuable space for the cool stuff that it is equipped with
Wow unbelievable hardly any runway needed
Amazing wasn’t it
It’s an f104 with glider wings. No wonder it shoots up like that.
If it to have lift at high altitude where the air is thin then it will have enormous lift at low altitude.
Did i miss some no Ted live today???
We had a day off today
The take off roll must have been less than 50 yards.
Why did they just not make the outriggers retractable instead of dropping off every take off
Weight and complexity in the design phase deemed unnecessary. The aircraft was designed and put into service in the mid 1950's . Clarence " Kelly " Johnson , genius . . .
I suppose if you fly a plane that’s designed to fly above 60000 feet you’d like to get that high quickly, a slow accent with no bathroom breaks would be a bit uncomfortable. Lol
It’s unbelievable how little runway this needs and the rate of climb….wow ❤🫡
Oii oiii Captain A 🤙🏼 absolutely impressive