Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Forbes writer Jim Clash takes off off from Beale AFB in the back of a U-2 spy plane, August 21, 2024. In anticipation of an upcoming trip to Wichita, Kansas, to participate in a mid-air refueling of fighter jets from a KC-135 strato-tanker, we thought it would be interesting to call up some of the other Forbes stories we’ve been able to share with readers courtesy of the U.S.
Air Force. Those include a U-2 flight to the edge of space; flying in a T-38 above Texas to observe a total solar eclipse; a supersonic flight in an F-16 over Alaska, pulling 9 Gs; a C-130 flight into Category V Hurricane Dorian; and a visit to Thule AFB in northern Greenland to observe for incoming nuclear missiles from bad actors. Below are condensed versions of each story, with links to the originals at the end of this one.
Forbes writer Jim Clash’s view from above 70,000 feet in a U-2 spy plane, August 21, 2024. U-2 EDGE OF SPACE FLIGHT: This past August, I flew to Beale AFB to cap a six-year-long quest to ride above 70,000 feet in a U-2 spy plane. Yes, they still fly them, but may phase them out in 2026.
The flight training was interesting, much of it with a heavy, claustrophobic space suit on that I needed to wear for protection above 70,000 feet. The view up there is worth it, though. I could see for hundreds of miles in all directions.
A thin blueish atmosphere hung over the curvature of the Earth, and, above that, the cold blackness of spa.