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Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how

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Speaker 1: stuff Works dot com. Hei there and welcome to tech Stuff.

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Speaker 1: I am your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer

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Speaker 1: with How Stuff Works and my Heart Radio, and I

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Speaker 1: love all things tech. I like to throw off super

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Speaker 1: producer Tari because she likes her lip sync while I

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Speaker 1: do this, and if I do it at different cadences

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Speaker 1: and rhythms, she can't follow along. But that's not really

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Speaker 1: important right now. What's important right now is that we

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Speaker 1: are going to look at another classic episode of tech Stuff. Yes,

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Speaker 1: this episode aired originally on March nineteenth, two thousand twelve.

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Speaker 1: It's about an even older technology, the You two Spy Plane. Yes,

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Speaker 1: we're talking about the spy plane, not the band, although

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Speaker 1: the band did teach me the valuable lesson that you

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Speaker 1: count like this one two three fourteen. Anyway, this is

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Speaker 1: tech Stuff Spies on the U Tube and I hope

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Speaker 1: you enjoy. We were um we were going to talk

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Speaker 1: today about an interesting thing that I saw the other day,

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Speaker 1: which is UM. Well, in a way, it's sort of

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Speaker 1: a drone because it starts with a the r Q

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Speaker 1: for Global Hawk, a drone aircraft that is UM well,

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Speaker 1: it's status is sort of in question right now as

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Speaker 1: at the time we're recording this. There negotiating the budget

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Speaker 1: for UH, the United you know, the defense budget for

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Speaker 1: the United States of America UM and UH that's one

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Speaker 1: of the items that was considered to be struck. Now.

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Speaker 1: Of course, some over the past few years, unmanned aerial

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Speaker 1: vehicles have been UH coming up a lot in the news.

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Speaker 1: They've been instrumental in several of the military engagements around

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Speaker 1: the world with the United States, I mean, US has

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Speaker 1: has employed unman aerial vehicles and lots of cases. The

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Speaker 1: proposal was that there will be three d two million

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Speaker 1: dollars budgeted UM to UH to work on the Global

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Speaker 1: Hawk and UM. As it turns out, it's been proposed

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Speaker 1: that they dropped the item entirely in favor of a

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Speaker 1: much more uh much more less cutting edge technology in

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Speaker 1: a way. And the reason one of the reasons to

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Speaker 1: talking about cutting this whole Global Hawk thing is because, uh,

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Speaker 1: it's expensive. Yeah, the estimated cost of a single Global

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Speaker 1: Hawk is a hundred and seventy six million dollars. That's expensive.

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Speaker 1: So they had they had enough, they had just they

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Speaker 1: didn't even quite have enough money in the budget for

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Speaker 1: two of them, so you could get one and seven

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Speaker 1: eighths of a Global Hawk for the budget they had proposed.

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Speaker 1: So the the alternative right now for a and the

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Speaker 1: purpose of the Global Hawk, we should say, is it's

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Speaker 1: reconnaissance aircraft. Yes, it doesn't attack people, it is it

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Speaker 1: is their for surveillance purposes, specifically spying. So you know,

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Speaker 1: there are a lot of unmanned aerial vehicles that have

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Speaker 1: been developed over the last several years. Many of them

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Speaker 1: are designed to get a real time UH feel of

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Speaker 1: what's going on in certain environments. And they they're designed

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Speaker 1: to do things like fly through areas that could be

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Speaker 1: combat zones. But they're not necessarily designed to spy, to

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Speaker 1: be able to fly through undetected. It's more about getting

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Speaker 1: as quick and accurate a picture of the situation as

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Speaker 1: it exists right now, rather than let's go find out

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Speaker 1: what those pesky so and so's over there are doing.

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Speaker 1: So are pesky so and so technology? Uh tends to

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Speaker 1: be much more sneaky, and it's designed to be very fast.

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Speaker 1: Usually it's designed to fly very very high, so that

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Speaker 1: can try to avoid things like radar as well as missiles.

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Speaker 1: You know, attempts to take it down. UH. And it's

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Speaker 1: designed to try and gather as much information as quickly

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Speaker 1: as possible. UH. And since the nineteen fifties, that technology

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Speaker 1: has been one particular type of aircraft in the United States.

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Speaker 1: Even though we've tried to replace it on multiple occasions,

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Speaker 1: we're still using it today and the it's what we

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Speaker 1: will be using instead of the Global Hawk, the Lockheed

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Speaker 1: U two. Yes, I believe it or not. UM. They're

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Speaker 1: saying that the the U two is actually a better

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Speaker 1: piece of technology and in some ways than the the

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Speaker 1: newer unmanned Areal vehicle. And like I said, the replacement

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Speaker 1: for the U two has has was built and was

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Speaker 1: retired already, which was the s R seventy one Blackbird

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Speaker 1: that we'll get into that. It's a gorgeous design, right.

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Speaker 1: So they the Blackbird, which was designed to be the

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Speaker 1: replacement for the U two, it actually lived out it's

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Speaker 1: useful life in the U S Air Force and then

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Speaker 1: was retired because well, it's really expensive to maintain as well.

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Speaker 1: In fact, well, and I'll talk about why it was

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Speaker 1: expensive to maintain, because that's kind of an interesting story.

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Speaker 1: But to understand the YOU two, we have to go

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Speaker 1: back quite a bit, and we're not going to use

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Speaker 1: the way back machine because I found out that stuff

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Speaker 1: you should know, used it about a week and a

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Speaker 1: half ago, and apparently they left it somewhere like they

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Speaker 1: actually hoofed it back from thirty seven. And I have

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Speaker 1: no idea what they were doing back then. But yeah,

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Speaker 1: so I have no idea. We have to track it down.

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Speaker 1: So we're just gonna have to talk about today, all

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Speaker 1: right then, But um so, then you would probably go

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Speaker 1: back in time if we were using the machine to

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Speaker 1: uh about Well, August nine is the first day it

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Speaker 1: ever flew. Yes, August one, nineteen fifty five, it's first

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Speaker 1: flight of the YouTube. Now, the whole purpose for developing

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Speaker 1: the YouTube stems out of the Cold War between the

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Speaker 1: United States and the then ussry Soviet Union. Um So,

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Speaker 1: the whole reason for it was that we needed to

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Speaker 1: have we being the United States, because from the US

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Speaker 1: the United States needed to have some sort of vehicle

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Speaker 1: to get an idea of what was going on and

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Speaker 1: a potential uh um wartime enemy. And the Cold War

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Speaker 1: was was called the Cold War because it wasn't like

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Speaker 1: there were actual physical outbreaks of violence between the two countries,

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Speaker 1: but there was a true rivalry of global proportions going

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Speaker 1: on between the two, and so we there were needs

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Speaker 1: each each country felt the need to find out as

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Speaker 1: much about what was going on in the other country

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Speaker 1: as possible, and so they were developing their own ways

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Speaker 1: of spying on each other. Of course, this also figured

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Speaker 1: into this space race. Um. We've talked about the thing

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Speaker 1: what beaped Sputnick Sputnick that they and up from the

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Speaker 1: Soviet Union um shortly after that period, but it was

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Speaker 1: around the same time they were looking for ways to

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Speaker 1: spy on each other. Of course, satellite technology entered into it,

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Speaker 1: but the YouTube predates use. I mean it was already

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Speaker 1: flying by by that point. Yeah. So this is during

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Speaker 1: the Eisenhower administration in the United States history and uh,

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Speaker 1: and so there were several the government, the United States

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Speaker 1: government actually invited several different companies to submit proposals for

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Speaker 1: a spy plane. That's pretty typical, right, And the company

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Speaker 1: that went out was Lockheed and there was a fellow

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Speaker 1: by the name of Clarence Kelly Johnson who was put

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Speaker 1: in charge of the development of this spy plane. Johnson

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Speaker 1: also was instrumental in creating the the facility that was

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Speaker 1: the testing grounds for this particular airplane, and that facility

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Speaker 1: has gone on to gain incredible notoriety. Yes, partially because

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Speaker 1: it was very innovative, and partially because it just has

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Speaker 1: a very cool name, and it was very, very very

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Speaker 1: secret about everything. And that cool name, at least that's

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Speaker 1: the popular name for it, is Area fifty one. So

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Speaker 1: if you always wondered what Area fifty one was about,

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Speaker 1: and you've heard about things like UFOs and aliens, what

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Speaker 1: it really was about was a testing ground for secret aircraft,

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Speaker 1: and the YouTube was very much a secret aircraft. The

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Speaker 1: United States did not really talk about what the You

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Speaker 1: two was for until they were forced to. And we'll

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Speaker 1: get into that story too, because that's pretty dramatic. But

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Speaker 1: but before we get into that, let's talk more about

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Speaker 1: what the You two actually was and uh oh, And

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Speaker 1: in case you're just wondering, Area fifty one, also popularly

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Speaker 1: known as Groom Lake because it's a dry lake bed,

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Speaker 1: was where it was built up on. And I think

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Speaker 1: in the future we're going to have to do a

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Speaker 1: podcast all about Area fifty one because it was such

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Speaker 1: a cool place. It's not really a number a thing anymore,

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Speaker 1: but It was definitely a neat idea and some really

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Speaker 1: cool technology was developed there. Anyway, getting back to the

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Speaker 1: you two, it's got a Now, this this sucker can

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Speaker 1: fly at at altitudes of more than seventy thousand feet. Yes, um,

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Speaker 1: that's pretty high up. Yeah, very least when you think

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Speaker 1: about commercial jet liners or tend to be between thirty

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Speaker 1: and thirty five thousand feet sometimes a little higher. Um,

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Speaker 1: you know, that's more than twice as high up. And

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Speaker 1: uh it was built. It was built with a really

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Speaker 1: really long wings almost like a glider, and very light

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Speaker 1: air frame. Yeah. Well I'm sorry, go ahead. The wingspan

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Speaker 1: of the U two is about a hundred and five

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Speaker 1: feet or you know, thirty two meters or so. The

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Speaker 1: length is sixty three ft or about nineteen point two meters,

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Speaker 1: and height uh sixteen feet about four point eight meters

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Speaker 1: and only ways sixteen thousand pounds, which when you think

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Speaker 1: about it, is pretty light. That's pretty remarkable. Yeah. It's

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Speaker 1: got one General Electric F one eighteen DASH one oh

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Speaker 1: one engine. Yeah, although there were other engines used in

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Speaker 1: the YouTube during its entire history. Uh there Uh, there's

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Speaker 1: a J fifty seven turbojet engine. The J seventy five

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Speaker 1: turbojet engine and then the General Electric F one eighteen

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Speaker 1: turbo fan engine. UH. They have all been used in

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Speaker 1: YOU two's throughout its history of its service in the

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Speaker 1: United States. Also, before we get too much further into

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Speaker 1: the technical details, one of their interesting element. Originally this

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Speaker 1: was pitched to the Air Force. The Air Force decided

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Speaker 1: it did not The Air Force decided not to fund it.

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Speaker 1: The funding came from the c I. A. Yeah, so

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Speaker 1: the Central Intelligence Agency is actually responsible for the development

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Speaker 1: of the YOU tube and UH. In fact, the pilots

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Speaker 1: of those early YOU twos were all CIA pilots. Because

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Speaker 1: the idea was that if you had a a plane

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Speaker 1: go down and the pilot of that plane was a

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Speaker 1: member of the United States military, it could look like

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Speaker 1: a military action against another country. Because you were a

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Speaker 1: pilot for the CIA, you had to be a civilian,

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Speaker 1: so you actually would go through and and quit a

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Speaker 1: branch of the military service. He would no longer be

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Speaker 1: a part of the Air Force. You would become a

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Speaker 1: civilian and be employed by the CIA, and that would

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Speaker 1: give you the deniability that it was a military action

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Speaker 1: against another country. Well, of course, UM also sneaky if

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Speaker 1: you're wondering how much these aircraft cost. They won't tell

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Speaker 1: you that information is classified. There's actually a lot of

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Speaker 1: information classified about the YouTube. Like we can't tell you

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Speaker 1: specifically all the different sensors that are on board a YouTube.

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Speaker 1: We can tell you that it does have a camera,

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Speaker 1: actually has multiple cameras in order to get a visual

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Speaker 1: representation of what's what it's flying over. It also has

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Speaker 1: sensors that can detect the quality of the air and

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Speaker 1: and perhaps even sniff out things like, uh, chemicals that

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Speaker 1: would be indicative of a nuclear facility in the area. Um,

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Speaker 1: it's got Supposedly it has sensors that can allow it

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Speaker 1: to even eaves drop on cell phone conversations. Interesting, and

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Speaker 1: there's also a data link that allows it to upload

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Speaker 1: information in real time to a remote location. Yes, it's

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Speaker 1: got a it has infrared cameras and an optical bar camera.

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Speaker 1: Um and uh it does have you know, advanced radar

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Speaker 1: capabilities as well. UM. So it's it's certainly able to

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Speaker 1: pay a lot of attention to what's going on in

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Speaker 1: the world around it. Um, even from the altitudes that

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Speaker 1: they can reach. Does have a crew of one, We

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Speaker 1: know that much. Yeah, it's it's designed to be a

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Speaker 1: one person aircraft. Have heard that there are a few

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Speaker 1: examples of two men you tubs, but they are specifically

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Speaker 1: built for training purposes. They are not they're not actually

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Speaker 1: used in service. Uh, it does. It can reach a

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Speaker 1: speed of about four miles per hour. It's not you know,

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Speaker 1: we're not talking about breaking the speed of sound um,

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Speaker 1: which is unlike the SR seventy one. Yes, which that

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Speaker 1: was one of the reasons why the s R seventy

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Speaker 1: one was developed was they wanted the government wanted something

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Speaker 1: that was even faster and could fly even higher than

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Speaker 1: the U two, And the s R seventy one could

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Speaker 1: do both those things. It could fly at an altitude

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Speaker 1: around ninety thou feet and it could fly very fast. Indeed, Yes,

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Speaker 1: which works for the X men. Yes, sort of um

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Speaker 1: and are often than not. And if you're wondering, there

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Speaker 1: are about thirty three of them. They are still active.

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Speaker 1: Um and Yeah. Despite as as Jonathan said earlier, just

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Speaker 1: Bite attempts to phase them out as older, outmoded technology,

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Speaker 1: they're just too good at what they do. You know what.

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Speaker 1: It turns out the other stuff that was built to

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Speaker 1: replace them wasn't good enough and was more expensive, so

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Speaker 1: while you had aircraft that could fly faster and higher. Uh.

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Speaker 1: The one of the big drawbacks of the Blackbird was

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Speaker 1: that it did not have a data link. So when

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Speaker 1: you sent a Blackbird out on a mission in the

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Speaker 1: dead of night, you had to wait for it to

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Speaker 1: come back and dump all that information for you to

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Speaker 1: be able to look at it. You couldn't get updates

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Speaker 1: as the mission was going on, at least not of

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Speaker 1: all the data that it was collecting. You know, the

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Speaker 1: pilot could communicate, presumably, but smartphone, yeah, there's anap for that.

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Speaker 1: But flying over foreign power l O L nice w

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Speaker 1: TfL uh the uh the only uh. There's some other

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Speaker 1: interesting things about the YouTube. It's landing gear it has.

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Speaker 1: You know, most most aircraft that we think of today

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Speaker 1: has have the landing gear where's the one set of

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Speaker 1: wheels up for and then the two set of wheels

249
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Speaker 1: in the backs. It's almost like a tricycle, you know.

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Speaker 1: YouTube does not have that. It has more like a

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Speaker 1: bicycle set up. It's got one the front set of

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Speaker 1: wheels and back set of wheels are in line with

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Speaker 1: one another. Now it does have wheels called pogoes that

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Speaker 1: are attached to the wings for takeoff, so to give

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Speaker 1: it stability. When you're taking off with a you two.

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Speaker 1: But then once you take off, you jettison those wheels.

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Speaker 1: They're gone and you only when you're coming into land

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Speaker 1: you only have those two sets of wheels. So you're thinking,

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Speaker 1: how can you maintain balance. Well, the wings have skids

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Speaker 1: on them to protect the wings. It's apparently really really

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Speaker 1: hard to fly YouTube, and and more so not just

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Speaker 1: because of the landing thing, although landing apparently is one

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Speaker 1: of the most difficult maneuvers you can do with the

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Speaker 1: YouTube because the wings are so wide, the a little

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Speaker 1: cross wind can very much affect the YOUTO. It can

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Speaker 1: start gliding off track, and uh, it's it's really hard

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Speaker 1: to correct for that. Another issue is that it's designed

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Speaker 1: to fly at a very high altitude. We'll add that altitude.

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Speaker 1: The atmosphere is not as thick, yeah, the thinner atmosphere. Well,

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Speaker 1: in order to give precise controls at that altitude. The

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Speaker 1: controls are extremely responsive when you are flying through a

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Speaker 1: very thin atmosphere, So just a tiny little adjustment by

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Speaker 1: the pilot is going to result in a pretty dramatic

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Speaker 1: change in the plane's behavior. All Right, when you start

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Speaker 1: going down, you start descending in the atmosphere is starting

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Speaker 1: to get thicker. Suddenly those controls aren't as responsive and

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Speaker 1: you have to do more to get the plane to

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Speaker 1: do what you wanted to do. So as you're descending

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Speaker 1: from that height where you're actually spying and everything, and

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Speaker 1: you're coming down, UH, the plane becomes less responsive and

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Speaker 1: the pilot has to use a lot more force to

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Speaker 1: get the plane to do what he wants it or

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Speaker 1: she wants it to do. And um, and so it

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Speaker 1: is supposed to be more supposedly one of the most

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Speaker 1: difficult aircraft master because the two sets of flying UH

286
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Speaker 1: scenarios are so different. As if that weren't enough, Because

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Speaker 1: of the way the plane is configured, it's kind of

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Speaker 1: hard to see out of um that the nose is

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Speaker 1: very long, and it's difficult to see out the back

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Speaker 1: because of the tail. So as a matter of fact, Uh,

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Speaker 1: Jonathan I, I've actually seen information that suggests that many

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Speaker 1: pilots call it the most difficult plane in the world

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Speaker 1: to fly, and and it actually requires in some instances,

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Speaker 1: actually requires a second set of eyes. Somebody else will

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Speaker 1: go up after the U two to to help it

296
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Speaker 1: get down somebody who's sort of if you will, it's

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Speaker 1: sort of a visual spot and they go, you know,

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Speaker 1: sometimes lined up. Sometimes it's a person in a souped

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Speaker 1: up car as a second, a second YouTube pilot who

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Speaker 1: is being driven on in a souped up car going

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Speaker 1: alongside the plane as it's coming down and giving verbal

302
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Speaker 1: directions to the pilot. So the pilot hasn't indication of

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Speaker 1: how far they are from the surface and whether they

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Speaker 1: need to make any adjustments. So they'll be in a

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Speaker 1: car traveling at a pretty good clip of speed. Okay,

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Speaker 1: see that was my That was my assumption because it

307
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Speaker 1: said in my notes a high performance vehicle and it

308
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Speaker 1: didn't say what kind of vehicle. Yes, yeah, it was

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Speaker 1: a high performance car. So okay, the Blues Mobile. Actually

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Speaker 1: they just check. They have that that megaphone on top

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Speaker 1: and alright, he is what you gotta do? You gotta

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Speaker 1: go down two ft two ft. Hey guys, it's Jonathan

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Speaker 1: from two nineteen here to take a quick break from

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Speaker 1: spying to thank our sponsor. Some other interesting things about

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Speaker 1: the YouTube. Another reason why it's so hard to fly

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Speaker 1: is that it has to almost always be flying near

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Speaker 1: the maximum speed of the vehicle, and the reason for

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Speaker 1: that is because if it starts to get down below

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Speaker 1: about nineteen kilometers per hour below maximum speed, which is

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Speaker 1: ten knots, when it starts to drop below ten knots

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Speaker 1: from its maximum speed at whatever altitude it's at, it

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Speaker 1: starts to stall. So, in other words, there's a really

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Speaker 1: narrow window of performance that the plane can operate at

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Speaker 1: where it's not falling out of the sky. It has

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Speaker 1: to be going almost full speed or else it's dropping

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Speaker 1: like a rock. And the pilots have a a special

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Speaker 1: name for them, that little window you were, that little

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Speaker 1: narrow window of of speed. Can you do you have?

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Speaker 1: You did you come across that? It's it's a charming name.

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Speaker 1: It is the coffin corner. Nice. So yeah, it's um yeah, pilots.

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Speaker 1: Pilots have a interesting set of um of of terms

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Speaker 1: for various things. They have a they have a very

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Speaker 1: dry and uh realistic view of the world. So yeah,

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Speaker 1: interesting designs. So why sorry, go ahead, I was gonna say, Well,

335
00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:24,600
Speaker 1: the design has changed over the years somewhat. I mean

336
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Speaker 1: they've they've made some adaptations for it. It was originally

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Speaker 1: based on the F one oh four UH fighter jet,

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00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:34,280
Speaker 1: but um, you know it has they they actually the

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00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:37,040
Speaker 1: version that they fly now is somewhat longer and has

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Speaker 1: they've they've upgraded the the avionics systems. In the past,

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Speaker 1: they didn't originally use digital UH systems. They were using

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Speaker 1: UM analog gauges, but they've they've updated all those things

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Speaker 1: now and so it's a it's a much more UM.

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Speaker 1: I mean, of course, the plane itself is based on

345
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Speaker 1: the original design. It's just it's been adapted and updated

346
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Speaker 1: as as necessary over the years have have gone by.

347
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Speaker 1: So and for the first several years of YOU two's existence,

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Speaker 1: the government of course did not admit that it had

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Speaker 1: this spy plane. They said that the U two, that

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Speaker 1: people knew that the YOU two existed, they just didn't

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Speaker 1: know what it was for. And the reason given mostly

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00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:23,359
Speaker 1: was that it was a vehicle used to examine the

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Speaker 1: weather patterns and weather conditions. It was all about gathering

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Speaker 1: information about the environment. That it wasn't anything about spy plane. Well,

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Speaker 1: that all changed on May one, nineteen sixty, that is

356
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Speaker 1: when a pilot, a CIA pilot named Gary Powers, was

357
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Speaker 1: operating a YouTube and crashed in Soviet territory. Now the

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Speaker 1: cause of the crash is has always been disputed right there.

359
00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:56,159
Speaker 1: There are some reports that say that what happened was

360
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Speaker 1: he was shot down, that it was hit. The plane

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Speaker 1: was hit by a Soviet missile and it caused the

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Speaker 1: plane to crash. There were other reports that said that

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Speaker 1: the YouTube passed through the slip stream of another vehicle,

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Speaker 1: another plane, and that it caused the YOU two to

365
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Speaker 1: go out of control and a wing ripped off of

366
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Speaker 1: it and it crashed because of that. There's another report

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00:22:22,119 --> 00:22:25,800
Speaker 1: that said missiles were fired at the U two, but

368
00:22:26,320 --> 00:22:31,399
Speaker 1: uh it exploded behind the plane, and the that the

369
00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:34,960
Speaker 1: explosion was enough to send it out of control. What

370
00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:38,159
Speaker 1: is known is that there was Unfortunately, there was another pilot,

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Speaker 1: a Soviet pilot who was flying a MiG who actually

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Speaker 1: did get hit by the missiles that were meant for

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Speaker 1: the YouTube plane and died as a result. Well, Gary

374
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Speaker 1: Powers was shot down, but he survived. However, he was

375
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Speaker 1: he was used in a little bit of subterfuge. On

376
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Speaker 1: top of the subterfuge he was already a part of

377
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Speaker 1: because the mirror of the Soviet Union. Kruschev didn't let

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Speaker 1: the United States know that Powers survived the crash and

379
00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:13,119
Speaker 1: said what Kris Jeff did was he said, Uh, the

380
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Speaker 1: United States have spy plane over my country and we

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Speaker 1: shut it down, and you've got some splaining to do.

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Speaker 1: Chris is banging the table with his shoe, So if

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Speaker 1: you don't know what that's about, look up Chris Jeff

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Speaker 1: and shoe. But yes, so Christeff. Christcheff was a little perturbed,

385
00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:33,480
Speaker 1: said there was a spy plane over well he was

386
00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:37,360
Speaker 1: an aggressive act. Yes, yeah, and how can you disagree

387
00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:40,920
Speaker 1: with that? I mean it was a spy plane? Like yeah?

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Speaker 1: So did the United States say? Yeah? Okay? New Because

389
00:23:45,040 --> 00:23:48,720
Speaker 1: again the US, not aware that Powers was alive, went

390
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Speaker 1: into the cover story that they had created for this

391
00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:56,240
Speaker 1: sort of scenario, assuming that Powers had died. The Eisenhower

392
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Speaker 1: administration said that the plane was just a weather research aircraft.

393
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Speaker 1: It had accidentally moved into Soviet air space. It was

394
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Speaker 1: not meant to be there. The pilot had actually radio

395
00:24:07,359 --> 00:24:10,520
Speaker 1: that there was some problems with the equipment aboard the plane.

396
00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:15,240
Speaker 1: That was specifically the oxygen equipment, because when you're flying

397
00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:18,560
Speaker 1: at that height you need to have special equipment to

398
00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:22,560
Speaker 1: pressurize the cabin. And in fact, the pilots of the

399
00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:26,280
Speaker 1: YouTube where something that's almost like a space suit because

400
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Speaker 1: of the otherwise you could have some real pressurization problems.

401
00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:33,320
Speaker 1: So they said, no, no, no, it's just a weather aircraft.

402
00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:35,959
Speaker 1: It was there were some problems that we heard about.

403
00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:39,239
Speaker 1: They were supposed to be over Turkey. Uh, it was

404
00:24:39,359 --> 00:24:43,520
Speaker 1: completely just a misunderstanding, and that that the plane that

405
00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:46,800
Speaker 1: was shot down is probably the weather plane. It's definitely

406
00:24:46,840 --> 00:24:50,679
Speaker 1: not a spy plane. And then Chris Jeff said, the

407
00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:55,439
Speaker 1: pilots alive and we recovered all the information aboard the plane.

408
00:24:55,560 --> 00:24:57,919
Speaker 1: It was actually in in good conditions, So we know

409
00:24:58,040 --> 00:25:01,120
Speaker 1: exactly what you were looking for, and we know exactly

410
00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:04,160
Speaker 1: what the purpose of this this vehicle was. And you

411
00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:08,800
Speaker 1: are a big fibbing fibber. Yes. They they said that

412
00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:12,680
Speaker 1: he was okay in Moscow UM and he had said

413
00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:15,640
Speaker 1: he They said that he told them that he had

414
00:25:15,640 --> 00:25:20,320
Speaker 1: taken off from Peshawar in Pakistan UM and he was

415
00:25:20,359 --> 00:25:23,880
Speaker 1: told to fly over the Soviet Union um basically over

416
00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:30,160
Speaker 1: the Errol Sea, over Sverdlovsk Kirov our King, I can't

417
00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:34,160
Speaker 1: pronounce that word, Our King Glisk and Murmansk to the

418
00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:38,359
Speaker 1: Bodo Military Airfield in Norway, and so they he he

419
00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:41,200
Speaker 1: told them he they said he told them the exact

420
00:25:41,280 --> 00:25:44,399
Speaker 1: route he was supposed to fly. Um, and of course

421
00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:46,720
Speaker 1: you know that the United States after that was still saying,

422
00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:51,040
Speaker 1: well that that really wasn't wasn't what was going on there.

423
00:25:52,119 --> 00:25:54,560
Speaker 1: It was just very hard to deny when they had

424
00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:57,400
Speaker 1: so much and there was and there was a supposed

425
00:25:57,400 --> 00:26:01,640
Speaker 1: to be a summit that was going to be going on,

426
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:05,000
Speaker 1: like I think a week or two after this happened,

427
00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:09,840
Speaker 1: and it caused quite a stir and international politics that

428
00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:11,840
Speaker 1: this and it was it was considered to be a

429
00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:16,720
Speaker 1: very huge humiliating embarrassment for the United States, and cushof

430
00:26:17,320 --> 00:26:20,000
Speaker 1: h demanded that the United States stopped flying over the

431
00:26:20,680 --> 00:26:24,280
Speaker 1: Soviet Union or you know, they'd leave. Do I need

432
00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:26,240
Speaker 1: to take my shoe off again? Put it back on?

433
00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:31,760
Speaker 1: And uh. Ultimately the international community ended up sighting more

434
00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:34,720
Speaker 1: with the United States than with the Soviet Union. But

435
00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:40,080
Speaker 1: other outcomes of this Powers was was tried and convicted

436
00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:42,480
Speaker 1: in the Soviet Union in August that year. He was

437
00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:46,080
Speaker 1: sentenced to several years of prison, followed by I think

438
00:26:46,160 --> 00:26:50,080
Speaker 1: seven years of hard labor, but he ended up getting

439
00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:54,399
Speaker 1: released as part of an exchange, a prisoner exchange for

440
00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:58,280
Speaker 1: Rudolph Able. Yeah, and that that took place. Alright, kids,

441
00:26:58,520 --> 00:27:01,120
Speaker 1: you might not know this, but when I was a kid,

442
00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:05,120
Speaker 1: there were two Germany's. There's an East Germany and there

443
00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:08,080
Speaker 1: was a West Germany. And the exchange actually took place

444
00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:11,320
Speaker 1: on a bridge between the borders of East Berlin and

445
00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:14,840
Speaker 1: West Berlin. And it was a very famous event. So

446
00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:17,440
Speaker 1: now there's no longer in East Germany and West Germany,

447
00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:19,199
Speaker 1: but back when I was a kid, there was, and

448
00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:22,160
Speaker 1: that this is why you know this took place at

449
00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:26,119
Speaker 1: that location, because there was a Soviet controlled part and

450
00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:30,760
Speaker 1: there was the German controlled part. All that is in

451
00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:36,000
Speaker 1: the past. Now ask your parents about the Berlin Wall, kids, Well,

452
00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:39,760
Speaker 1: there there were no Really, I don't recall any other

453
00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:44,600
Speaker 1: major famous incidents in which a YouTube was involved. There

454
00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:49,399
Speaker 1: was the Zaropa Tour, yes, and I was wondering how

455
00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:51,679
Speaker 1: long I could go without making a YouTube joke, and

456
00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:54,760
Speaker 1: then the answer was twenty seven minutes. We'll get right

457
00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:57,959
Speaker 1: back to the discussion about the You two spy plane

458
00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:00,399
Speaker 1: and what that was all about and just the moment,

459
00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:11,760
Speaker 1: but first let's take another quick break to thank our sponsor. NASA,

460
00:28:12,119 --> 00:28:16,560
Speaker 1: the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has used the e

461
00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:21,399
Speaker 1: R two, which is basically a modified YouTube to collect

462
00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:26,760
Speaker 1: information on um the on space phenomena, and on the

463
00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:30,199
Speaker 1: Earth itself. So yes, in fact, it does make a

464
00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:34,600
Speaker 1: pretty good uh you know, weather and observation plane for

465
00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:37,840
Speaker 1: other purposes than just spying, but still being used as

466
00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:40,560
Speaker 1: a as a spy plane. According to I just thought

467
00:28:40,560 --> 00:28:42,480
Speaker 1: it was kind of funny. Then yeah, you know the

468
00:28:42,600 --> 00:28:45,000
Speaker 1: nniles and then well, as as it turns out, you

469
00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:46,680
Speaker 1: can use it for that. So I found out some

470
00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:49,240
Speaker 1: more information about and I was gonna say talk about

471
00:28:49,240 --> 00:28:51,680
Speaker 1: the Blackbird and about how it was supposed to be

472
00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:53,560
Speaker 1: that was also developed an Area fifty one. It was

473
00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:57,440
Speaker 1: originally called the A twelve that was designation then eventually

474
00:28:57,520 --> 00:29:00,320
Speaker 1: was known as the s R seventy one Blackbird. It

475
00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:03,320
Speaker 1: was the successor to the YouTube, but was retired and

476
00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:07,160
Speaker 1: it had a useful life of between nineteen sixty four

477
00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:10,880
Speaker 1: and was when it was retired for the second time.

478
00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:13,760
Speaker 1: So it's kind of like a professional wrestler and it

479
00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:16,440
Speaker 1: retires and then comes back and then retires again, but

480
00:29:16,480 --> 00:29:19,720
Speaker 1: in this case only retired the two times, and there's

481
00:29:19,760 --> 00:29:22,360
Speaker 1: no real way of making more of them because they

482
00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:25,959
Speaker 1: destroyed the tooling machinery back in the sixties, and they

483
00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:28,320
Speaker 1: built the Blackbird, the idea being that they didn't want

484
00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:30,239
Speaker 1: it to fall into any other hands, and so this

485
00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:33,040
Speaker 1: was a way of maintaining secrecy. The downside of that

486
00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:35,920
Speaker 1: is that once you run out of blackbirds, you don't

487
00:29:35,960 --> 00:29:38,280
Speaker 1: have any more of them. Uh, there's no way to

488
00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:42,000
Speaker 1: make more UM. And so they actually had a lot

489
00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:44,440
Speaker 1: of issues with that, and there were several blackbirds that

490
00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:47,480
Speaker 1: were involved in various accidents and incidents that made them

491
00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:51,120
Speaker 1: either they either were destroyed as a result or they

492
00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:56,280
Speaker 1: were inoperable. Uh. So they now all exist pretty much

493
00:29:56,440 --> 00:29:59,960
Speaker 1: in museums. I think there might be one or two

494
00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:04,960
Speaker 1: that UM belonged to NASA, actually, but there aren't any

495
00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:06,920
Speaker 1: that are being used in military service. So the Air

496
00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:09,520
Speaker 1: Force has stopped using the Blackbird. Well, you know, that

497
00:30:09,560 --> 00:30:11,640
Speaker 1: was supposed to be the successor to the You two,

498
00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:14,400
Speaker 1: but they again stopped being used in ninety eight. The

499
00:30:14,360 --> 00:30:19,840
Speaker 1: YouTube kept going since. According to the Air Force, about

500
00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:24,440
Speaker 1: one point seven billion with a B dollars have been

501
00:30:24,760 --> 00:30:27,760
Speaker 1: poured into the YouTube program to keep it up to date,

502
00:30:28,280 --> 00:30:31,600
Speaker 1: to modernize it, make sure that it's you know, operating

503
00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:36,240
Speaker 1: at at a level that that modern warfare and modern

504
00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:39,080
Speaker 1: politics demands because you know, we've got a lot more

505
00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:43,520
Speaker 1: sophisticated with the ways that we detect stuff. So in

506
00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:45,880
Speaker 1: order to stay ahead, it had a lot more money

507
00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:48,760
Speaker 1: to be poured into it. And according to one source

508
00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:52,800
Speaker 1: I saw, since two thousand and three, the Air Force

509
00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:57,080
Speaker 1: has flown more than ninety five thousand hours using the

510
00:30:57,120 --> 00:30:59,160
Speaker 1: you two keep in mind there only thirty three of

511
00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:03,880
Speaker 1: these things. That's pretty impressive. Yeah, yeah, Well, the uh,

512
00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:06,880
Speaker 1: in case you're wondering, the r Q four UH may

513
00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:10,920
Speaker 1: not be off the table. Um. It is presumed that

514
00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:15,640
Speaker 1: North Grumman, the company that makes well, the primary company

515
00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:18,560
Speaker 1: that makes it, will try to get it put back

516
00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:21,080
Speaker 1: into the into the budget, and it may just be

517
00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:23,360
Speaker 1: that it's a delay more than anything else. In fact,

518
00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:27,160
Speaker 1: most of those sources I saw was that it's it's

519
00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:30,520
Speaker 1: that the date keeps getting pushed back, like originally the

520
00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:35,760
Speaker 1: the YouTube was supposed to be retired by the most

521
00:31:35,760 --> 00:31:38,600
Speaker 1: recent date I saw it was, Yeah, and then I

522
00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:40,640
Speaker 1: saw one that said it may be flying as late

523
00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:43,000
Speaker 1: as twenty fifty, which means it would be a hundred

524
00:31:43,080 --> 00:31:47,239
Speaker 1: years old almost. Yeah. Yeah, well, you know, and uh,

525
00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:49,360
Speaker 1: it takes three people to fly in r Q four.

526
00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:51,680
Speaker 1: You know, you have to have an l R E pilot,

527
00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:54,160
Speaker 1: an m C E pilot, and a sensor operator and

528
00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:56,560
Speaker 1: it only flies up to sixty thousand feet which is

529
00:31:56,640 --> 00:32:02,480
Speaker 1: about eighteen thousand two eights um UH has a maximum

530
00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:05,720
Speaker 1: speed of three seven miles per hour about three knots

531
00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:08,960
Speaker 1: um So, you know, it's it's comparable in some ways,

532
00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:11,440
Speaker 1: but in others. You know, the YouTube still outdoes it.

533
00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:17,120
Speaker 1: So um it's it's impressive stuff. But it's kind of

534
00:32:17,120 --> 00:32:19,680
Speaker 1: funny to me that that tried and true you two

535
00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:23,600
Speaker 1: is still hanging in there despite all these other things

536
00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:26,320
Speaker 1: that that could replace it. Yeah. Part of that is

537
00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:28,680
Speaker 1: the the qualities of the U two, and part of

538
00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:32,520
Speaker 1: that is is purely economical, just that you know, there's

539
00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:35,560
Speaker 1: just not the money to replace it, and that you know,

540
00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:38,760
Speaker 1: we do have a need for reconnaissance vehicles. And you

541
00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:40,560
Speaker 1: might ask, well, why do we need that, because we've

542
00:32:40,600 --> 00:32:43,280
Speaker 1: got satellites now, right, we got satellites that can spy

543
00:32:43,320 --> 00:32:45,320
Speaker 1: on stuff. And that's true, we do have satellites, but

544
00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:49,240
Speaker 1: satellites are not yeah stuff the beats. Satellites are not

545
00:32:49,520 --> 00:32:53,800
Speaker 1: capable of of focusing in on a very specific region

546
00:32:54,600 --> 00:32:58,040
Speaker 1: at a reasonable amount of time in many cases. So

547
00:32:58,440 --> 00:33:00,360
Speaker 1: it may be that you've got a great view of

548
00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:03,440
Speaker 1: this one region, but the problem is that the issue

549
00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:05,640
Speaker 1: that you need to look at is just outside of

550
00:33:05,680 --> 00:33:08,640
Speaker 1: that that view, and in order to change the view

551
00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:11,400
Speaker 1: on the satellite's going to take hours, whereas you could

552
00:33:11,440 --> 00:33:14,600
Speaker 1: send a YouTube plane stationed in a nearby country to

553
00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:17,000
Speaker 1: fly over and get a look right then and there.

554
00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:21,080
Speaker 1: And the way the world works, we need information instantly.

555
00:33:21,160 --> 00:33:24,440
Speaker 1: We can't wait anymore. So yeah, for for instance, they

556
00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:28,280
Speaker 1: might have intelligence that a specific operation is going on

557
00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:32,080
Speaker 1: right now, and they're going to hide whatever it is

558
00:33:32,120 --> 00:33:35,040
Speaker 1: that they're moving, you know, some some kind of weapons

559
00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:38,560
Speaker 1: technology or some you know, uh, something like that, or

560
00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:41,040
Speaker 1: or a caravan of people or something. You know, it

561
00:33:41,040 --> 00:33:43,360
Speaker 1: could be a variety of things that you want to see.

562
00:33:43,840 --> 00:33:46,400
Speaker 1: Um and by the time the Earth rotates back to

563
00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:49,360
Speaker 1: where the satellite could take a good picture of it,

564
00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:53,360
Speaker 1: it'll be too late. Yeah. Um. So that kind of thing, yep, yep,

565
00:33:53,600 --> 00:33:59,560
Speaker 1: spy stuff is cool and scary, Yes it is. But

566
00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:02,200
Speaker 1: oh but and it did play a major part in

567
00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:06,840
Speaker 1: the the Cuban missile crisis in the nineteen six was

568
00:34:06,880 --> 00:34:09,919
Speaker 1: able to get a good picture of what was going

569
00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:14,239
Speaker 1: on there between the Soviets and the Cubans. Um, do

570
00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:16,440
Speaker 1: you and you know we didn't mention it. But do

571
00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:21,960
Speaker 1: you know what the nickname is for the YouTube? Oh?

572
00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:23,560
Speaker 1: I did see it a moment ago, and then I

573
00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:27,040
Speaker 1: scrolled past it in my notes. I'm surprised I didn't

574
00:34:27,080 --> 00:34:32,399
Speaker 1: mention it already. It is the Dragon Lady. Yes you don't.

575
00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:35,560
Speaker 1: You don't hear it mentioned. The you two is well

576
00:34:35,600 --> 00:34:38,480
Speaker 1: known enough by it by its normal designation that you

577
00:34:38,520 --> 00:34:40,719
Speaker 1: don't really hear the nickname very often, like the SR

578
00:34:40,719 --> 00:34:44,960
Speaker 1: seventy one Blackbird for example. But yeah, that's a cool name.

579
00:34:45,160 --> 00:34:48,640
Speaker 1: Cool name. All right, Well, this wraps up this discussion

580
00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:50,440
Speaker 1: about the you tube. Like I said, we'll try and

581
00:34:50,480 --> 00:34:53,200
Speaker 1: do one about Area fifty one specifically. At some point

582
00:34:53,280 --> 00:34:56,120
Speaker 1: I can talk about the other vehicles and technologies that

583
00:34:56,200 --> 00:34:59,560
Speaker 1: came out of that research facility. Uh, and also talk

584
00:34:59,600 --> 00:35:02,759
Speaker 1: about why it was so secret and uh, you know,

585
00:35:02,880 --> 00:35:06,440
Speaker 1: the whole craziness that surrounds Area fifty one and and

586
00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:09,719
Speaker 1: how it plays a part in conspiracy theories. Because you

587
00:35:09,760 --> 00:35:13,600
Speaker 1: know it does, you might not have heard about it. Um,

588
00:35:13,760 --> 00:35:16,440
Speaker 1: you need to watch this documentary series called The X Files.

589
00:35:16,640 --> 00:35:20,080
Speaker 1: It goes all into it. But now we'll, uh, we'll

590
00:35:20,080 --> 00:35:23,560
Speaker 1: talk about that and we'll we'll give a full rundown

591
00:35:23,640 --> 00:35:26,640
Speaker 1: on you know, what was believed to happen at Area

592
00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:29,680
Speaker 1: is what really happened at Area fifty one. And when

593
00:35:29,719 --> 00:35:32,840
Speaker 1: I say really, there were no aliens involved. I really

594
00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:37,160
Speaker 1: hope that you guys enjoyed that classic episode about You two,

595
00:35:37,960 --> 00:35:42,520
Speaker 1: because I can't live with or without you. I know

596
00:35:42,560 --> 00:35:45,640
Speaker 1: it's a terrible reference to a YouTube song. No, seriously,

597
00:35:45,680 --> 00:35:47,600
Speaker 1: the You two spy plane is one of my favorite

598
00:35:47,640 --> 00:35:50,719
Speaker 1: topics that we've covered on tech Stuff, largely because it

599
00:35:50,840 --> 00:35:53,960
Speaker 1: ties into another topic I loved a lot, which is

600
00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:56,880
Speaker 1: an Area fifty one. But I hope you guys enjoyed

601
00:35:56,880 --> 00:35:59,239
Speaker 1: that episode. If you have suggestions for future episodes of

602
00:35:59,280 --> 00:36:02,399
Speaker 1: tech Stuff, why not write me the email addresses tech

603
00:36:02,480 --> 00:36:05,959
Speaker 1: Stuff at how stuff works dot com, or you can

604
00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:09,160
Speaker 1: pop on over to our website that's tech Stuff Podcast

605
00:36:09,200 --> 00:36:11,400
Speaker 1: dot com. You'll find different ways to contact us, as

606
00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:14,400
Speaker 1: well as the archive of all the old shows. And

607
00:36:14,440 --> 00:36:17,319
Speaker 1: don't forget to head on over to our store that's

608
00:36:17,400 --> 00:36:19,960
Speaker 1: t public dot com slash tech Stuff. We've got lots

609
00:36:19,960 --> 00:36:21,960
Speaker 1: of cool designs over there for all sorts of stuff,

610
00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:25,520
Speaker 1: from T shirts to tote bags, to stickers, and lots

611
00:36:25,520 --> 00:36:27,920
Speaker 1: of other things too. Every purchase who make goes to

612
00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:30,200
Speaker 1: help the show. We greatly appreciate it, and I'll talk

613
00:36:30,200 --> 00:36:38,759
Speaker 1: to you again really soon. For more on this and

614
00:36:38,800 --> 00:36:41,319
Speaker 1: thousands of other topics. Is that how stuff works dot

615
00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:51,360
Speaker 1: com