BOAC - Sorry, been away, hence late reply. Pat Halloran was an F-84 pilot with some 100 combat missions over Korea when he joined the Air Force’s U-2 program in 1957. Before moving on to fly the SR-71 Blackbird, Halloran logged 1,600 hours in the U-2. Here’s what he has to say about piloting it.
The Coffin Corner
“[Maximum and minimum airspeeds] began to converge as you went higher and higher. It wasn’t too bad when you first leveled off, but as you continued through the flight and [went] higher, the indicated airspeeds would get lower and lower, and pretty soon you were down to, oh, maybe a 10-knot window in which you had to continue the rest of the flight. If you exceeded or bounced off the limits, either too fast or too slow, you got pretty much the same indication, so it was difficult to tell which you were encountering: approaching stall or approaching Mach limit.”
AmericanHeritage.com / U-2
It is believed that at least three aircraft were lost (in the USA) due to loss of control resulting from transgressing the buffet boundary. The aircraft had low structual limits and was particularly fragile.
The Chuck Yeager Approach
To recover from CC.Tumble in an uncontrolled manner out of the sky until you hit thicker air. Ultimately you will recognise the uncontrolled state has now entered a recognisable aerobatic state (spin or inverted spin). Apply standard recovey technique. Simple.
I guess you are talking of Chuck's efforts in the NF-104. Didn't turn out too well for him, his only possible recovery action was to bail out. Lucky to survive considering the injuries/circumstances of the bail out. Accident showed his good side, coolness under stress, and his bad side, impetuosity.
NF104 | Spin, Crash & Rescue