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Article: Crouching airman hidden dragon: cool wings, hot wheels and ground crews keep U-2s flying over Iraq.
- Article from:
- Airman
- Article date:
- July 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 U.S. Air Force, Air Force News Agency. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Maj. Denis Steele flew his U-2 "Dragon Lady" aircraft 70,000 feet over Iraq. Done with his reconnaissance mission, he started his decent and flew into a hot desert storm.
He dropped down through the cloud of fine sand. Below was Prince Sultan Air Base, a sandblasted haven in Saudi Arabia. A recovery team waited for his arrival.
Capt. Spencer Thomas was part of that team. He sat in a chase car, waiting to help Steele land the skittish black jet. As the jet came in for touchdown, Thomas gunned his Camaro chase car and raced down the runway behind the U-2.
Rose-colored dust clouds billowed beneath the plane. Thomas' job was to tell Steele how far ...