From the official (and heavily redacted) CIA history of their U-2 operations, published in 1998.

The Air Force/U.S. Government has long insisted that the U-2 is a reconnaissance aircraft, not a “spy plane”. That sounds very nice and pretty too. But back in 1957, the U-2 seen here belonged to the CIA and that meant it was very much in the business of spying. No doubt the CIA would call that “intelligence gathering”, but to scoop up such info, they still needed to do what is known as the age-old act of “spying”. 

Thanks to Max Pashnev for this photo taken from the original negative.

Need to explore the remotest headwaters of a mysterious river but don’t have the time? Forward thinkers in 1935 already had the answer: Fill a boat with adventurers, attach it to an airplane, then drop it and its passengers like a bomb.

Very early shot of the 367-80 at Boeing Field in 1954. Not the first flight, but early enough to garner a crowd of Boeing employees.

Most of the men in this photo look old enough to remember when the Ford Trimotor was the greatest thing in airline travel.

The -80 later in its life.

I will date this photo from the late 60s when the -80 was nearing the end of its operational days.

It is a testament to Boeing that even with the external design of the 367-80 now pushing 70 years of age, one could swap its four turbojets for a pair of turbofans, give it a modern paint scheme, and still have an airliner that would differ very little from those of today.

(From a stash of old negatives I recently found hidden in one of my file cabinets.)

…but here is the newspaper story from when it all happened. San Francisco Examiner, November 3, 1948.

A series of original Wright Brothers photos that I have never seen before.  Comparing them with known photos, the first two were taken during the famous trials at Fort Myer, Virginia in 1908.  The second photo shows Orville standing in front of the “cockpit” while soldiers restrain the machine which ran at only one speed – full power. This series of demonstration flights ended in tragedy when the aircraft crashed killing the observer, Lt. Thomas Selfridge, and severely injuring Orville.

The next two photos show the Wright Flyer at Governors Island, NY, in September, 1910. The close-up sees Wilbur Wright explaining to a lady the finer points of the machine. With Orville recuperating from the Fort Myer crash, Wilbur carried on the brothers’s work. While at Governors Island, he undertook several flights the most famous being around the Statue of Liberty and New York harbor. If one looks closely, they can see the red canoe Wilbur strapped to the machine’s underside in case he had to ditch in that harbor. Ever the realist, Wilbur’s intent was not that the canoe would keep the aircraft afloat, but rather that it would make a water landing survivable – that set of forward elevators would have dug into the water and launched Wilbur right through them.