In the mid fifties the
U-2 was the highest flying aircraft in the world. I was working in our
Operations Office at Incirlik Air Force Base in Turkey when the Base
Operations Officer called and asked if we had an aircraft flying at an
extremely high altitude. I replied "negative sir, we can‘t fly that
high. We are weather reconnaissance.” “Bullshit,” was his reply.
“There is a Top Secret Naval aircraft flying at approximately 55,000
feet and the pilot reports seeing a body falling through space. Do you
know anything about it?” “No sir, I don‘t know anything.” I cannot
repeat the language he used but I maintained our cover story. It was,
in fact, one of our U-2 pilots who had a malfunction and ejected from
a much higher altitude than the Naval pilot was flying. I use the word
eject but at the time we did not have ejection seats since the weight
of ejection equipment restricted the distance our aircraft could fly.
Our pilots wore pressurized flight suits which kept their bodies from
literally exploding at extreme altitudes. The Navy pilot believed he
was flying higher than anyone had ever flown, all alone with God. Our
U-2 went down in a remote area in Germany and a recovery team was sent
to guard and retrieve the wreckage. Our pilot, survived the bailout
with only a windburned face which occurred when his face mask ripped
loose at the lower, denser altitude. The last we heard was that the
Naval pilot was sent for psychiatric observation insisting that he did
indeed see a body falling from outer space.
Submitted by Air Force Ernie Brosh
