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And yet they have still been operational for 60 years after that… Funny that the U2 lasted longer than the Soviet Union.
The U-2 first flew in 1955. One was shot down over the USSR in 1960, and another was shot down over Cuba in 1962. They largely stopped flying over peer air defenses at that point.
That’s about a 7-year span where it was useful for its primary task. Hanging around to fly over Libya in 2011 is not the same as fulfilling the role the plane was designed for decades later.
as a museum piece
You should probably look up what the word “operational” means.