Maj. Patrick Hudson became the thirty-first pilot in the U-2 Dragon Lady high altitude reconnaissance aircraft program’s fifty-eight year history to record 2,000 flight hours on 17 May 2013 during the final combat mission of his twenty-year military career from an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia. A native of Fayette, Mississippi, and an Air Force Academy graduate, Hudson accomplished the feat in only seven years and five days after he flew the U-2 solo for the first time, the second fastest in program history. Hudson, who began his career as KC-135 tanker pilot, flew 146 combat missions in the U-2, said to be the fourth highest number of combat sorties in the history of the Dragon Lady.
U-2 Dragon Lady Operations At Beale AFB
U-2 First Flight
