{"id":2856,"date":"2016-08-14T20:45:44","date_gmt":"2016-08-14T20:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theblackvault.com\/documentarchive\/?p=2856"},"modified":"2016-08-14T20:46:12","modified_gmt":"2016-08-14T20:46:12","slug":"project-whale-tale-launching-u-2-aircraft-carrier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theblackvault.com\/documentarchive\/project-whale-tale-launching-u-2-aircraft-carrier\/","title":{"rendered":"Project Whale Tale – Launching the U-2 from an Aircraft Carrier"},"content":{"rendered":"

Background<\/h3>\n
\"DAYTON,<\/a>
DAYTON, Ohio – U-2 aircraft carrier tail hook and “Q-tip” on display in the Cold War Gallery at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. (U.S. Air Force photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the 1960s, U-2s could not reach certain remote targets because political difficulties prevented basing the aircraft in some foreign nations. The CIA and U.S. Navy, therefore, studied the idea of launching U-2s from aircraft carriers.<\/p>\n

Project Whale Tale fitted a few U-2s with arresting hooks like the one on display here. The hooks would snag cables strung across aircraft carrier decks and “capture” aircraft, bringing them to a quick stop. The small black plate on the shaft shows that this hook was used in five landings, and could be used up to 20 times.<\/p>\n

To withstand rough carrier landings, Project Whale Tale U-2s were given stronger landing gear, and also wing spoilers to overcome the U-2’s tendency to glide instead of landing on the carrier deck. Some later U-2s had folding wings to take up less storage room on the ship.<\/p>\n

The first U-2 takeoff from a carrier took place on Aug. 5, 1963, from the USS Kitty Hawk,<\/em> off San Diego, Calif. The first U-2 carrier landing occurred on March 2, 1964, aboard the USS Ranger.<\/em> Carrier operations were limited, however, because of the expense and slowness of deploying ships to areas from which information was urgently needed.<\/p>\n

“Q-tip”
\n<\/em><\/strong>Condensation on the U-2’s windshield was an early problem. Pilots could not reach the windshield wearing bulky pressure suits, and this convenient homemade device, a wooden stick with a cloth pad, allowed them to wipe the window in flight.<\/p>\n

The condensation problem was later solved by windshield electrical heating and small defogging fans, though the Q-tip could also be used to clean the windshield if oil vapor leaked into the defogging system.<\/p>\n

The notch in the Q-tip handle has used to pull rudder pedals back to their normal position after pilots had moved them forward for greater comfort when flying long missions.<\/p>\n

Declassified Documents<\/h3>\n

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Documents<\/h4>\n

\u00a0Declassified CIA Documents on Project Whale Tale<\/a> [345 Pages, 62MB]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Background In the 1960s, U-2s could not reach certain remote targets because political difficulties prevented basing the aircraft in some foreign nations. The CIA and U.S. Navy, therefore, studied the idea of launching U-2s from aircraft carriers. Project Whale Tale fitted a few U-2s with arresting hooks like the one on display here. The hooks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2858,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","transcript_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11,5,57],"tags":[65,870,58],"class_list":["post-2856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-aircraft-air-force-history","category-military-defense","category-spy-planes","tag-cia","tag-project-whale-tale","tag-u-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t