Originally Posted by
Kubarque
The aircraft that landed itself was Article 381. 56-6714. It was mounted on a pole outside Wing HQ at Beale when I was there in 2005.
Thanks for this information.
Here is the previously mentioned account in an excerpt from Chris Pocock's
Dragon Lady: The History of the U-2 Spyplane (1989):
Now, this is no s**t...
An even more remarkable incident occured on the last day of January
1981. Captain Edward Beaumont was in the early stages of check-out at
Beale AFB, having made his first trip in the U-2CT only nine days earlier.
This day, he was flying one of the last single-seat U-2C models remaining
in Air Force service (they were finally retired a few months later). On a
bright winter's day, he performed a number of touch-and-gos, and then
climbed out for some work at medium altitude. After this, he reported
descending through 14,000 feet. Some time later, his mobile control
officer on the ground at Beale was surprised to hear Beaumont key the
mike, but make no transmission. Instead, all that could be heard was a
heavy breathing sound as the U-2 pilot's transmitter remained open, but
silent. The tower was alerted, and a T-37 trainer that was also flying
locally was instructed to rendezvous with the errant U-2 and attract
Beaumont's attention.
As the two pilots in the T-37 drew alongside, they could hardly believe
their eyes. The U-2 pilot appeared to be slumped at the controls, with the
aircraft in a gentle, turning descent. Beaumont had had a catatonic
seizure, and was completely unconscious. With the accompanying pilots in
the T-38 (sic) powerless to intervene, the U-2 floated slowly towards the
Sierra foothills north of Oroville. As it neared the sloping ground, some
high-voltage power transmission lines barred the way. The T-37 pilot
braced themselves for a searing explosion as the black airframe flew into
the 230,000-kilovolt wires.
It never came. Incredibly, the U-2 clipped the bottom two wires with a
wingtip, but failed to incinerate. In fact, the contact with the power
lines had the effect of rolling the aircraft into the correct attitude for
a forced landing in an adjacent cow pasture. Had its wingtip not been
flipped up in this way, the aircraft would have cartwheeled as it impacted
the gently sloping terrain with one wing low. As the astonished T-37
pilots orbited overhead, the U-2 flopped into the muddy field and ground
to a halt with the engine running. Fuel began spilling from a ruptured
tank, but it ran downhill and therefore failed to ignite.
The sudden arrival on terra firma revived the stricken pilot. Although
confused, he managed to shut the engine down. But the drama wasn't yet
over. As the still-groggy Beaumont began to extricate himself from the
aircraft, his foot slipped and caught in the D-ring of the ejection seat,
which he had failed to make safe. It fired through the canopy, flinging
the pilot upwards with it. Beaumont's body described a somersault, but he
landed on his feet to one side of the aircraft, while the seat thudded
into the ground nearby. His only injury was a chipped tooth! When the
preliminary accident report was circulated, SAC generals and Lockheed
managers alike thought that someone had made up the whole story as a joke.
Not surprisingly, Beaumont was scrubbed from the U-2 programme on medical
grounds. The U-2C which ended its flying days in a cow pasture, is now on
display at Beale.
I got the passage above from this post on another forum about an encounter with Mr. Beaumont a decade ago:
met a U-2 pilot today - GT40s.com
Originally Posted by
Kubarque
Ejection seats were first installed in the U-2s of both CIA and USAF via Service Bulletin 238 of 8 December 1957. The SB applied to all 41 then extant aircraft and added 52 pounds to the weight and balance. More than half of the 24 USSR missions had already been flown by this time (without ejection seats).
Thanks again, this 1959 U-2 Flight Manual published by the CIA indeed has procedures in Section 3 for bailout with ejection seat and bailout with non-ejection seat:
https://www.cia.gov/library/center-f...1-Mar-1959.pdf