The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed "Dragon Lady", is an American single-engine, high altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated from the 1950s by the United States Air Force (USAF) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It provides day and night, high-altitude (70,000 feet, 21,300 meters), all-weather intelligence gathering.

Lockheed Corporation originally proposed it in 1953, it was approved in 1954, and its first test flight was in 1955. It was flown during the Cold War over the Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, and Cuba. In 1960, Gary Powers was shot down in a CIA U-2C over the Soviet Union by a surface-to-air missile (SAM). Major Rudolf Anderson Jr. was shot down in a U-2 during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. The early versions of the U-2 have long since been retired, though the later U-2S variant is still in service and is being continually upgraded.

THE KIT

For many years in the 1970s and early 1980s, MPC reboxed Airfix kits for the US market. As a real fan of Airfix and thanks to the fairly low price of these kits compared to the imports, I bought a lot of them. This is one of those kits. I've had it so long that the price sticker had fallen from the shrink wrap long before I opened it for this preview.

Molded in black plastic so you don't have to paint it, the kit is actually well done and looks to be accurate in shape. Since it was tooled back in the middle ages of plastic modeling, it has raised panel lines and a fairly basic cockpit that consists of floor, rear bulkhead, seat, stick, and the usual Airfix pilot. If doing the U-2D option, there is a second seat and pilot figure for that.

Before closing the cockpit(s) you need to open fuselage holes depending on the variant you are building. You also need to install the tail wheel and exhaust pipe. With that done, the most complex part of the build is next.  This includes choosing the correct intakes for the U-2B/D or U-2C, the correct lower fuselage insert, the correct upper fuselage inserts, the correct spine attachment, and whether it has wing tanks or not.

Then the wings and tailplanes are attached. This is followed by the main landing gear, doors, lower fuselage intakes and the outriggers. Note that one should paint the kit prior to attaching any gear as there are decals that go through the outrigger area. Finally, you have a one-piece canopy and the option for open and closed intakes.

MPC's instructions are on a folded sheet of paper with generic paint references. Two markings options are provided. One is the all black box art U-2B of Gary Powers with only pinkish serial numbers. The other is a more elaborate silver and black U-2C/D based at Edwards AFB with the 6512th Test Group. Decals are thick and even after nearly 40 years, should still be viable. Fortunately, there have been aftermarket sheets for this aircraft so you can do other aircraft.

CONCLUSIONS

Like most kits from this time period, it has been superseded by one from AFV Club, though there have been comments about shape issues on that kit. This one and the Airfix release are not difficult to find and are at what passes for a reasonable price on the second hand market. I built one of these many, many years back and it is still a favorite. Below is an image of a U-2A I built many years back.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_U-2

June 2024

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