Top Gear's James May rides in a U2 Spy Plane

via Gizmodo by Jesus Diaz on 8/6/09

I love Top Gear, but when James May gets the opportunity to fly to the edge of space on board a U2 spy plane, my love turns to plain, absolute, complete, overwhelming hate. Bloody good video indeed.

The Lockheed U2 is an amazing plane, developed to spy enemy countries by the CIA and the United States Air Force. Flying at 70,000 feet, the U2 can fly day or night, rain or sun, photographing ground facilities on very short notice, something that satellites can't do. It was created in the 50s, flying for the first time in 1955, and despite some being shot down over the Soviet Union, Cuba, and China, the fleet is still in use today. In fact, the successful design outlasted the SR-71 and the secret A-12 CIA spy plane, and will keep flying till 2014 or even later.

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