Chapter 7, Overflying Russia Summary and Analysis

The U-2s are ready to fly over Russia. The planes can ascend to seventy-thousand feet in an hour. The Skunk Works engineers have some technical difficulties, such as U-2 flights burning the rubber in the plane, to give one case. However, they quickly solve them. The U-2 could fly for long periods, but it tolerated few mistakes or a distracted pilot. There is pressure on Skunk Works from the CIA to get the plane's structure right and keep production moving.

The first 'overflight' occurred on July 4th, 1956. It was a success, but the plane was tracked by unexpectedly up-to-date Soviet radar systems. Some of the first-person accounts of the U-2 pilots are printed in the chapter. The general effect of these testimonies gives one the sense that these flights were both dangerous and exhilarating.

The Soviets...