September 20-A pilot from Beale Air Force Base was killed and a second was injured Tuesday after a U-2 spy plane, one of the most famous aircraft of the Cold War era, crashed Tuesday morning near the Sutter Buttes.
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“The aircraft was assigned to 1st Reconnaissance Squadron at Beale Air Force Base, and was on a training mission”.
Col. Barnes says both pilots onboard the U-2 ejected and deployed parachutes.
All U-2’s are temporarily grounded at Beale after its first crash in about two decades. They have not given any information about injured pilot.
The co-pilot with Eadie survived after being ejected from the plane seconds before it crashed into the mountain. He also stated that the pilots would mourn the loss of their colleagues and the base would support the family of the deceased pilot.
There are 33 active U-2 planes in the U.S. today, according to the U.S. Air Force website.
The U-2 Dragon Lady “provides high-altitude, all-weather surveillance and reconnaissance, day or night, in direct support of US and allied forces”, according to an Air Force fact sheet.
The U-2 is widely known for the plane that was shot down in 1960 over the Soviet Union, leading to the capture of the pilot, Francis Gary Powers.
“I would match the safety and maintenance record of the U-2 with any of the apparatus the Air Force flies”, said Broadwell. The two pilots ejected, leaving one dead and another injured.
The U-2 is widely known as the most hard aircraft in the world to fly.
A pilot killed in a military plane crash in California is from Northeast Florida. Built by the defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp, the U-2 fleet is based at Beale, with some planes flying missions from air bases around the world.
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The U-2 spy planes will reportedly cease operations in 2019 because of the military’s preference for unmanned aircraft for collecting intelligence.
