James May (Top Gear) at the Edge of Space in a U2!

[n4gix]

James is no stranger to outrageous challenges on Top Gear, but this time he is put to the test by three days of intense training with the U.S. Air Force as he prepares to go for a ride on the famed U-2 spy plane.

He will have to train like an Apollo astronaut and learn how to emergency eject from the cockpit, survive the thirteen mile fall back to Earth and wear a spacesuit to stay alive in air so thin it can instantly kill. All for a once-in-a-lifetime journey that will take him 70,000 feet into the stratosphere to a place the U.S. Air Force calls the "space equivalent zone" —giving him a close-up of space and an astronaut's view of Earth.

http://www.wimp.com/breathtakingfootage/

 

[centuryseries]

Gives a good insight into the inner workings at Beale AFB. You can buy it on DVD at Amazon :salute:

 

[hairyspin]

James May is an interesting and entertaining writer as well as presenter and holds a PPL. He's flown in - and written on - the U2, Eurofighter and Spitfire T Mk IX: with the last two he's had control as well.

Much though I enjoy his writing and presenting, were he ever to get a flight in centuryseries's avatar I would simply have to kill him. :greenf: Fortunately, the SR-71 is retired.