While the Lockheed U-2 is world-famous
utterly forgotten is its high-powered brother, the U-3.
The U-2 had indeed been ground-breaking, but the quest to improve the design was ongoing.
Large increases in speed and range could only be achieved by adding more power.
This took shape in the form of two Pratt & Whitney JT3D/TF33 jet engines.
Of course those thirsty beasts would need more fuel, so wing-tip tanks with a capacity of 1,780 U.S. gal. each were also added. The outrigger wheels were replaced with more robust retractable gear in fairings at mid-wing and the lower rear fuselage.
Excited about the possibilities of the new three-engined U-3, the powers-that-were ordered clandestine reconnaissance flights over the vast Soviet hinter-land of Siberia.
It was thought every bit of power the new U-3 could muster might be needed on these highly classified high-altitude missions.
The first flight took off at 0-dark-30 on March 8, 1962 from Kadena air base headed for points officially unknown.
Somewhere between Inner and Outer Mongolia, the U-3 got into trouble. #2 engine threw fan blades like a carnival knife act and despite trying every trick in the book, the pilot was forced to eject.
He landed in a tiny over-looked country between Inner and Outer Mongolia known (roughly translated) as Innie-Outie Mongolia.
Despite having a social hierarchy built on belly-buttons, the people of Innie-Outie Mongolia are very dignified and decorum rules. Hence through quiet, respectful diplomacy, the U.S. was able to gain the pilot's release and transit back to the west on the sly and this incident has remained secret ever since.
It took some work to dig out the details and my Freedom From Information requests went unanswered. Even though the personnel roster of the disbanded Kadena recon unit was still secret, I was able to figure out what training class the pilot may have been from and I discovered this class photo in files discarded from a decommissioned auxiliary air base.
Still not much to go on, but an acquaintance long-retired from the Lockheed Skunk Works who was involved in the U-3 program helped me narrow down my search.
And here it all would've ended, a faceless, nameless pilot briefly lost over Mongolia but some situations call for pulling out all the stops. After a blind message-drop requesting a crash meeting, my contact from the deep-deep-deep-go-really-deep State was able to finally ID the brave hero of this story.
Unfortunately, Lt. Barry Francis "Frank" Bowers passed away in a bizarre gardening accident in 1984, but despite the government's best efforts, his story lives on.
As for the U-3, it died that day over Mongolia, never to be re-born and would be unknown today if Uncle Sam had his way.
Brian da Basher