U-2 Dragon Lady In God We Trust All Others We Monitor Patch

The U-2 took its Dragon Lady nickname from Project DRAGON LADY, the code name for the Air Force's 1956 purchase of 31 U-2s through the CIA. The airplane first flew on August 1, 1955, at Groom Lake, on what was supposed to be a high-speed taxi test. It works at about 70,000 feet, high enough that its pilots wear a pressure suit. The CIA ran the program from 1954 until 1974, when it moved to the Air Force. The Air Force still flies the U-2 today.

Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson of Lockheed's Skunk Works proposed the design in March 1954, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved the program that November. On May 1, 1960, Francis Gary Powers was shot down by a Soviet SA-2 missile near Sverdlovsk. On October 14, 1962, Maj. Richard Heyser flew a U-2F over western Cuba and photographed Soviet medium-range ballistic missiles at San Cristobal. Thirteen days later Maj. Rudolf Anderson was killed when an SA-2 brought down his U-2F over Cuba, and he was awarded the Air Force Cross. The current U-2S flies with a General Electric F118 turbofan, and the 5th Reconnaissance Squadron, part of the 9th Reconnaissance Wing based at Beale Air Force Base, California, flew the first operational U-2S mission on October 20, 1995.

The patch is a 4 inch round with a gold merrowed border and a black outer band. U-2 DRAGON LADY arcs across the top in gold, and IN GOD WE TRUST, ALL OTHERS WE MONITOR runs around the bottom, a reconnaissance twist on the national motto. In the center a black U-2 crosses a gold and blue globe laid out in a teal grid, its long straight wings reaching nearly edge to edge. A green, horned dragon with red eyes and teal wings rides the fuselage, her tail curling down past the wing. It has an iron-on backing, and a few stitches around the edge will hold it for good.

Getting a U-2 back on the ground is its own skill. It lands on bicycle gear, one main wheel set forward and one aft, with removable pogo wheels under the wings to keep it level while it taxis. A chase car with a second U-2 pilot runs down the runway behind it calling out altitude, and the pilot stalls the airplane about two feet up and lets it settle. The cockpit is only partly pressurized, so every pilot flies in a pressure suit. Since 1976 the 5th Reconnaissance Squadron alone has logged more than 7,000 operational sorties.

It fits a shadow box beside a pair of Beale wings or a photo of a U-2 on the ramp, or on the flight jacket of someone who crewed, maintained or chased the Dragon Lady. It is also a good gift for a reconnaissance veteran or anyone who has watched a U-2 land. One dragon, one airplane, and a motto every recce crew will recognize.