If you want to talk about legendary reconnaissance aircraft in history, then the U-2 must have a place.
This reconnaissance aircraft had few rivals when it was first born, and only 15 of them have been shot down since it was in service.
Before the 70s, only 2 U-7 reconnaissance aircraft were shot down after about 20 years of service.
Our troops shot down 5 times
If we put aside emotions and talk about technology, it is not difficult to find that it is not easy to shoot down the U-2 reconnaissance plane, and even to this day, few countries have been able to do it.
U-2 reconnaissance aircraft
The U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was difficult to shoot down, partly because it flew high, and partly because of the relatively short range of anti-aircraft missiles at that time.
The U-2 reconnaissance plane can fly at an altitude of 27,000 meters, which is an altitude that most modern fighters cannot reach.
In order to allow the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft to reach such a high altitude, the design team continued to give the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft a simple configuration, so that the reconnaissance aircraft had as few parts as possible.
For this reason, there was basically no life-sustaining equipment on board the U-2 reconnaissance plane, the cockpit was extremely rudimentary, and the pilots had to wear special flight suits if they wanted to fly the U-2 reconnaissance plane.
U-2 reconnaissance aircraft pilot
However, at such a huge cost, the results can also be very huge.
The 27,000-meter altitude of the U-2 reconnaissance plane was the best in the world at that time, and in the era when the U-2 reconnaissance plane was just born, the fighters at that time could only look up to the U-2 reconnaissance plane.
Therefore, before the 70s, the only means of knocking down the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was surface-to-air anti-aircraft missiles.
But because the U-2 reconnaissance plane flew high, it brought another problem, that is, it was difficult for everyone to detect it.
It is very easy for modern air defense systems to detect aircraft flying at an altitude of 27,000 meters, because all major countries have relatively advanced anti-aircraft radars, and the radar density is relatively large.
Air defense radar
But before the 70s, it was different. Radar technology at that time was not as advanced as it is now, and the detection range was much smaller than that of modern radars.
At that time, the cost of radar was also higher than it is now, and few countries were able to deploy air defense radars in large numbers on their own territory. With sparse radar density, it is even more difficult to spot U-2 reconnaissance aircraft flying at high altitudes.
This means that many times the U-2 reconnaissance plane can randomly interweave through enemy territory, or even fly over your head, without you necessarily knowing.
And the range of anti-aircraft missiles at that time was relatively short, and the SAM-2 anti-aircraft missiles equipped by China at that time had a range of only about 50 kilometers.
SAM-2 missiles
In other words, when the U-2 reconnaissance plane flies at a distance of about 50 kilometers from the SAM-2 missile, it will be difficult for China to intercept the U-2 reconnaissance plane.
It is precisely because of the constraints of radar and anti-aircraft missiles that when these two technologies are developed, it will be much easier for everyone to intercept the U-2 reconnaissance plane.
This is also the reason why in the U-2 reconnaissance plane's service for about 20 years, it was shot down only 7 planes, but in the following decades, the U-2 reconnaissance plane's utilization rate was greatly reduced, and it can even be said that it was close to grounding, it was still shot down 8 planes.
The U-2 reconnaissance plane of the National Army shot down by the People's Liberation Army
Why was the Chinese PLA able to shoot down 5 U-2 reconnaissance aircraft?
It is worth mentioning that of the 70 U-7 reconnaissance aircraft shot down before the 2s, 5 were shot down by the PLA at that time.
As we said above, the density and performance of air defense radars have greatly affected the ability of various countries to intercept U-2 reconnaissance aircraft.
But apparently before the 70s, China had considerable shortcomings in air defense systems. So how did China manage to shoot down 5 U-2 reconnaissance planes at that time?
The answer is intelligence warfare. Everyone knows that during the War of Liberation, there were a large number of underground CCP workers within the Kuomintang, and even Shen Anna, the clerk of Chiang Kai-shek, was an underground member of the CCP.
Underground party member Shen Anna
At that time, the Kuomintang held a high-level meeting, and Shen Anna could directly get first-hand information.
After the Kuomintang was defeated and retreated to Taiwan, China in 1949, a large number of underground party members within the Kuomintang came to Taiwan with the Nationalist army.
Therefore, after 1949, the intelligence war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party continued, and our party was still able to obtain a large number of military secrets of the national army.
In this context, Lao Jiang decided to use the U-2 reconnaissance plane to specially form a black cat squadron for reconnaissance on the mainland, which naturally could not be concealed from the Chinese mainland.
When the national army was about to send the Black Cat squadron to reconnoiter the mainland, the ubiquitous underground workers on the island would hand over the departure time and route of the U-2 reconnaissance plane to the mainland.
Chiang Kai-shek and the Black Cat squadron
In this way, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) will be able to deploy its air defense system on the route of the U-2 reconnaissance plane in advance to make up for its own series of disadvantages, such as the short range of the air defense missile and the short radar detection range.
Therefore, the fact that the Chinese People's Liberation Army was able to shoot down a large number of U-2 reconnaissance planes was not a victory in military technology, but a victory in intelligence warfare.
Interestingly, after the PLA shot down a large number of U-2 reconnaissance planes, it was felt incredible at home and abroad at that time.
So at a press conference in 1962, a foreign reporter asked Chinese mainland curiously
Naturally, we could not admit that there were a large number of underground workers on the island, so Marshal Chen Yi jokingly said at that time, "We were stabbed down with bamboo poles," and this incident later became a joke.
Marshal Chen Yi
The niche of the U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft
Today, high-altitude reconnaissance planes such as the U-2 reconnaissance plane are in a state of being usable but not usable.
It is said that it cannot be used because the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, although it flies high, is extremely survivable in the face of today's air defense systems.
It is said that it can still be used because the drone perfectly solves the problem of poor survivability of aircraft.
If the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft can be made into a drone, then it does not need a cockpit at all, and the weight can be further reduced.
On the Chinese side, there is naturally a high-altitude unmanned reconnaissance aircraft of the same type, that is, the Wuzhan-8.
No Detective-8
Compared with the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, the Wuzhen-8 not only flies high, but also extremely fast.
Because of the use of an aviation rocket engine, the Wuzhen-8 can reach speeds of Mach 4.
Such a fast speed can support the Wuzhen-8 for rapid reconnaissance, which is much more valuable than the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft in the case of real-time updating of front-line battlefield intelligence.
And because of China's industrial capacity, the Wuzhen-8 is also much lower than the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft in terms of cost.
No Detective-8
When it comes to the battlefield to start reconnaissance activities, China can release a large number of Wuzhen-8s, but the U-2 reconnaissance planes of the United States can only be released to pick and search.
Resources:
[1] Shangguan News · "Today is Chen Yi's birthday! He once commented on China's shooting down of a U.S. U-2 plane: it was stabbed down with a bamboo pole! 》
[2] Global Network "Mending a knife: U2 has been shot down by the People's Liberation Army 5 planes, will the US military send the 6th plane? 》