a high-altitude, high-performance, photo-reconnaissance spy plane. The U stands for utility, assigned originally to disguise the fact that these were spy planes, and 2 is the model number. In May 1960, a n American U-2 was shot down over Russia. At first, the American government claimed that this plane was a weather observation plane that had drifted over Russia but later admitted that the planeshot down had actually been a spy plane. It was later revealed that the flight was part of a top-secret program of photographic espionage which had been going on for four years. —LCDH Approved Glossary