U-2 BIRTHDAY BASH CELEBRATION PLANNED AS SPY PLANE TURNS 50.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Former and current U-2 pilots will attend a 50th anniversary celebration of the first flight of the U-2 spy plane.

The event will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Blackbird Airpark, which has on display a U-2D aircraft, a special test version modified with a second seat to hold a systems operator during flight tests of reconnaissance sensors.

``It's a very unusual airplane. There were only two of them built. They were both flown here at Edwards Air Force Base,'' Air Force Flight Test Center Museum Director Doug Nelson said.

Among those scheduled to appear are two of the earliest U-2 pilots, Hank Meierdierck and Louis Setter. Joining Meierdierck and Setter will be current NASA pilot Dee Porter and former U-2 pilots Dave Ferguson, Jon Guertin and Bob Riedenauer. A number of other pilots might attend during the day also.

Souvenirs marking the 50th anniversary will be available for purchase in the airpark's gift shop. The U-2 cockpits will be open for visitors to look into.

The U-2 was created by Lockheed Corp. in secret to photograph the Soviet Union's nuclear missile sites and bomber bases during the Cold War. It made its first flight in August 1955 from a hidden dry lake bed in the Nevada atomic testing grounds.

Enlarged and upgraded over the years, equipped with new sensors and communication gear to beam data around the world, 28 U-2s and five trainers are still on duty with the U.S. Air Force.

In Palmdale, nearly 600 Lockheed Martin workers are busy overhauling and modernizing the Air Force's remaining U-2s.

The airpark's U-2 was built in 1956 at Lockheed Corp.'s Burbank plant. U-2 56-6721 did flight-test work for 24 years, including programs in which it tested at high altitude devices designed to be fitted to orbiting satellites.

The devices included an infrared sensor for detecting the exhaust plume of Soviet nuclear missiles, cameras for weather satellites and dummy capsules ejected at high altitude to give Air Force crews practice at catching parachuting spy satellite payload capsules.

After its retirement in 1980, the plane was on display at March Air Force Base in Riverside County before returning to the Antelope Valley, where it was restored by Lockheed Martin.

Author Chris Pocock, who wrote ``50 Years of the U-2 - The Complete Illustrated History of the Dragon Lady,'' will sign copies of his book throughout the day.

In researching the book, Pocock flew in the U-2, conducted 250 interviews, and analyzed more than 1,000 declassified documents. U-2 pilots at the airpark will be available to sign copies of the book also.

The Blackbird Airpark, displaying SR-71 and A-12 Blackbird spy planes and a D-12 reconnaissance drone as well as the U-2, is an annex of the Air Force Flight Test Center Museum at Edwards Air Force Base.

It is located at Avenue P and 25th Street East, at Air Force Plant 42.

Normal hours of operation are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Admission is free. The airpark is staffed entirely by volunteers. Profits from this event will go toward continued development of the airpark.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Tom Ashton watches as Chris Havens works in the cockpit of the U-2 on display Thursday afternoon at the airpark.

(2 -- color) Chris Havens, right, with Tom Ashton, takes a peek into the airplane's cockpit.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer