Tag Archives: u-2

Those groovy late 70s- early 80s camo schemes

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The Air Force had a lot of stuff going on in the Carter/Reagan-era:

A U-2C painted in a gray camouflage pattern called the “Sabre” scheme in 1975. The camouflage replaced the usual black finish to ease British concerns about “spy planes” operating from the UK. In Europe, this U-2 tested equipment to locate and suppress enemy surface-to-air missiles. (U.S. Air Force photo 070712-F-1234P-014)

F-4 Phantoms in woodland camo of 4th Tactical Fighter Wing based at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina in the early 1980s. Looks like one plane from each squadron

Rockwell International B-1A (SN 76-174A) in flight with desert camouflage scheme. (U.S. Air Force photo)

The U-2 is still amazing some 70 years on

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Boxcar is still utterly magnificent even far past the 1950s technology that tossed this unlikely recon asset into the air as shown in this video from USAF.

Beale Air Force Base, California, is home to the U-2, an aircraft that was originally designed to fly high-altitude intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions during the Cold War. Today, the U-2 flies in support of a variety of missions from ground combat to disaster relief. During high-altitude missions, U-2 pilots often see a natural occurrence called the “terminator line,” which separates day and night. This “ah ha” moment is an awesome reminder of mankind’s diminutive size when skimming the edge of space. (U.S. Air Force Video by Andrew Arthur Breese)