The Lockheed U-2 high-altitude photoreconnaissance airplane provided critical military intelligence during the Cold War. U-2s monitored military installations in the Soviet Union and Cuba and nuclear testing in China, and they flew surveillance missions over Vietnam and the Middle East. This one was the first U-2 to fly over the Soviet Union.

Photographer:

Eric Long

ID#:

SI 2001-2243

Source:

Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum

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Smithsonian Institution

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