U-2

The museum's U-2 just barely fits into the gallery exhibiting it: The tail is low in one corner of the gallery, with the nose high in the opposite corner (actually, the top of the gallery wall is tilted back, allowing additional space for the nose, and the gallery's drop ceiling has a large opening to accommodate the tail).

I assumed that the aircraft was an original exhibit, with the museum built around it, but I learned that the museum did not acquire the plane until 1982, six years after the museum opened.

This particular U-2 (Article 347, S/N 56-6680) was the seventh U-2 built. Originally a CIA plane, it was subsequently transferred to the Air Force and the plane's paint scheme is that of an Air Force U-2 operated from British bases in the Middle East.

The U-2 is NASM catalog #A19820380000.