A U-2 Spy Plane crashed during takeoff Tuesday in Northern California.
A U-2 Spy Plane crashed during takeoff Tuesday in Northern California.
SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) — One pilot was killed, and another injured when a U-2 spy plane crashed in Northern California shortly after takeoff Tuesday morning, according to a U.S. Air Force official.
Both pilots ejected shortly after takeoff from Beale Air Force Base and just moments before the craft crashed into a rural area of Sacramento, the Air Force added. Initially, the Air Force reported the crew members had “safely ejected” and were awaiting recovery.
However, almost four hours after the crash occurred, air combat command tweeted, “There is no official confirmation of status of U-2 pilots.”
Tuesday afternoon, Sgt. Charity Barrett of Beale Air Force Base confirmed one pilot’s death. The extent of injuries suffered by the second pilot was unclear. The crash happened around 9 a.m., and the pilots were partaking in a training mission, according to the Air Force. The single-engine, high-altitude surveillance jet is from the 9th Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base and was assigned to the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron.
According to the base’s official website, the wing is “responsible for providing … timely, reliable, high-quality, high-altitude reconnaissance products.” The wing is equipped with U-2 planes as well as RQ-4 and MC-12 reconnaissance aircraft.
The Beale air base is home to America’s fleet of high-altitude spy planes, and its motto is emblazoned on signs: “In God We Trust. All Others We Monitor.”
The U-2 flies at 70,000 feet — higher than any other U.S. military aircraft. It’s also among the oldest of planes in America’s fleet, first designed during the Eisenhower administration to breach the Iron Curtain and, as engineers said, snap “picture postcards for Ike” of hidden military strongholds in the Soviet Union. There have been 33 updated versions of the jet that still flies today.
The U-2 is perhaps best known for being the plane that was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960 and the subsequent capture of pilot Francis Gary Powers. He was traded for a Soviet spy nearly two years later, but the embarrassing incident convinced U.S. officials that manned spy planes posed too many risks.
The military now relies more heavily on drones for reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering. The U-2 is set to be retired by 2019.
