U-2 reconnaissance plane helps bring POWs home

  • Published
  • By Capt. Roger Burdette
  • Combined Forces Air Component Command Public Affairs
OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM (AFPN) --  The Seven U.S. Army soldiers who were formerly prisoners of war in Iraq are safe at a U.S. medical facility in Germany and are preparing to reunite with families. The reunion was possible not only because of the rescue operation by Marines but also because of assistance from an Air Force reconnaissance aircraft.

Air Force officials said that a U-2 Dragon Lady reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft provided critical "situational awareness" that allowed the Marines to safely and successfully recover the seven soldiers from north of Samarrah, Iraq, approximately 100 miles north of Baghdad.

As reported widely in worldwide news coverage on April 13, Marines traveling in Iraq learned about the seven American POWs from Iraqi military officers who had deserted their unit.

Not reported or widely known, though, was that at the time the Marines learned about the POWs, a U-2 was already airborne over Iraq, performing an unrelated reconnaissance mission. While still airborne, the U-2 pilot communicated with both the Marines near Samarrah and with officials at the Combined Air Operations Center at an air base in the Arabian Gulf Region.

Because the U-2 is able to fly at altitudes of up to 70,000 feet -- more than 13 miles -- it has "tremendous radio range," according to the pilot who flew the mission. His call sign is "Code."

At the U-2's altitude, Code was able to act as a sort of high-altitude information coordinator, monitoring radio transmissions and passing messages between key parties involved in the rescue who were otherwise out of each other's communication range.

The U-2 also gathered information that ensured that no Iraqi air defense or ground troops were in the area to threaten the Marine helicopters that recovered the POWs.

Code, who has flown U-2s for two years and B-52 Stratofortresses and B-1 Lancers before that, deflected credit from himself and toward others.

"The pilot is integral to mission accomplishment, but the gist of the mission is accomplished on the ground by intelligence experts," Code said. "My biggest challenge is to take off, make sure the jet is healthy, navigate and then land the beast."

In the case of the POWs, two Marine CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters swept into Samarrah and rescued the POWs, armed with information provided by the U-2.

The U-2 that participated in the rescue is deployed to the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing in the Arabian Gulf region. The aircraft's home organization is the 9th Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, Calif.