CIA/CSI/ History Staff Monograph, The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance: The U-2 and Oxcart Programs, 16 July 2002.

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Seer
Chapter 2
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The early models of these MC-2 and MC-3 partial-pressure suits
were very uncomfortable for the pilots. To prevent loss of pressure,
the heavy coverall had to fit tightly at the wrists and ankles (in the
early models of these suits, the feet were not included in the pressur-
ization scheme). The pilot had to wear gloves and a heavy helmet that
tended to chafe his neck and shoulders and was prone to fogging.
Problems with the pilot life-support system were believed to have
been the cause of several early crashes of the U-2.
Having gotten a pilot into this bulky suit and shoehorned him
into his seat in the cockpit, the next problem was how to get him out
in an emergency. The U-2 cockpit was very small, and the early mod-
els did not have an ejection seat. Even after an ejection seat was in-
stalled, pilots were reluctant to use it because they were afraid they
would lose their legs below the knees when they were blown out of
the cockpit. To save weight, the first pilot's seat was extremely simple
with no height adjustment mechanism. Designed for pilots of
above-average height, the seat could be adjusted for shorter pilots by
inserting wooden blocks beneath the seat to raise it. In later versions
of the aircraft, Kelly Johnson added a fully adjustable seat."
The Air Force undertook bailout experiments at high altitudes
from balloons in the autumn of 1955 to determine if the suit designed
for the U-2 pilot would also protect him during his parachute descent
once he was separated from the life-support mechanisms inside the
aircraft. To avoid getting the "bends" during such descents or during
the long flights, pilots had to don their pressure suits and begin
breathing oxygen at least 90 minutes before takeoff so that their bod-
ies would have time to dissipate nitrogen. This procedure was known
as prebreathing. Once the pilots were in their suits, eating and drink-
ing became a major problem, as did urination. The first model of the
pressure suit, used by Lockheed test pilots, made no provision for uri-
nation. A subsequent model required the pilot to be catheterized be-
fore donning his flying suit. This method of permitting urination
during flight proved very uncomfortable and, by the autumn of 1955,
was replaced with an external bladder arrangement that made the
catheter unnecessary. To reduce elimination, pilots ate a low-bulk,
high-protein diet on the day before and the morning of each mission.
" Lecture by Maj. Gen. Patrick .1. Halloran (former Air Force U-2 pilot) at the National
Air & Space Museum, 24 April 1986 (U).
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