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Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with text Stuff from Stuff

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Speaker 1: from stat Co. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff.

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Speaker 1: I'm Jonathan Strickland, and I'm bringing you another classic episode

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Speaker 1: of tech Stuff. If you guys haven't figured this out,

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Speaker 1: I am preparing for a vacation and it means that

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Speaker 1: I have to add in extra recording time. But unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: getting extra time for potential co hosts is a really

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Speaker 1: challenging thing. So I've recorded a couple of you know,

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Speaker 1: updates to old episodes. This time, I want to talk

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Speaker 1: about the U two spy plane. You know. Recently Ben

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Speaker 1: Boland joined me for an episode about the super secret

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Speaker 1: space plane and what it might be up to, uh,

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Speaker 1: and that reminded me of this classic episode of tex

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Speaker 1: Stuff about the U two spy plane. Also, I was

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Speaker 1: thinking about the U two spy plane because I still

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Speaker 1: have uh my Negative Land episode on the brain. If

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Speaker 1: you missed that episode, should definitely check it out. It's

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Speaker 1: really awesome. Nold did an amazing job producing that episode.

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Speaker 1: And of course Negative Land is the performance group that

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Speaker 1: got into a little bit of legal trouble when they

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Speaker 1: had a sort of spoof on a YouTube song Come Out,

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Speaker 1: but you can hear all about that in the episode

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Speaker 1: about Negative Land. Oh and I also was thinking about YouTube,

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Speaker 1: because even though it happened months ago, it still kind

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Speaker 1: of makes me chuckle that Apple essentially forced a new

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Speaker 1: YouTube album onto everyone who owns an iPhone, whether they

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Speaker 1: wanted it or not. Obviously that didn't pan out exactly

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Speaker 1: the way they had planned. The best intentions did not

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Speaker 1: lead to the best outcomes in that case, but pretty

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Speaker 1: amusing at any rate. YouTube has been on my mind.

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Speaker 1: So it's time to talk about the actual spy plane,

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Speaker 1: not the band, not the Negative Land piece. But it's

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Speaker 1: an interesting story. I hope you enjoyed this classic episode

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Speaker 1: of tech Stuff as Chris Polette and I look back

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Speaker 1: about where that spy plane came from and how it

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Speaker 1: played such an important role in surveillance over the years.

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Speaker 1: We were going to talk today about an interesting thing

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Speaker 1: that I saw the other day, which is um Well.

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Speaker 1: In a way, it's sort of a drone because it

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Speaker 1: starts with a the r Q for Global Hawk, a

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Speaker 1: drone aircraft that is um Well. It's status is sort

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Speaker 1: of in question right now, as at the time we're

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Speaker 1: recording this, there negotiating the budget for uh, the United

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Speaker 1: you know, the defense budget for the United States of

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Speaker 1: America UM, and UH that's one of the items that

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Speaker 1: was considered to be struck. Now, of course, UM, over

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Speaker 1: the past few years, unmanned aerial vehicles have been UH

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Speaker 1: coming up a lot in the news. They've been instrumental

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Speaker 1: in several of the military engagements around the world with

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Speaker 1: the United States, I mean, US has has employed unman

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Speaker 1: aerial vehicles in lots of cases. The proposal was that

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Speaker 1: there would be three d forty two million dollars budgeted

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Speaker 1: UM to UH to work on the Global Hawk and UM.

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Speaker 1: As it turns out, it's been proposed that they dropped

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Speaker 1: the item entirely in favor of a much more uh,

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Speaker 1: much more less cutting edge technology in a way. And

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Speaker 1: the reason one of the reasons to talk about cutting

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Speaker 1: this whole Global Hawk thing is because, uh, it's expensive. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: the estimated cost of a single Global Hawk is a

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Speaker 1: hundred and seventy six million dollars. That's expensive. So they

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Speaker 1: had they had enough. They had just they didn't even

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Speaker 1: quite have enough money in the budget for two of them.

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Speaker 1: So you can get one and seven eighths of a

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Speaker 1: Global Hawk for the budget they had proposed. So the

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Speaker 1: the alternative right now for a and the purpose of

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Speaker 1: the Global Hawk, we should say, is it's reconnaissance air craft. Yes,

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Speaker 1: it doesn't attack people, it is it is their for

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Speaker 1: surveillance purposes, specifically spying. So you know, there are a

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Speaker 1: lot of unmanned aerial vehicles that have been developed over

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Speaker 1: the last several years. Many of them are designed to

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Speaker 1: get a real time uh feel of what's going on

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Speaker 1: in certain environments. And they they're designed to do things

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Speaker 1: like fly through areas that could be combat zones, but

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Speaker 1: they're not necessarily designed to spy to be able to

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Speaker 1: fly through undetected. It's more about getting as quick and

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Speaker 1: accurate a picture of the situation as it exists right now,

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Speaker 1: rather than let's go find out what those pesky so

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Speaker 1: and so is over there are doing. So are pesky

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Speaker 1: so and so technology tends to be much more sneaky,

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Speaker 1: and it's designed to be very fast. Usually it's designed

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Speaker 1: to fly very very high so that can try to

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Speaker 1: avoid things like radar as well as missiles you know,

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Speaker 1: attempts to take it down. UH. And it's designed to

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Speaker 1: try and gather as much information as quickly as possible. UH.

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Speaker 1: And since the nineteen fifties. That technology has been one

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Speaker 1: particular type of aircraft in the United States. Even though

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Speaker 1: we've tried to replace it on multiple occasions, we're still

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Speaker 1: using it today and the it's what we will be

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Speaker 1: using instead of the Global Hawk, the Lockheed U two. Yes,

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Speaker 1: I believe it or not. Um they're saying that the

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Speaker 1: the U two is actually a better piece of technology

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Speaker 1: and in some ways than the the newer unmanned aerial vehicle.

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Speaker 1: And like I said, the replacement for the U two

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Speaker 1: has has was built and was retired already, which was

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Speaker 1: the SR seventy one Blackbird. But we'll get into that.

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Speaker 1: It's a gorgeous design, right. So they have the Blackbird,

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Speaker 1: which was designed to be the replacement for the YouTube.

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Speaker 1: It actually lived out it's useful life in the US

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Speaker 1: Air Force and then was retired because well, it's really

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Speaker 1: expensive to maintain as well. In fact, well, and I'll

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Speaker 1: talk about why it was expensive to maintain, because that's

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Speaker 1: kind of an interesting story. But to to understand the

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Speaker 1: You two, we have to go back quite a bit.

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Speaker 1: And we're not going to use the way back machine

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Speaker 1: because I found out that stuff you should know used

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Speaker 1: it about a week and a half ago, and apparently

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Speaker 1: they left it somewhere, like they actually hoofed it back

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Speaker 1: from seven And I have no idea what they were

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Speaker 1: doing back then. But yeah, so I have no idea.

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Speaker 1: We have to track it down. So we're just gonna

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Speaker 1: have to talk about today, all right then, But um so,

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Speaker 1: then you would probably go back in time if we

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Speaker 1: were using the machine to uh about Well, August nine

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Speaker 1: is the first day it ever flew. Yes, August one,

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Speaker 1: nineteen fifty five, it's first flight of the YouTube. Now,

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Speaker 1: the whole purpose for developing the YouTube stems out of

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Speaker 1: the Cold War between the United States and the then

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Speaker 1: USSR Soviet Union. Um So, the whole reason for it

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Speaker 1: was that we needed to have weaving the United States

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Speaker 1: because from the US the United States needed to have

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Speaker 1: some sort of vehicle to get an idea of what

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Speaker 1: was going on and a potential uh um wartime enemy.

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Speaker 1: And the Cold War was was called the Cold War

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Speaker 1: because it wasn't like there actual physical outbreaks of violence

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Speaker 1: between the two countries, but there was a true rivalry

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Speaker 1: of global proportions going on between the two, and so

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Speaker 1: we there were needs each each country felt the need

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Speaker 1: to find out as much about what was going on

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Speaker 1: in the other country as possible, and so they were

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Speaker 1: developing their own ways of spying on each other. Of course,

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Speaker 1: this also figured into this space race. Um. We've talked

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Speaker 1: about the thing what beaped but sput Nick that they

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Speaker 1: sent up from the Soviet Union um shortly after that period,

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Speaker 1: but it was around the same time they were looking

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Speaker 1: for ways to spy on each other. Of course, satellite

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Speaker 1: technology entered into it. But the YouTube predates ate because

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Speaker 1: I mean it was already flying by by that point. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So this is during the Eisenhower administration in the United

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

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Speaker 1: the United States government actually invited several different companies to

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Speaker 1: submit proposals for a spy plane. That's pretty typical, right,

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Speaker 1: And the company that went out was Lockeed and there

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Speaker 1: was a fellow by the name of Clarence Kelly Johnson

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Speaker 1: who was put in charge of the development of this

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Speaker 1: spy plane. Johnson also was instrumental in creating the the

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

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Speaker 1: and that facility has gone on to gain incredible notoriety, yes,

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Speaker 1: partially because it was very innovative and partially because it

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

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Speaker 1: very very secret about everything, and that cool name, at

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Speaker 1: least that's the popular name for it, is Area fifty one.

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Speaker 1: So 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 uh I

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

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

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Speaker 1: such a cool place. It's not really not really a

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Speaker 1: thing anymore, but it was definitely a neat idea and

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Speaker 1: some really cool technology was developed there. Anyway, getting back

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Speaker 1: to the YouTube, Yeah, it's got a Now this this

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Speaker 1: sucker can fly at at altitudes of more than seventy

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Speaker 1: thousand feet. Yes, Um, that's pretty high up. Yeah, that's

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Speaker 1: when you think about commercial jet liners are tend to

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Speaker 1: be between thirty and thirty five thousand feet, sometimes a

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Speaker 1: little higher. Uh, you know, it's more than twice as

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Speaker 1: high up. And uh it was built. It was built

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Speaker 1: with a really really long wings almost like a glider,

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Speaker 1: and very light air frame. Yeah. Well I'm sorry, go ahead.

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Speaker 1: The wingspan of the U two is about a hundred

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Speaker 1: and five feet or you know, thirty two meters or so,

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Speaker 1: the length of sixty three ft or about nineteen point

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

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Speaker 1: eight meters, and only way is sixteen thousand pounds, which

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Speaker 1: when you think about it is pretty light. That's pretty remarkable. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: It's got one General Electric F one eighteen Dash one

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

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Speaker 1: in the YouTube during its entire history. Uh. There Uh,

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Speaker 1: there's a J fifty seven turbojet engine, the J seventy

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

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Speaker 1: eighteen turbo fan engine. Uh. They have all been used

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

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Speaker 1: the United States. 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 youtubs were all CIA pilots because the

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Speaker 1: of the military service. You would no longer be a

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

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

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

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Speaker 1: another country. Well, of course, um also sneaky. If you're

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Speaker 1: wondering how much these aircraft cost, they won't tell you

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

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Speaker 1: classified about the YouTube, Like we can't tell you specifically

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Speaker 1: 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 eavesdrop on cell phone conversations. Interesting, and there's

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Speaker 1: also a data link that allows it to upload information

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

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

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Speaker 1: And uh it does have you know, advanced radar capabilities

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

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

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

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Speaker 1: can reach. Does have a crew of one we know

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

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Speaker 1: person aircraft. I have heard that there are a few

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Speaker 1: examples of two men you twos, 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 SR seventy one

239
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Speaker 1: was developed was they wanted the government wanted something that

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

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

242
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Speaker 1: both those things. It could fly at an altitude around

243
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Speaker 1: 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

245
00:14:44,960 --> 00:14:49,080
Speaker 1: and often than not. And if you're wondering, there are

246
00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:53,000
Speaker 1: about thirty three of them. They are still active. Um

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

248
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Speaker 1: attempts to phase them out as older, outmoded technology, they're

249
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Speaker 1: just too good at what they do well. It turns

250
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Speaker 1: out the other stuff that was built to replace them

251
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Speaker 1: wasn't good enough and was more expensive. So while you

252
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Speaker 1: had aircraft that could fly faster and higher. Uh. The

253
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Speaker 1: one of the big drawbacks of the Blackbird was that

254
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Speaker 1: it did not have a data link. So when you

255
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Speaker 1: sent a Blackbird out on a mission in the dead

256
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Speaker 1: of night. You had to wait for it to come

257
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Speaker 1: back and dump all that information for you to be

258
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Speaker 1: able to look at it. You couldn't get updates as

259
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Speaker 1: the mission was going on, at least not of all

260
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Speaker 1: the data that it was collecting. You know. The pilot

261
00:15:35,680 --> 00:15:40,960
Speaker 1: could communicate presumably, but smartphone, Yeah, there's anap for that.

262
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Speaker 1: But flying over foreign power l O L nice R

263
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Speaker 1: TfL uh the uh the only uh. There's some other

264
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Speaker 1: interesting things about the YouTube. It's landing gear it has.

265
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Speaker 1: You know, most most aircraft that we think of today

266
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Speaker 1: has have the landing gear. Where's the one set of

267
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Speaker 1: ehels up front and then the two set of wheels

268
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Speaker 1: in the backs. It's almost like a tricycle, you know.

269
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Speaker 1: YouTube does not have that. It has more like a

270
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Speaker 1: bicycle set up. It's got one the front set of

271
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Speaker 1: wheels and back set of wheels are in line with

272
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Speaker 1: one another. Now, it does have wheels called pogos that

273
00:16:18,640 --> 00:16:22,320
Speaker 1: are attached to the wings for takeoff, so to give

274
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Speaker 1: it stability when you're taking off with a you two.

275
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Speaker 1: But then once you take off, you jettison those wheels.

276
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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,

278
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Speaker 1: how can you maintain balance? Well, the wings have skids

279
00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:44,160
Speaker 1: on them to protect the wings. It's apparently really really

280
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Speaker 1: hard to fly a YouTube and and more so not

281
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Speaker 1: just because of the landing thing, although landing apparently is

282
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Speaker 1: one of the most difficult maneuvers you can do with

283
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Speaker 1: the YouTube because the wings are so wide, the a

284
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Speaker 1: little cross wind can very much affect the you to

285
00:17:00,160 --> 00:17:03,920
Speaker 1: it can start gliding off track and uh, it's it's

286
00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:07,440
Speaker 1: really hard to correct for that. Another issue is that

287
00:17:07,480 --> 00:17:10,600
Speaker 1: it's designed to fly at a very high altitude. We'll

288
00:17:10,600 --> 00:17:13,520
Speaker 1: at that altitude, the atmosphere is not as thick. Yeah,

289
00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:17,320
Speaker 1: it's the thinner atmosphere. Well, in order to give precise

290
00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:23,360
Speaker 1: controls at that altitude, the controls are extremely responsive when

291
00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:27,040
Speaker 1: you are flying through a very thin atmosphere. So just

292
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Speaker 1: a tiny little adjustment by the pilot is going to

293
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Speaker 1: result in a pretty dramatic change in the plane's behavior.

294
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Speaker 1: All right, when you start going down, you start descending

295
00:17:40,280 --> 00:17:43,080
Speaker 1: in the atmosphere is starting to get thicker. Suddenly those

296
00:17:43,119 --> 00:17:46,480
Speaker 1: controls aren't as responsive and you have to do more

297
00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:48,720
Speaker 1: to get the plane to do what you wanted to do.

298
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Speaker 1: So as you're descending from that height where you're actually

299
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Speaker 1: spying and everything and you're coming down, UH, the plane

300
00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:57,439
Speaker 1: becomes less responsive and the pilot has to use a

301
00:17:57,440 --> 00:18:00,320
Speaker 1: lot more force to get the plane to do what

302
00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:03,280
Speaker 1: he wants it or she wants it to do. And UM,

303
00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:06,880
Speaker 1: and so it is supposed to be are supposedly one

304
00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:11,560
Speaker 1: of the most difficult aircraft master because the two sets

305
00:18:11,640 --> 00:18:16,919
Speaker 1: of flying UH scenarios are so different. As if that

306
00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:20,000
Speaker 1: weren't enough, because of the way the plane is configured,

307
00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:23,520
Speaker 1: it's kind of hard to see out of um that

308
00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:26,680
Speaker 1: the nose is very long, and it's difficult to see

309
00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:31,840
Speaker 1: out the back because of the tail. So as a

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Speaker 1: matter of fact, Uh, Jonathan I, I've actually seen information

311
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Speaker 1: that suggests that many pilots call it the most difficult

312
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Speaker 1: plane in the world to fly, and and it actually

313
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Speaker 1: requires in some instances, actually requires a second set of eyes.

314
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Speaker 1: Somebody else will go up after the U two to

315
00:18:48,040 --> 00:18:51,240
Speaker 1: UH to help it get down, somebody who's sort of

316
00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:53,000
Speaker 1: if you will, it's sort of a visual spot and

317
00:18:53,080 --> 00:18:56,760
Speaker 1: they go, you know, there's sometimes lined up. Sometimes it's

318
00:18:56,760 --> 00:18:59,520
Speaker 1: a person in a souped up cars, a second, a

319
00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:03,919
Speaker 1: second YouTube pilot who is being driven on in a

320
00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:08,160
Speaker 1: souped up car, going alongside the plane as it's coming

321
00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:12,560
Speaker 1: down and giving verbal directions to the pilot. So the

322
00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:16,959
Speaker 1: pilot hasn't indication of how far they are from the

323
00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:19,760
Speaker 1: surface and whether they need to make any adjustments. So

324
00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:22,040
Speaker 1: they'll be in a car traveling at a pretty good

325
00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:25,199
Speaker 1: clip of speed. Okay, see that was my That was

326
00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:28,520
Speaker 1: my assumption because it said my notes say high performance vehicle,

327
00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:30,639
Speaker 1: and it didn't say what kind of vehicle. Yeah, it

328
00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:34,360
Speaker 1: was a high performance car, the Blues Mobile. Actually they

329
00:19:34,400 --> 00:19:37,240
Speaker 1: just chat. They have that that megaphone on top, and

330
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Speaker 1: they all right, is what you gotta do? You gotta

331
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Speaker 1: go down two ft two ft anyway? Um, So yeah,

332
00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:49,520
Speaker 1: there's that, and then there's also uh, some other interesting

333
00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:51,920
Speaker 1: things about the YouTube. Another reason why it's so hard

334
00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:56,760
Speaker 1: to fly is that it has to almost always be

335
00:19:56,840 --> 00:20:01,679
Speaker 1: flying near the maximum speed to the vehicle. And the

336
00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:04,520
Speaker 1: reason for that is because if it starts to get

337
00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:09,200
Speaker 1: down below about nineteen kilometers per hour below maximum speed,

338
00:20:09,240 --> 00:20:12,560
Speaker 1: which is ten knots. When it starts to drop below

339
00:20:12,640 --> 00:20:16,040
Speaker 1: ten knots from its maximum speed at whatever altitude it's at,

340
00:20:16,760 --> 00:20:20,240
Speaker 1: it starts to stall. So in other words, there's a

341
00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:24,400
Speaker 1: really narrow window of performance that the plane can operate

342
00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:27,520
Speaker 1: at where it's not falling out of the sky. It

343
00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:30,120
Speaker 1: has to be going almost full speed or else it's

344
00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:33,679
Speaker 1: dropping like a rock. And uh, the pilots have a

345
00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:37,360
Speaker 1: a special name for that, that little window you were,

346
00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:41,600
Speaker 1: that little narrow window of of speed. Can you do

347
00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:44,240
Speaker 1: you have you did you come across that? It's it's

348
00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:52,720
Speaker 1: a charming name. It is the coffin corner. Nice. So yeah,

349
00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:57,040
Speaker 1: it's um, yeah, pilots. Pilots have a interesting set of

350
00:20:57,200 --> 00:21:01,800
Speaker 1: um of of terms for they have. They have a

351
00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:08,400
Speaker 1: very dry and uh, realistic view of the world. So yeah,

352
00:21:09,080 --> 00:21:13,280
Speaker 1: interesting designs. So why sorry, go ahead, I was gonna say, well,

353
00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:16,160
Speaker 1: the design has changed over the years somewhat. I mean

354
00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:19,280
Speaker 1: they've they've made some adaptations for it. It It was originally

355
00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:22,440
Speaker 1: based on the F one oh four UH fighter jet,

356
00:21:22,840 --> 00:21:25,840
Speaker 1: but um, you know it has they they actually the

357
00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:28,560
Speaker 1: version that they fly now is somewhat longer and has

358
00:21:28,800 --> 00:21:32,120
Speaker 1: they've they've upgraded the the avionics systems. In the past.

359
00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:35,800
Speaker 1: They didn't originally use digital uh systems. They were using

360
00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:39,800
Speaker 1: UM analog gauges, but they've they've updated all those things

361
00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:41,560
Speaker 1: now and so it's a it's a much more um

362
00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:43,960
Speaker 1: I mean, of course, the plane itself is based on

363
00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:47,240
Speaker 1: the original design. It's just it's been adapted and updated

364
00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:51,120
Speaker 1: as as necessary over the years have have gone by.

365
00:21:51,240 --> 00:21:55,560
Speaker 1: So and for the first several years of you tube's existence,

366
00:21:56,640 --> 00:21:59,400
Speaker 1: the government of course did not admit that it had

367
00:21:59,440 --> 00:22:02,760
Speaker 1: this biplane. They said that the U two. That people

368
00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:04,919
Speaker 1: knew that the you two existed, they just didn't know

369
00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:10,520
Speaker 1: what it was for. And the reason given mostly was

370
00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:15,200
Speaker 1: that it was a vehicle used to examine the weather

371
00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:19,200
Speaker 1: patterns and weather conditions. It was all about gathering information

372
00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:23,400
Speaker 1: about the environment. That there wasn't anything about spy plane. Well,

373
00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:28,760
Speaker 1: that all changed on May one, nineteen sixty, that is

374
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Speaker 1: when a pilot, a CIA pilot named Gary Powers, was

375
00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:40,240
Speaker 1: operating a YouTube and crashed in Soviet territory. Now, the

376
00:22:40,359 --> 00:22:45,320
Speaker 1: cause of the crash is has always been disputed. Right there.

377
00:22:45,359 --> 00:22:47,840
Speaker 1: There's some reports that say that what happened was he

378
00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:51,879
Speaker 1: was shot down, that it was hit the plane was

379
00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:55,000
Speaker 1: was hit by a Soviet missile and it caused the

380
00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:59,040
Speaker 1: plane to crash. There were other reports that said that

381
00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:02,800
Speaker 1: the YouTube passed through the slip stream of another vehicle,

382
00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:08,240
Speaker 1: another plane, and that it caused the YOU two to

383
00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:10,720
Speaker 1: go out of control and a wing ripped off of

384
00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:13,600
Speaker 1: it and it crashed because of that. There's another report

385
00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:17,959
Speaker 1: that said missiles were fired at the U two, but uh,

386
00:23:18,440 --> 00:23:23,560
Speaker 1: it exploded behind the plane, and the that the explosion

387
00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:27,080
Speaker 1: was enough to send it off control. What is known

388
00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:29,720
Speaker 1: is that there was unfortunately, there was another pilot, a

389
00:23:29,800 --> 00:23:33,800
Speaker 1: Soviet pilot who is flying a MiG who actually did

390
00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:36,119
Speaker 1: get hit by the missiles that were meant for the

391
00:23:36,160 --> 00:23:40,399
Speaker 1: YouTube plane and died as a result. Well, Gary Powers

392
00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:44,359
Speaker 1: was shot down, but he survived. However, he was he

393
00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:47,840
Speaker 1: was used in a little bit of subterfuge on top

394
00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:50,760
Speaker 1: of the subterfuge he was already a part of, because

395
00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:57,399
Speaker 1: the premier of the Soviet Union, Khrushchev, didn't let the

396
00:23:57,520 --> 00:24:01,520
Speaker 1: United States know that Powers survived the crash. Instead, what

397
00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:05,240
Speaker 1: Kris Jeff did was he said, uh, the United States

398
00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:08,240
Speaker 1: had a spy plane over my country and we shut

399
00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:13,840
Speaker 1: it down, and you got some splaning to do. Chris

400
00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:15,879
Speaker 1: is banging the table with his shoe, So if you

401
00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:18,240
Speaker 1: don't know what that's about, look up Chris Jeff and shoe.

402
00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:22,640
Speaker 1: But yes, so Christeff. Christcheff was a little perturbed, said

403
00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:25,159
Speaker 1: there was a spy plane over well here was an

404
00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:29,080
Speaker 1: aggressive act. Yes, yeah, and how can you disagree with that?

405
00:24:29,119 --> 00:24:33,160
Speaker 1: I mean it was a spy plane. Yeah. So did

406
00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:37,600
Speaker 1: the United States say? Yeah? Okay? Now, because again the US,

407
00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:41,359
Speaker 1: not aware that Powers was alive, went into the cover

408
00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:45,280
Speaker 1: story that they had created for this sort of scenario,

409
00:24:45,359 --> 00:24:49,639
Speaker 1: assuming that Powers had died. The Eisenhower administration said that

410
00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:52,640
Speaker 1: the plane was just a weather research aircraft. It had

411
00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:56,000
Speaker 1: accidentally moved into Soviet airspace. It was not meant to

412
00:24:56,040 --> 00:24:59,320
Speaker 1: be there. The pilot had actually radio that there was

413
00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:02,399
Speaker 1: some problem with the equipment aboard the plane. That was

414
00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:07,040
Speaker 1: specifically the oxygen equipment, because when you're flying at that

415
00:25:07,080 --> 00:25:11,879
Speaker 1: height you need to have special equipment to pressurize the cabin.

416
00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:15,120
Speaker 1: And in fact, the pilots of the YouTube where something

417
00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:19,000
Speaker 1: that's almost like a space suit because of the otherwise

418
00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:23,080
Speaker 1: you could have some real pressurization problems. So they said, no, no, no,

419
00:25:23,119 --> 00:25:26,239
Speaker 1: it's just a weather aircraft. It was there were some

420
00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:28,639
Speaker 1: problems that we heard about. They were supposed to be

421
00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:33,760
Speaker 1: over Turkey. Uh, it was completely just a misunderstanding, and

422
00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:36,320
Speaker 1: that that the plane that was shot down is probably

423
00:25:36,359 --> 00:25:39,399
Speaker 1: the weather plane. It's it's definitely not a spy plane.

424
00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:44,400
Speaker 1: And then Chris Jeff said, the pilots alive and we

425
00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:47,679
Speaker 1: recovered all the information aboard the plane. It was actually

426
00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:50,600
Speaker 1: in in good conditions. So we know exactly what you

427
00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:53,240
Speaker 1: were looking for, and we know exactly what the purpose

428
00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:56,560
Speaker 1: of this this vehicle was. And you are a big

429
00:25:56,640 --> 00:26:02,160
Speaker 1: fibbing fibber. Yes, they they that he was okay in Moscow,

430
00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:06,119
Speaker 1: um and he had said he They said that he

431
00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:10,000
Speaker 1: told them that he had taken off from Peshawar in Pakistan,

432
00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:13,200
Speaker 1: UM and he was told to fly over the Soviet

433
00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:19,400
Speaker 1: Union um basically over the Errold Sea. Were Sverdlovsk, Kirov,

434
00:26:20,119 --> 00:26:23,800
Speaker 1: our King I can't pronounce that word, our King Glisk

435
00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:28,919
Speaker 1: and Murmansk to the Bodo Military Airfield in Norway, and

436
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:31,879
Speaker 1: so they he he told them he they said, he

437
00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:34,919
Speaker 1: told them the exact route he was supposed to fly um.

438
00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:37,520
Speaker 1: And of course you know that the United States after

439
00:26:37,520 --> 00:26:41,359
Speaker 1: that was still saying, well that that really wasn't wasn't

440
00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:44,600
Speaker 1: what was going on there. It was just very hard

441
00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:47,520
Speaker 1: to deny when they had so much and there was

442
00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:52,159
Speaker 1: and there was a supposed to be a summit that

443
00:26:52,280 --> 00:26:54,760
Speaker 1: was going to be going on, like I think a

444
00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:58,200
Speaker 1: week or two after this happened, and it caused quite

445
00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:02,239
Speaker 1: a stir and international polity picks that this and it

446
00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:05,320
Speaker 1: was it was considered to be a very huge humiliating

447
00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:10,240
Speaker 1: embarrassment for the United States and demanded that the United

448
00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:13,919
Speaker 1: States stopped flying over the Soviet Union or you know,

449
00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:16,840
Speaker 1: they'd leave. Do I need to take my shoe off again?

450
00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:21,840
Speaker 1: Put it back on? And uh. Ultimately the international community

451
00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:24,439
Speaker 1: ended up sighting more with the United States than with

452
00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:30,399
Speaker 1: the Soviet Union. But other outcomes of this Powers was

453
00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:33,320
Speaker 1: was tried and convicted in the Soviet Union in August

454
00:27:33,359 --> 00:27:36,920
Speaker 1: that year. He was sentenced to several years of prison,

455
00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:39,840
Speaker 1: followed by I think seven years of hard labor. But

456
00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:44,480
Speaker 1: he ended up getting released as part of an exchange,

457
00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:47,960
Speaker 1: a prisoner exchange for Rudolph Able. Yeah, and that that

458
00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:51,000
Speaker 1: took place. All right, kids, you might not know this,

459
00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:54,000
Speaker 1: but when I was a kid, there were two Germany's.

460
00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:57,480
Speaker 1: There's an East Germany and there was a West Germany.

461
00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:01,639
Speaker 1: And the exchange actually took place on a bridge between

462
00:28:01,680 --> 00:28:04,359
Speaker 1: the borders of East Berlin and West Berlin. And it

463
00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:07,560
Speaker 1: was a very famous event. So now there's no longer

464
00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:09,639
Speaker 1: in East Germany and West Germany, but back when I

465
00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:11,639
Speaker 1: was a kid, there was and that this is what

466
00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:15,840
Speaker 1: you know, this took place at that location because the

467
00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:18,520
Speaker 1: there was a Soviet controlled part and there was the

468
00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:22,960
Speaker 1: German controlled part. All that is in the past. Now

469
00:28:24,359 --> 00:28:28,119
Speaker 1: ask your parents about the Berlin Wall kids, Well, there

470
00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:31,760
Speaker 1: there were no Really, I don't recall any other major

471
00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:36,359
Speaker 1: famous incidents in which a YouTube was involved. There was

472
00:28:36,400 --> 00:28:41,080
Speaker 1: the Zaropa Tour, yes, and I was wondering how long

473
00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:43,360
Speaker 1: I could go without making a YouTube joke, and then

474
00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:48,440
Speaker 1: the answer was twenty seven minutes. Um. But ironically enough,

475
00:28:48,680 --> 00:28:54,840
Speaker 1: I find um uh. NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration,

476
00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:59,680
Speaker 1: has used the e R two, which is basically a

477
00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:05,480
Speaker 1: model fied YouTube, to collect information on um the on

478
00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:09,600
Speaker 1: space phenomena, and on the Earth itself. So yes, in fact,

479
00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:12,680
Speaker 1: it does make it pretty good, uh you know, weather

480
00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:16,800
Speaker 1: in and observation plane for other purposes than just spying,

481
00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:19,840
Speaker 1: but still being used as a as a spy plane.

482
00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:21,880
Speaker 1: According to I just thought it was kind of funny.

483
00:29:21,880 --> 00:29:24,880
Speaker 1: Then yeah, you know, then Niles and then well, as

484
00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:26,680
Speaker 1: it turns out, you can use it for that. So

485
00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:28,960
Speaker 1: I found out some more information about and I was

486
00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:31,680
Speaker 1: gonna say talk about the blackbird and about how it

487
00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:33,480
Speaker 1: was supposed to be. That was also developed an Area

488
00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:35,840
Speaker 1: fifty one. It was originally called the A twelve that

489
00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:38,880
Speaker 1: was its designation, then eventually was known as the s

490
00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:41,960
Speaker 1: R seventy one Blackbird. UM. It was the successor to

491
00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:45,160
Speaker 1: the YouTube but was retired and it had a useful

492
00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:50,120
Speaker 1: life of between nineteen sixty four and when it was

493
00:29:50,160 --> 00:29:52,840
Speaker 1: retired for the second time. So it's kind of like

494
00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:55,280
Speaker 1: a professional wrestler, you know, it retires and then comes

495
00:29:55,320 --> 00:29:57,760
Speaker 1: back and then retires again, but in this case only

496
00:29:57,800 --> 00:30:01,080
Speaker 1: retired the two times. And and there's no real way

497
00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:04,040
Speaker 1: of making more of them because they destroyed the tooling

498
00:30:04,120 --> 00:30:07,440
Speaker 1: machinery back in the sixties when they built a blackbird,

499
00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:09,280
Speaker 1: the idea being that they didn't want it to fall

500
00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:11,280
Speaker 1: into any other hands, and so this was a way

501
00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:14,400
Speaker 1: of maintaining secrecy. The downside of that is that once

502
00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:17,240
Speaker 1: you run out of blackbirds, you don't have any more

503
00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:20,440
Speaker 1: of them. Uh, there's no way to make more UM.

504
00:30:20,520 --> 00:30:23,200
Speaker 1: And so they actually had a lot of issues with that,

505
00:30:23,280 --> 00:30:26,800
Speaker 1: and there were several blackbirds that were involved in various accidents,

506
00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:30,120
Speaker 1: and the incidence that made them either they either were

507
00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:34,280
Speaker 1: destroyed as a result or they were inoperable. Uh So

508
00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:39,040
Speaker 1: they now all exist pretty much in museums. I think

509
00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:43,400
Speaker 1: there might be one or two that um belonged to NASA, actually,

510
00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:47,120
Speaker 1: but there aren't any that are being used in military service.

511
00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:49,720
Speaker 1: So the Air Force has stopped using the Blackbird. Well,

512
00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:51,720
Speaker 1: you know, that was supposed to be the successor to

513
00:30:51,760 --> 00:30:54,400
Speaker 1: the You two, but they again stopped being used in

514
00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:58,800
Speaker 1: ninety eight. The You two kept going since. According to

515
00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:02,720
Speaker 1: the Air Force, a well one point seven billion with

516
00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:07,320
Speaker 1: a B dollars have been poured into the YouTube program

517
00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:10,320
Speaker 1: to keep it up to date, to modernize it, make

518
00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:14,360
Speaker 1: sure that it's you know, operating at at a level

519
00:31:14,440 --> 00:31:18,920
Speaker 1: that that modern warfare and modern politics demands, because you know,

520
00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:21,800
Speaker 1: we've got a lot more sophisticated with the ways that

521
00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:25,360
Speaker 1: we detect stuff. So in order to stay ahead, it

522
00:31:25,400 --> 00:31:27,360
Speaker 1: had a lot more money to be poured into it.

523
00:31:27,680 --> 00:31:31,520
Speaker 1: And according to one source I saw, since two thousand

524
00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:34,760
Speaker 1: and three, the Air Force has flown more than nine

525
00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:39,000
Speaker 1: five thousand hours using the YouTube. Keep in mind there

526
00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:43,680
Speaker 1: only thirty three of these things. That's pretty impressive. Yeah, yeah,

527
00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:45,880
Speaker 1: well the uh, in case you're wondering, the r Q

528
00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:50,280
Speaker 1: four may not be off the table. Um. It is

529
00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:55,280
Speaker 1: presumed that North Grumman, the company that makes Well, the

530
00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:58,680
Speaker 1: primary company that makes it, will try to get it

531
00:31:58,760 --> 00:32:01,320
Speaker 1: put back into the into the budget. And it may

532
00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:03,600
Speaker 1: just be that it's a delay more than anything else.

533
00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:05,520
Speaker 1: In fact, most of those sources I saw was that

534
00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:09,280
Speaker 1: it's it's it's that the date keeps getting pushed back,

535
00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:13,120
Speaker 1: like originally the the YouTube was supposed to be retired

536
00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:18,680
Speaker 1: by the most recent date I saw it was, yeah,

537
00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:20,280
Speaker 1: And then I saw one that said it may be

538
00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:23,000
Speaker 1: flying as late as twenty fifty, which means it would

539
00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:27,080
Speaker 1: be a hundred years old. Almost. Yeah, yeah, well, you know,

540
00:32:27,440 --> 00:32:29,360
Speaker 1: and uh, it takes three people to fly in r

541
00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:31,600
Speaker 1: Q four. You know, you have to have an l

542
00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:33,400
Speaker 1: R E pilot, an m C E pilot, and a

543
00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:36,400
Speaker 1: sensor operator. And it only flies up to sixty thousand

544
00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:40,480
Speaker 1: feet which is about eighteen thousand, two eight meters um.

545
00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:44,680
Speaker 1: It uh has a maximum speed of three seven miles

546
00:32:44,720 --> 00:32:47,960
Speaker 1: per hour about three D ten knots um. So you know,

547
00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:50,800
Speaker 1: it's it's comparable in some ways, but in others, you know,

548
00:32:50,840 --> 00:32:54,920
Speaker 1: the you two still out does it. So, um, it's

549
00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:58,280
Speaker 1: it's impressive stuff. But it's kind of funny to me

550
00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:01,840
Speaker 1: that that tried and true YOU two is still hanging

551
00:33:01,880 --> 00:33:04,840
Speaker 1: in there despite all these other things that that could

552
00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:08,280
Speaker 1: replace it. Yeah. Part of that is the the qualities

553
00:33:08,360 --> 00:33:10,040
Speaker 1: of the U two, and part of that is is

554
00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:13,560
Speaker 1: purely economical. She said, you know, there's just not the

555
00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:16,520
Speaker 1: money to replace it, and that you know, we do

556
00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:20,000
Speaker 1: have a need for reconnaissance vehicles. And you might ask, well,

557
00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:22,320
Speaker 1: why do we need that, because we've got satellites now right,

558
00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:24,960
Speaker 1: We've got satellites that can spy on stuff. And that's true,

559
00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:28,120
Speaker 1: we do have satellites, but satellites are not yeah stuff

560
00:33:28,120 --> 00:33:32,960
Speaker 1: the beeps. Satellites are not capable of of focusing in

561
00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:36,520
Speaker 1: on a very specific region at a reasonable amount of

562
00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:40,000
Speaker 1: time in many cases, So it may be that you've

563
00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:42,400
Speaker 1: got a great view of this one region, but the

564
00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:44,840
Speaker 1: problem is that the issue that you need to look

565
00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:48,160
Speaker 1: at is just outside of that that view, and in

566
00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:50,000
Speaker 1: order to change the view on the satellite is going

567
00:33:50,040 --> 00:33:53,240
Speaker 1: to take hours. Whereas you could send a YouTube plane

568
00:33:53,520 --> 00:33:56,280
Speaker 1: stationed in a nearby country to fly over and get

569
00:33:56,280 --> 00:33:58,960
Speaker 1: a look right then and there, and the way the

570
00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:03,240
Speaker 1: world works, we need information instantly. We can't wait anymore.

571
00:34:03,400 --> 00:34:06,840
Speaker 1: So Yeah, for for instance, they might have intelligence that

572
00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:11,200
Speaker 1: a specific operation is going on right now, and they're

573
00:34:11,200 --> 00:34:13,759
Speaker 1: going to hide whatever it is that they're moving, you know,

574
00:34:13,840 --> 00:34:18,280
Speaker 1: some some kind of weapons technology or some you know, uh,

575
00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:21,359
Speaker 1: something like that, or or a caravan of people or something.

576
00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:23,120
Speaker 1: You know, it could be a variety of things that

577
00:34:23,160 --> 00:34:25,919
Speaker 1: you want to see. Um And by the time the

578
00:34:25,960 --> 00:34:28,160
Speaker 1: Earth rotates back to where the satellite could take a

579
00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:32,480
Speaker 1: good picture of it, it'll be too late. Um. So

580
00:34:32,520 --> 00:34:36,000
Speaker 1: that kind of thing, yep, yep, spy stuff is cool,

581
00:34:37,160 --> 00:34:41,480
Speaker 1: and yes it is, but um oh, but and it

582
00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:45,400
Speaker 1: did play a major part in the the Cuban missile

583
00:34:45,440 --> 00:34:48,279
Speaker 1: crisis in the nineteen six Pieces was able to get

584
00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:52,040
Speaker 1: a good picture of what was going on there between

585
00:34:52,040 --> 00:34:55,480
Speaker 1: the Soviets and the Cubans. Um do you and you

586
00:34:55,520 --> 00:34:57,839
Speaker 1: know we didn't mention it, But do you know what

587
00:34:57,920 --> 00:35:03,160
Speaker 1: the nickname is for the YouTube? Oh? I did see

588
00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:05,080
Speaker 1: it a moment ago, and then I scrolled past it

589
00:35:05,120 --> 00:35:09,120
Speaker 1: in my notes. I'm surprised I didn't mention it already.

590
00:35:09,200 --> 00:35:13,399
Speaker 1: It is the Dragon Lady. Yes you don't. You don't

591
00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:16,759
Speaker 1: hear it? Mentioned the you two is well known enough

592
00:35:16,800 --> 00:35:19,520
Speaker 1: by it by its normal designation that you don't really

593
00:35:19,560 --> 00:35:21,319
Speaker 1: hear the nickname very often like you do the SR

594
00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:25,600
Speaker 1: seventy one Blackbird for example. But yeah, that's a cool name,

595
00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:29,239
Speaker 1: cool name. All right. Well, this wraps up this discussion

596
00:35:29,320 --> 00:35:31,200
Speaker 1: about the YouTube. Like I said, we'll try and do

597
00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:34,000
Speaker 1: one about Area fifty one specifically. At some point we

598
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:37,000
Speaker 1: can talk about the other vehicles and technologies that came

599
00:35:37,040 --> 00:35:40,560
Speaker 1: out of that research facility, uh, and also talk about

600
00:35:40,760 --> 00:35:43,560
Speaker 1: why it was so secret and uh, you know, the

601
00:35:43,600 --> 00:35:47,279
Speaker 1: whole craziness that surrounds Area fifty one and and how

602
00:35:47,320 --> 00:35:50,480
Speaker 1: it plays a part in conspiracy theories because you know

603
00:35:50,719 --> 00:35:54,240
Speaker 1: it does, you might not have heard about it. Um,

604
00:35:54,360 --> 00:35:56,719
Speaker 1: you need to watch this documentary series called The X

605
00:35:56,719 --> 00:36:02,880
Speaker 1: Files goes all into it, all right. And that was

606
00:36:02,920 --> 00:36:06,200
Speaker 1: our classic tech stuff episode on the YouTube spy Plane.

607
00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:09,200
Speaker 1: We've talked about several other times, obviously when we talked

608
00:36:09,200 --> 00:36:12,439
Speaker 1: about Area fifty one and some of the other surveillance

609
00:36:12,480 --> 00:36:17,080
Speaker 1: and spy technology podcasts. But I really enjoyed that original episode.

610
00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:19,399
Speaker 1: I hope you guys did too. If you have any

611
00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:21,880
Speaker 1: suggestions for future episodes, you can write to me. My

612
00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:25,239
Speaker 1: email address is tech stuff at how stuff works dot com,

613
00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:28,080
Speaker 1: or drop me a line on Facebook, Twitter, or Tumbler

614
00:36:28,480 --> 00:36:30,520
Speaker 1: to handle it. All three of those is text stuff

615
00:36:30,800 --> 00:36:33,920
Speaker 1: h SW and I'll talk to you again really soon.

616
00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:41,520
Speaker 1: For more on this and thousands of other topics. Does

617
00:36:41,560 --> 00:36:58,319
Speaker 1: it how staff works dot com