WEBVTT - TechStuff Classic: TechStuff Spies on the U-2 0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:07.160 Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:13.399 stuff Works dot com. Hei there and welcome to tech Stuff. 0:00:13.440 --> 0:00:15.960 I am your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer 0:00:16.000 --> 0:00:19.240 with How Stuff Works and my Heart Radio, and I 0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:24.200 love all things tech. I like to throw off super 0:00:24.239 --> 0:00:27.040 producer Tari because she likes her lip sync while I 0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:29.320 do this, and if I do it at different cadences 0:00:29.320 --> 0:00:33.120 and rhythms, she can't follow along. But that's not really 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:35.000 important right now. What's important right now is that we 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:38.960 are going to look at another classic episode of tech Stuff. Yes, 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:43.680 this episode aired originally on March nineteenth, two thousand twelve. 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:50.199 It's about an even older technology, the You two Spy Plane. Yes, 0:00:50.200 --> 0:00:53.320 we're talking about the spy plane, not the band, although 0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:55.880 the band did teach me the valuable lesson that you 0:00:55.920 --> 0:01:01.840 count like this one two three fourteen. Anyway, this is 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:04.280 tech Stuff Spies on the U Tube and I hope 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:07.720 you enjoy. We were um we were going to talk 0:01:07.760 --> 0:01:12.199 today about an interesting thing that I saw the other day, 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:15.520 which is UM. Well, in a way, it's sort of 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:19.080 a drone because it starts with a the r Q 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:24.520 for Global Hawk, a drone aircraft that is UM well, 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:27.399 it's status is sort of in question right now as 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:30.960 at the time we're recording this. There negotiating the budget 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:34.720 for UH, the United you know, the defense budget for 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:38.440 the United States of America UM and UH that's one 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:41.119 of the items that was considered to be struck. Now. 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:44.480 Of course, some over the past few years, unmanned aerial 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:47.840 vehicles have been UH coming up a lot in the news. 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:53.840 They've been instrumental in several of the military engagements around 0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:56.800 the world with the United States, I mean, US has 0:01:56.920 --> 0:02:02.000 has employed unman aerial vehicles and lots of cases. The 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:05.320 proposal was that there will be three d two million 0:02:05.360 --> 0:02:10.080 dollars budgeted UM to UH to work on the Global 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:14.840 Hawk and UM. As it turns out, it's been proposed 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:17.920 that they dropped the item entirely in favor of a 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:23.840 much more uh much more less cutting edge technology in 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:25.560 a way. And the reason one of the reasons to 0:02:25.600 --> 0:02:29.240 talking about cutting this whole Global Hawk thing is because, uh, 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:32.520 it's expensive. Yeah, the estimated cost of a single Global 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:37.239 Hawk is a hundred and seventy six million dollars. That's expensive. 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:40.640 So they had they had enough, they had just they 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:42.760 didn't even quite have enough money in the budget for 0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:47.480 two of them, so you could get one and seven 0:02:47.520 --> 0:02:50.280 eighths of a Global Hawk for the budget they had proposed. 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:55.239 So the the alternative right now for a and the 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:57.840 purpose of the Global Hawk, we should say, is it's 0:02:57.880 --> 0:03:01.280 reconnaissance aircraft. Yes, it doesn't attack people, it is it 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:06.200 is their for surveillance purposes, specifically spying. So you know, 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:08.280 there are a lot of unmanned aerial vehicles that have 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:11.200 been developed over the last several years. Many of them 0:03:11.240 --> 0:03:16.000 are designed to get a real time UH feel of 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:20.560 what's going on in certain environments. And they they're designed 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:22.919 to do things like fly through areas that could be 0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:27.640 combat zones. But they're not necessarily designed to spy, to 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:32.400 be able to fly through undetected. It's more about getting 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:36.880 as quick and accurate a picture of the situation as 0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:40.880 it exists right now, rather than let's go find out 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:43.760 what those pesky so and so's over there are doing. 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:48.720 So are pesky so and so technology? Uh tends to 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:52.800 be much more sneaky, and it's designed to be very fast. 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:56.920 Usually it's designed to fly very very high, so that 0:03:57.040 --> 0:04:02.119 can try to avoid things like radar as well as missiles. 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:04.920 You know, attempts to take it down. UH. And it's 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:08.200 designed to try and gather as much information as quickly 0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:13.680 as possible. UH. And since the nineteen fifties, that technology 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:17.479 has been one particular type of aircraft in the United States. 0:04:18.080 --> 0:04:21.160 Even though we've tried to replace it on multiple occasions, 0:04:21.240 --> 0:04:24.680 we're still using it today and the it's what we 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:28.479 will be using instead of the Global Hawk, the Lockheed 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:32.800 U two. Yes, I believe it or not. UM. They're 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:35.720 saying that the the U two is actually a better 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:40.200 piece of technology and in some ways than the the 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:43.680 newer unmanned Areal vehicle. And like I said, the replacement 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:47.640 for the U two has has was built and was 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:52.159 retired already, which was the s R seventy one Blackbird 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:56.000 that we'll get into that. It's a gorgeous design, right. 0:04:56.360 --> 0:04:58.719 So they the Blackbird, which was designed to be the 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:03.200 replacement for the U two, it actually lived out it's 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:05.360 useful life in the U S Air Force and then 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:09.560 was retired because well, it's really expensive to maintain as well. 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:11.800 In fact, well, and I'll talk about why it was 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:13.960 expensive to maintain, because that's kind of an interesting story. 0:05:14.200 --> 0:05:16.200 But to understand the YOU two, we have to go 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:18.280 back quite a bit, and we're not going to use 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:21.480 the way back machine because I found out that stuff 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:24.040 you should know, used it about a week and a 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:28.040 half ago, and apparently they left it somewhere like they 0:05:28.080 --> 0:05:31.320 actually hoofed it back from thirty seven. And I have 0:05:31.400 --> 0:05:34.799 no idea what they were doing back then. But yeah, 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:36.719 so I have no idea. We have to track it down. 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:39.320 So we're just gonna have to talk about today, all 0:05:39.400 --> 0:05:42.600 right then, But um so, then you would probably go 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:45.719 back in time if we were using the machine to 0:05:46.000 --> 0:05:50.680 uh about Well, August nine is the first day it 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:54.960 ever flew. Yes, August one, nineteen fifty five, it's first 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:59.200 flight of the YouTube. Now, the whole purpose for developing 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:02.640 the YouTube stems out of the Cold War between the 0:06:02.720 --> 0:06:09.760 United States and the then ussry Soviet Union. Um So, 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:12.039 the whole reason for it was that we needed to 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:15.200 have we being the United States, because from the US 0:06:15.560 --> 0:06:18.159 the United States needed to have some sort of vehicle 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:21.200 to get an idea of what was going on and 0:06:21.560 --> 0:06:27.040 a potential uh um wartime enemy. And the Cold War 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:29.320 was was called the Cold War because it wasn't like 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:34.080 there were actual physical outbreaks of violence between the two countries, 0:06:34.120 --> 0:06:37.920 but there was a true rivalry of global proportions going 0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:41.600 on between the two, and so we there were needs 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:44.480 each each country felt the need to find out as 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:46.359 much about what was going on in the other country 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:49.560 as possible, and so they were developing their own ways 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:53.800 of spying on each other. Of course, this also figured 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:56.960 into this space race. Um. We've talked about the thing 0:06:57.160 --> 0:07:01.240 what beaped Sputnick Sputnick that they and up from the 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:05.120 Soviet Union um shortly after that period, but it was 0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:07.080 around the same time they were looking for ways to 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:10.880 spy on each other. Of course, satellite technology entered into it, 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:15.280 but the YouTube predates use. I mean it was already 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:18.040 flying by by that point. Yeah. So this is during 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:22.280 the Eisenhower administration in the United States history and uh, 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:27.080 and so there were several the government, the United States 0:07:27.080 --> 0:07:32.480 government actually invited several different companies to submit proposals for 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:37.360 a spy plane. That's pretty typical, right, And the company 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:40.960 that went out was Lockheed and there was a fellow 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:45.840 by the name of Clarence Kelly Johnson who was put 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:49.640 in charge of the development of this spy plane. Johnson 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:54.840 also was instrumental in creating the the facility that was 0:07:54.880 --> 0:07:58.680 the testing grounds for this particular airplane, and that facility 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:03.960 has gone on to gain incredible notoriety. Yes, partially because 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:06.720 it was very innovative, and partially because it just has 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:09.600 a very cool name, and it was very, very very 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:12.600 secret about everything. And that cool name, at least that's 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:16.160 the popular name for it, is Area fifty one. So 0:08:16.200 --> 0:08:18.680 if you always wondered what Area fifty one was about, 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:22.880 and you've heard about things like UFOs and aliens, what 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:26.800 it really was about was a testing ground for secret aircraft, 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:29.680 and the YouTube was very much a secret aircraft. The 0:08:29.720 --> 0:08:33.000 United States did not really talk about what the You 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:35.840 two was for until they were forced to. And we'll 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:39.320 get into that story too, because that's pretty dramatic. But 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:41.200 but before we get into that, let's talk more about 0:08:41.240 --> 0:08:43.640 what the You two actually was and uh oh, And 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:46.680 in case you're just wondering, Area fifty one, also popularly 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:50.200 known as Groom Lake because it's a dry lake bed, 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:53.240 was where it was built up on. And I think 0:08:53.559 --> 0:08:55.120 in the future we're going to have to do a 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:57.880 podcast all about Area fifty one because it was such 0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:00.920 a cool place. It's not really a number a thing anymore, 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:04.720 but It was definitely a neat idea and some really 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:08.040 cool technology was developed there. Anyway, getting back to the 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:11.960 you two, it's got a Now, this this sucker can 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:20.200 fly at at altitudes of more than seventy thousand feet. Yes, um, 0:09:20.240 --> 0:09:24.439 that's pretty high up. Yeah, very least when you think 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:27.600 about commercial jet liners or tend to be between thirty 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:31.319 and thirty five thousand feet sometimes a little higher. Um, 0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:34.280 you know, that's more than twice as high up. And 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:37.240 uh it was built. It was built with a really 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:41.240 really long wings almost like a glider, and very light 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:45.480 air frame. Yeah. Well I'm sorry, go ahead. The wingspan 0:09:45.920 --> 0:09:47.880 of the U two is about a hundred and five 0:09:47.960 --> 0:09:51.040 feet or you know, thirty two meters or so. The 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:54.640 length is sixty three ft or about nineteen point two meters, 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:58.200 and height uh sixteen feet about four point eight meters 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:02.360 and only ways sixteen thousand pounds, which when you think 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:05.480 about it, is pretty light. That's pretty remarkable. Yeah. It's 0:10:05.480 --> 0:10:08.760 got one General Electric F one eighteen DASH one oh 0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:11.920 one engine. Yeah, although there were other engines used in 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:16.640 the YouTube during its entire history. Uh there Uh, there's 0:10:16.720 --> 0:10:20.800 a J fifty seven turbojet engine. The J seventy five 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:24.480 turbojet engine and then the General Electric F one eighteen 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:28.040 turbo fan engine. UH. They have all been used in 0:10:28.080 --> 0:10:31.240 YOU two's throughout its history of its service in the 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:34.520 United States. Also, before we get too much further into 0:10:34.520 --> 0:10:37.960 the technical details, one of their interesting element. Originally this 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:41.840 was pitched to the Air Force. The Air Force decided 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:46.320 it did not The Air Force decided not to fund it. 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:49.840 The funding came from the c I. A. Yeah, so 0:10:49.840 --> 0:10:53.960 the Central Intelligence Agency is actually responsible for the development 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:58.160 of the YOU tube and UH. In fact, the pilots 0:10:58.320 --> 0:11:02.360 of those early YOU twos were all CIA pilots. Because 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:07.360 the idea was that if you had a a plane 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:10.720 go down and the pilot of that plane was a 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:13.920 member of the United States military, it could look like 0:11:13.960 --> 0:11:19.000 a military action against another country. Because you were a 0:11:19.040 --> 0:11:21.559 pilot for the CIA, you had to be a civilian, 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:27.200 so you actually would go through and and quit a 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:29.400 branch of the military service. He would no longer be 0:11:29.480 --> 0:11:31.760 a part of the Air Force. You would become a 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:34.960 civilian and be employed by the CIA, and that would 0:11:35.000 --> 0:11:37.560 give you the deniability that it was a military action 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:43.280 against another country. Well, of course, UM also sneaky if 0:11:43.320 --> 0:11:47.400 you're wondering how much these aircraft cost. They won't tell 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:50.120 you that information is classified. There's actually a lot of 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:53.439 information classified about the YouTube. Like we can't tell you 0:11:53.520 --> 0:11:58.119 specifically all the different sensors that are on board a YouTube. 0:11:58.120 --> 0:11:59.959 We can tell you that it does have a camera, 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:03.480 actually has multiple cameras in order to get a visual 0:12:03.960 --> 0:12:06.800 representation of what's what it's flying over. It also has 0:12:06.800 --> 0:12:09.520 sensors that can detect the quality of the air and 0:12:09.520 --> 0:12:13.559 and perhaps even sniff out things like, uh, chemicals that 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:17.800 would be indicative of a nuclear facility in the area. Um, 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:20.880 it's got Supposedly it has sensors that can allow it 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:25.160 to even eaves drop on cell phone conversations. Interesting, and 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:28.079 there's also a data link that allows it to upload 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:32.160 information in real time to a remote location. Yes, it's 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:35.480 got a it has infrared cameras and an optical bar camera. 0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:41.559 Um and uh it does have you know, advanced radar 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:46.160 capabilities as well. UM. So it's it's certainly able to 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:49.680 pay a lot of attention to what's going on in 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:53.480 the world around it. Um, even from the altitudes that 0:12:53.520 --> 0:12:55.800 they can reach. Does have a crew of one, We 0:12:55.840 --> 0:12:58.280 know that much. Yeah, it's it's designed to be a 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:01.520 one person aircraft. Have heard that there are a few 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:04.920 examples of two men you tubs, but they are specifically 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:08.160 built for training purposes. They are not they're not actually 0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:11.880 used in service. Uh, it does. It can reach a 0:13:11.920 --> 0:13:15.840 speed of about four miles per hour. It's not you know, 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:20.000 we're not talking about breaking the speed of sound um, 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:22.720 which is unlike the SR seventy one. Yes, which that 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:25.240 was one of the reasons why the s R seventy 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:28.040 one was developed was they wanted the government wanted something 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:30.840 that was even faster and could fly even higher than 0:13:30.880 --> 0:13:33.680 the U two, And the s R seventy one could 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:35.760 do both those things. It could fly at an altitude 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:40.199 around ninety thou feet and it could fly very fast. Indeed, Yes, 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:44.200 which works for the X men. Yes, sort of um 0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:48.240 and are often than not. And if you're wondering, there 0:13:48.280 --> 0:13:50.800 are about thirty three of them. They are still active. 0:13:51.679 --> 0:13:55.560 Um and Yeah. Despite as as Jonathan said earlier, just 0:13:55.600 --> 0:14:00.440 Bite attempts to phase them out as older, outmoded technology, 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:02.959 they're just too good at what they do. You know what. 0:14:02.960 --> 0:14:04.559 It turns out the other stuff that was built to 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:08.320 replace them wasn't good enough and was more expensive, so 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:13.840 while you had aircraft that could fly faster and higher. Uh. 0:14:13.880 --> 0:14:16.840 The one of the big drawbacks of the Blackbird was 0:14:16.880 --> 0:14:19.880 that it did not have a data link. So when 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:22.200 you sent a Blackbird out on a mission in the 0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:24.520 dead of night, you had to wait for it to 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:28.000 come back and dump all that information for you to 0:14:28.000 --> 0:14:30.360 be able to look at it. You couldn't get updates 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:32.480 as the mission was going on, at least not of 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:34.640 all the data that it was collecting. You know, the 0:14:34.640 --> 0:14:40.280 pilot could communicate, presumably, but smartphone, yeah, there's anap for that. 0:14:40.880 --> 0:14:45.160 But flying over foreign power l O L nice w 0:14:45.360 --> 0:14:49.520 TfL uh the uh the only uh. There's some other 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:53.040 interesting things about the YouTube. It's landing gear it has. 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:55.760 You know, most most aircraft that we think of today 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:59.160 has have the landing gear where's the one set of 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:01.280 wheels up for and then the two set of wheels 0:15:01.280 --> 0:15:03.480 in the backs. It's almost like a tricycle, you know. 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:07.080 YouTube does not have that. It has more like a 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:09.880 bicycle set up. It's got one the front set of 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:12.040 wheels and back set of wheels are in line with 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:17.920 one another. Now it does have wheels called pogoes that 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:21.640 are attached to the wings for takeoff, so to give 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:24.320 it stability. When you're taking off with a you two. 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:27.680 But then once you take off, you jettison those wheels. 0:15:27.920 --> 0:15:31.320 They're gone and you only when you're coming into land 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:33.960 you only have those two sets of wheels. So you're thinking, 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:38.320 how can you maintain balance. Well, the wings have skids 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:43.480 on them to protect the wings. It's apparently really really 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:47.000 hard to fly YouTube, and and more so not just 0:15:47.080 --> 0:15:49.800 because of the landing thing, although landing apparently is one 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:51.760 of the most difficult maneuvers you can do with the 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:56.480 YouTube because the wings are so wide, the a little 0:15:56.520 --> 0:15:59.680 cross wind can very much affect the YOUTO. It can 0:15:59.680 --> 0:16:03.800 start gliding off track, and uh, it's it's really hard 0:16:03.840 --> 0:16:07.400 to correct for that. Another issue is that it's designed 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:10.640 to fly at a very high altitude. We'll add that altitude. 0:16:10.680 --> 0:16:14.560 The atmosphere is not as thick, yeah, the thinner atmosphere. Well, 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:20.000 in order to give precise controls at that altitude. The 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:24.240 controls are extremely responsive when you are flying through a 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:28.440 very thin atmosphere, So just a tiny little adjustment by 0:16:28.440 --> 0:16:32.440 the pilot is going to result in a pretty dramatic 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:37.680 change in the plane's behavior. All Right, when you start 0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:40.800 going down, you start descending in the atmosphere is starting 0:16:40.800 --> 0:16:44.800 to get thicker. Suddenly those controls aren't as responsive and 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:46.960 you have to do more to get the plane to 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:49.520 do what you wanted to do. So as you're descending 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:52.320 from that height where you're actually spying and everything, and 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:55.720 you're coming down, UH, the plane becomes less responsive and 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:58.400 the pilot has to use a lot more force to 0:16:58.560 --> 0:17:00.480 get the plane to do what he wants it or 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:03.680 she wants it to do. And um, and so it 0:17:04.119 --> 0:17:06.800 is supposed to be more supposedly one of the most 0:17:06.840 --> 0:17:12.880 difficult aircraft master because the two sets of flying UH 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:17.679 scenarios are so different. As if that weren't enough, Because 0:17:17.720 --> 0:17:19.919 of the way the plane is configured, it's kind of 0:17:19.960 --> 0:17:23.520 hard to see out of um that the nose is 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:27.359 very long, and it's difficult to see out the back 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:32.879 because of the tail. So as a matter of fact, Uh, 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:36.640 Jonathan I, I've actually seen information that suggests that many 0:17:36.680 --> 0:17:39.040 pilots call it the most difficult plane in the world 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:42.120 to fly, and and it actually requires in some instances, 0:17:42.160 --> 0:17:45.000 actually requires a second set of eyes. Somebody else will 0:17:45.040 --> 0:17:48.040 go up after the U two to to help it 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:51.200 get down somebody who's sort of if you will, it's 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:53.719 sort of a visual spot and they go, you know, 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:57.040 sometimes lined up. Sometimes it's a person in a souped 0:17:57.119 --> 0:18:00.359 up car as a second, a second YouTube pilot who 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:04.760 is being driven on in a souped up car going 0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:09.120 alongside the plane as it's coming down and giving verbal 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:13.960 directions to the pilot. So the pilot hasn't indication of 0:18:14.200 --> 0:18:17.520 how far they are from the surface and whether they 0:18:17.560 --> 0:18:19.679 need to make any adjustments. So they'll be in a 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:22.639 car traveling at a pretty good clip of speed. Okay, 0:18:22.800 --> 0:18:25.560 see that was my That was my assumption because it 0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:28.040 said in my notes a high performance vehicle and it 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:30.040 didn't say what kind of vehicle. Yes, yeah, it was 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:32.760 a high performance car. So okay, the Blues Mobile. Actually 0:18:33.560 --> 0:18:36.440 they just check. They have that that megaphone on top 0:18:36.480 --> 0:18:40.720 and alright, he is what you gotta do? You gotta 0:18:40.760 --> 0:18:44.800 go down two ft two ft. Hey guys, it's Jonathan 0:18:44.840 --> 0:18:47.360 from two nineteen here to take a quick break from 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:58.360 spying to thank our sponsor. Some other interesting things about 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:00.720 the YouTube. Another reason why it's so hard to fly 0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:07.119 is that it has to almost always be flying near 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:10.639 the maximum speed of the vehicle, and the reason for 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:13.719 that is because if it starts to get down below 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:18.000 about nineteen kilometers per hour below maximum speed, which is 0:19:18.040 --> 0:19:21.920 ten knots, when it starts to drop below ten knots 0:19:22.000 --> 0:19:25.280 from its maximum speed at whatever altitude it's at, it 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:29.160 starts to stall. So, in other words, there's a really 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:33.080 narrow window of performance that the plane can operate at 0:19:33.320 --> 0:19:36.200 where it's not falling out of the sky. It has 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:38.960 to be going almost full speed or else it's dropping 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:44.000 like a rock. And the pilots have a a special 0:19:44.080 --> 0:19:46.720 name for them, that little window you were, that little 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:50.280 narrow window of of speed. Can you do you have? 0:19:50.359 --> 0:19:54.160 You did you come across that? It's it's a charming name. 0:19:55.119 --> 0:20:02.640 It is the coffin corner. Nice. So yeah, it's um yeah, pilots. 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:08.119 Pilots have a interesting set of um of of terms 0:20:08.200 --> 0:20:11.240 for various things. They have a they have a very 0:20:11.359 --> 0:20:16.879 dry and uh realistic view of the world. So yeah, 0:20:17.560 --> 0:20:21.760 interesting designs. So why sorry, go ahead, I was gonna say, Well, 0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:24.600 the design has changed over the years somewhat. I mean 0:20:24.640 --> 0:20:27.720 they've they've made some adaptations for it. It was originally 0:20:27.720 --> 0:20:30.880 based on the F one oh four UH fighter jet, 0:20:31.320 --> 0:20:34.280 but um, you know it has they they actually the 0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:37.040 version that they fly now is somewhat longer and has 0:20:37.280 --> 0:20:40.639 they've they've upgraded the the avionics systems. In the past, 0:20:40.680 --> 0:20:44.280 they didn't originally use digital UH systems. They were using 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:48.280 UM analog gauges, but they've they've updated all those things 0:20:48.280 --> 0:20:50.040 now and so it's a it's a much more UM. 0:20:50.160 --> 0:20:52.439 I mean, of course, the plane itself is based on 0:20:52.480 --> 0:20:55.720 the original design. It's just it's been adapted and updated 0:20:55.760 --> 0:20:59.600 as as necessary over the years have have gone by. 0:20:59.680 --> 0:21:04.040 So and for the first several years of YOU two's existence, 0:21:05.080 --> 0:21:07.840 the government of course did not admit that it had 0:21:07.920 --> 0:21:10.639 this spy plane. They said that the U two, that 0:21:11.000 --> 0:21:13.320 people knew that the YOU two existed, they just didn't 0:21:13.320 --> 0:21:18.680 know what it was for. And the reason given mostly 0:21:18.880 --> 0:21:23.359 was that it was a vehicle used to examine the 0:21:23.400 --> 0:21:27.240 weather patterns and weather conditions. It was all about gathering 0:21:27.240 --> 0:21:31.880 information about the environment. That it wasn't anything about spy plane. Well, 0:21:31.880 --> 0:21:37.240 that all changed on May one, nineteen sixty, that is 0:21:37.320 --> 0:21:43.239 when a pilot, a CIA pilot named Gary Powers, was 0:21:43.480 --> 0:21:48.720 operating a YouTube and crashed in Soviet territory. Now the 0:21:48.800 --> 0:21:53.800 cause of the crash is has always been disputed right there. 0:21:53.840 --> 0:21:56.159 There are some reports that say that what happened was 0:21:56.160 --> 0:21:59.840 he was shot down, that it was hit. The plane 0:22:00.040 --> 0:22:03.280 was hit by a Soviet missile and it caused the 0:22:03.520 --> 0:22:07.520 plane to crash. There were other reports that said that 0:22:07.640 --> 0:22:11.280 the YouTube passed through the slip stream of another vehicle, 0:22:11.760 --> 0:22:16.680 another plane, and that it caused the YOU two to 0:22:16.720 --> 0:22:19.199 go out of control and a wing ripped off of 0:22:19.240 --> 0:22:22.080 it and it crashed because of that. There's another report 0:22:22.119 --> 0:22:25.800 that said missiles were fired at the U two, but 0:22:26.320 --> 0:22:31.399 uh it exploded behind the plane, and the that the 0:22:31.440 --> 0:22:34.960 explosion was enough to send it out of control. What 0:22:35.200 --> 0:22:38.159 is known is that there was Unfortunately, there was another pilot, 0:22:38.160 --> 0:22:42.000 a Soviet pilot who was flying a MiG who actually 0:22:42.080 --> 0:22:44.480 did get hit by the missiles that were meant for 0:22:44.520 --> 0:22:48.480 the YouTube plane and died as a result. Well, Gary 0:22:48.520 --> 0:22:52.199 Powers was shot down, but he survived. However, he was 0:22:52.760 --> 0:22:56.040 he was used in a little bit of subterfuge. On 0:22:56.119 --> 0:22:58.080 top of the subterfuge he was already a part of 0:22:58.720 --> 0:23:05.639 because the mirror of the Soviet Union. Kruschev didn't let 0:23:05.800 --> 0:23:09.439 the United States know that Powers survived the crash and 0:23:09.520 --> 0:23:13.119 said what Kris Jeff did was he said, Uh, the 0:23:13.160 --> 0:23:16.399 United States have spy plane over my country and we 0:23:16.440 --> 0:23:19.320 shut it down, and you've got some splaining to do. 0:23:22.040 --> 0:23:24.320 Chris is banging the table with his shoe, So if 0:23:24.320 --> 0:23:26.280 you don't know what that's about, look up Chris Jeff 0:23:26.280 --> 0:23:30.320 and shoe. But yes, so Christeff. Christcheff was a little perturbed, 0:23:30.880 --> 0:23:33.480 said there was a spy plane over well he was 0:23:33.520 --> 0:23:37.360 an aggressive act. Yes, yeah, and how can you disagree 0:23:37.359 --> 0:23:40.920 with that? I mean it was a spy plane? Like yeah? 0:23:41.000 --> 0:23:44.920 So did the United States say? Yeah? Okay? New Because 0:23:45.040 --> 0:23:48.720 again the US, not aware that Powers was alive, went 0:23:48.760 --> 0:23:52.840 into the cover story that they had created for this 0:23:52.920 --> 0:23:56.240 sort of scenario, assuming that Powers had died. The Eisenhower 0:23:56.280 --> 0:24:00.520 administration said that the plane was just a weather research aircraft. 0:24:00.800 --> 0:24:03.800 It had accidentally moved into Soviet air space. It was 0:24:03.840 --> 0:24:07.240 not meant to be there. The pilot had actually radio 0:24:07.359 --> 0:24:10.520 that there was some problems with the equipment aboard the plane. 0:24:10.560 --> 0:24:15.240 That was specifically the oxygen equipment, because when you're flying 0:24:15.240 --> 0:24:18.560 at that height you need to have special equipment to 0:24:18.600 --> 0:24:22.560 pressurize the cabin. And in fact, the pilots of the 0:24:22.600 --> 0:24:26.280 YouTube where something that's almost like a space suit because 0:24:26.440 --> 0:24:29.440 of the otherwise you could have some real pressurization problems. 0:24:29.920 --> 0:24:33.320