U-2s off carriers!  Wow, I'd never heard of that.  I used to see them take of from Moffet field - straight up like a rocket (to a waiting tanker).  The landings were also something to see - two guys run out to grab the wing tips before they'd scrape.

One of the weirdest things I ever saw was at Vandenburg AFB (west Coast Space Shuttle program - $4B of your tax $ gone - program killed after Challenger).  From my office window you could easily see the end of their long runway.  Though a SAC base at the time, with only one dedicated chopper for aircraft, all types would come in for touch-n-goes.  VAFB can be very windy.  On one windy day, a U-2 came in for a touch-n-go, with a heavy crosswind.  After several aborts, the guy just gave up (and I thought he was nuts for even trying!). 

When a B-52 would come in, it was stop everything - the noise was deafenning! 

My only thrill these days is when our local P-51 goes up.  Good pilot, lots of areobatics.

There used to be a resident P-38 at Santa Maria (probably because it was a P-38 pilot training center during the war) - "White Lightenning".  It has since crashed, but one day it came in (my house there was on the flight path) and I ran out to the airport with an arm full of brand new P-38 parts, thinking what better thing to do with them.  I got to the hangar, there was the plane and a bunch of mechanics, and there I was with my arm full of parts (FREE!).  I told 'em what I had for them, and they said "you'll have to come back later, the owner isn't here now".  Idiots.  I did not go back.

I'll avoid getting going on all the "Dad stories" from the war years and after (P-38, F-80, F-90, Truculent Turtle P-2V).  I don't have many U-2 or SR-71 stories, as the whole thing was so classified that Dad didn't say much.  But I'd hang around when his old cronies visited to hear the stories.  He wouldn't even mention Groom Lake (Area 51) to me, only saying that Lockheed had some "black" projects going on near Mercury NV, about 50 miles north of Vegas.  After he passed, Mom told me a story about how she found out he was at some place called Groom Lake ('58) from one of Dad's work friends that stopped by.  She was pissed, because he was supposed to be on a business trip back east, not out in NV.  When he got home, she bitched about it (though she knew the kind of work he was in), and all hell broke lose (Dad freaked - security breach!).

I do have to mention the Turtle.  Perth AU to East Coast USA, non-stop, non-refuel, some 10,800 miles, in 1946/7.  The record held for some 20 years. Dad helped pre-flight prep, and we have the only moving pictures of the take-off  (which must have been a real "hold your breath" situation, getting that full gas tank of a plane off the ground).  A Joey went along for the ride, and survived the trip.

Thanks to the U-2 Carrier story!  As I look across the room, I see a big picture of an early U-2 with a note of appreciation from Clarence "Kelly" Johnson (he actually signed it that way), below it a pic of "Lulu Belle" XP-80A with Tony Levier at the stick.

Apologies for another novel....  Fun to share with anyone actually interested.

SGE