"U-2 (Reconnaissance aircraft) Anecdotes." . . "TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / Military Science" . . . . "Remembering the Dragon Lady Memoirs of the Men who Experienced the Legend of the U-2 Spy Plane"@en . . . . "MILITARY HISTORY. With heightened tensions mounting in the Cold War, President Dwight Eisenhower's request for more accurate intelligence information on the Soviet Union was the spark that ignited the U-2 project. Modified USAF bombers began overflights of the Soviet Union in 1951, but existing lower flying aircraft in the US inventory were vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire and a number of cross-border flights were shot down. To meet the challenge and improve the survivability, the Lockheed Corporation received approval for their revolutionary design of a new recon aircraft on December 9, 1954. The company began work under a heavy veil of secrecy with only 81 people, including 25 engineers. A test pilot flew the first flight on August 1, 1955, after only eight months of production, a record-breaking result for rollout of a new project, especially one this complex and innovative." . . . . . . . . "With heightened tensions mounting in the Cold War, President Dwight Eisenhower's request for more accurate intelligence information on the Soviet Union was the spark that ignited the U-2 project. Modified USAF bombers began overflights of the Soviet Union in 1951, but existing lower flying aircraft in the US inventory were vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire and a number of cross-border flights were shot down. To meet the challenge and improve the survivability, the Lockheed Corporation received approval for their revolutionary design of a new recon aircraft on December 9, 1954. The company began."@en . . "Remembering the Dragon Lady memoirs of the men who experienced the legend of the U-2 spy plane" . . "Electronic books" . "Electronic books"@en . . . "Anecdotes" . "Anecdotes"@en . "Remembering the Dragon Lady : memoirs of the men who experienced the legend of the U-2 spy plane" . "Remembering the Dragon Lady : memoirs of the men who experienced the legend of the U-2 spy plane"@en . .