This is a very large volume - and probably my last word on the subject! Unlike my first U-2 book, DRAGON LADY (published in 1989, now out-of-print), the new book benefits from declassified documents, and many more interviews. Unlike my second book, THE U-2 SPYPLANE - TOWARD THE UNKNOWN (published in 2000), the new book covers all 50 years of U-2 history.

If you are only interested in the first five years of the U-2 program, and have already bought my second book, then you should be aware that the first 10 chapters of 50 YEARS
OF THE U-2 are not much different, although I was able to add some first-person accounts and 'collateral' documentary information.

But the new book contains a further 30 chapters, telling the U-2 story from 1960 to the present day in unprecedented detail! There are also five very detailed appendices giving aircraft and systems data, unit and aircraft histories, and a complete pilot list. I have reproduced the cover 'blurb' and the specifications of the new book below.

When the U-2 first took off in 1955, no-one involved in the top-secret project dreamed that this unique reconnaissance aircraft would still be flying today. The long story of the Dragon Lady is amazing, but complex. This book tells it all, in unprecedented detail. From the early days overflying the Soviet Union under CIA sponsorship, to the Cuba Missile Crisis, and on to the Vietnam War. The epic missions over Communist China, flown by nationalist pilots from Taiwan. How the U-2 was improved, enlarged and put back into production – twice. How it led the real-time recce revolution with data links and high-tech sensors. And then how it played a key role in Desert Storm, over Bosnia and Kosovo, and most recently over Afghanistan and Iraq.

The CIA historian said that Chris Pocock is the foremost authority on the history of the U-2. Before writing this book, he flew in the aircraft, conducted 250 interviews, and analysed more than 1,000 declassified documents.

PRAISE FOR 50 YEARS OF THE U-2:

"Pocock has pulled together, from incredibly dispersed and primary sources, the most comprehensive compilation"

- Journal of US Intelligence Studies (AFIO)

“The participants come alive in this history As near a definitive history of the airplane and its operations as the reader is likely to encounter"

- Air Power History, US

Tells the story with a previously-unapproached degree of authority...the text is a model of precision...the only U-2 book you ever need buy"

- Aircraft Illustrated, UK

Size: 8 ½ x 11", over 450 b/w and color photos, 440 pages, hard cover. Price $70

Available from the publisher:

Schiffer Publishing Ltd

4880 Lower Valley Road, Atglen, PA 19310, USA

tel 610-593-1777 www.schifferbooks.com

for more information contact:

Chris Pocock, UKdragon@aol.com