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Paul,
Thanks for this interesting information. I leafed through the flight manual,
and then read more about U-2 in other sources. (The story of Powers was one
of the earliest big media news that I remember from my childhood:-)

But there is one thing I do not understand.
According to various descriptions, U-2 crew was one person, and
this airplane was notoriously difficult to fly. In addition, the pilot had
to take care of collecting intelligence information etc.
How exactly he REDUCED the Sun and star sights?
Did he use some sort of tables? I doubt that computers could do the whole
job in 1960. Or could they?
Was the plane controlled by autopilot when the pilot was reducing sights?

(There are even indications (on Wikipedia) that some U-2 pilots damaged
their health by overwork + oxygen starvation during these long flights).

Perhaps we have a former U-2 pilot in our List who can tell about his
experience ?
:-)

Alex.

   

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