How to Use Up All Your Luck in One Afternoon
Bob Pike pike180@gmail.com
U-2 Spy Plane Memorial Honors Wisconsin Pilot
Published in Midwest Flyer –
February/March 2019 issue
On January 31, 1980, U.S. Air
Force pilot, Captain Edward I. Beaumont of Brantwood, Wisconsin, was on a
training flight flying the U-2 Spy Plane near Oroville, California. He was in
the early stages of check-out at Beale Air Force Base, 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 retired
a few months later).
Capt. Beaumont performed a
number of touch-and-go’s, and then climbed out for some work at medium
altitude. After this, he reported descending through 14,000 feet. Sometime
later, his mobile control officer on the ground at Beale was surprised to hear
Beaumont key the microphone, 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 try to
attract Beaumont’s attention.
As the two pilots in the T-37
drew alongside, they could hardly believe their eyes. Capt. Beaumont 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-37 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
pilots braced themselves for a searing explosion as the black airframe flew
into the 230,000-kilovolt wires. The explosion never came.
Incredibly, the U-2 clipped
the bottom two wires with a wingtip, but failed to incinerate. In fact, the
contact with the powerlines 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 still running. Fuel began spilling from a ruptured
tank, but it ran downhill and therefore failed to ignite.
The sudden jolt of hitting
the ground revived Captain Beaumont, and 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 got caught
in the D-ring of the ejection seat, which he had failed to make safe. It fired
through the canopy, flinging
him upwards with it. Captain
Beaumont’s body did 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, Strategic Air Command generals and Lockheed
managers alike thought that someone had made up the whole story as a joke. Not
surprisingly, Captain Beaumont was scrubbed from the U-2 program on medical grounds.The
U-2C he was flying is now mounted on a pylon at Beale Air Force Base in
Marysville, Calif., and Captain Beaumont, 71, is back living in his hometown of
Brantwood, Wisconsin.
About
the U-2 Spy Plane
The first flight of the U-2
occurred at Groom Lake (Area 51) on August 1, 1955, during what was only
intended to be a high-speed taxi run. The sailplane-like wings were so
efficient that the aircraft jumped into the air at 70 knots (81 mph); the
aircraft entered service in 1957.
U-2D s/n 56-6714 was one of
86 aircraft built by Lockheed Corp in Burbank, Calif. It was originally built
as a U-2A and was subsequently modified to U-2B, then U2C and finally U-2D.
The Lockheed U-2 “Dragon
Lady” is a single-seat, single-engine, very high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft
operated by the U.S. Air Force (USAF) and previously flown by the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA). It provides day and night, very high-altitude
(70,000 feet), all-weather intelligence gathering. The aircraft is also used
for electronic sensor research and development, satellite calibration, and
satellite data validation.
The U-2 has an empty weight
of 14,300 lbs. and a maximum gross weight of 40,000 lbs. Maximum speed is 500
mph; its cruise speed is 429 mph. The aircraft has a range of 6,405 miles, a
maximum ceiling of 70,000 feet, and can climb at 15,000 feet per minute.
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