2023 great job you did but it's time to update

@ChiChiWerx Yeah when looking through images there were a few that looked like lenses as opposed to screens, when I later checked Wikipedia it was said that the cockpit contained a "circular monitor" while showing off the picture above..
So I'm not sure, there seems to be some misinformation spreading around with the image I linked.

@Ariathe thank you!

Very beautiful and detailed! Well done!

Aha! Here’s the viewsight bubble under the nose. Between the two pitot booms. This is an R model, most likely. The S version was simply a re-engined R model and the Block 20 is the S model with the new “glass” cockpit...and no viewsight :(

I never learned cel nav as a pilot, so it didn’t matter that the U-2S version didn’t have the sextant. We used INS/GPS for navigation and, should that fail, we used dead reckoning (headings and timed turns), as well as the viewsight (as long as we had it) to crosscheck our position over the ground and get back. The older pilots who had flown the C version hadn’t been taught cel nav in pilot training either, but the navigators assigned to the unit did the pre-computations on the ground prior to takeoff. That way the pilots only had to sight the celestial body and refer to the charts to indicate if they were on or off course and timing.

Your photo is the C model, which also had a sextant for celestial (“cel nav”) navigation (pre INS and GPS days, after all). You can see the sextant pull (and the sextant filter—for sighting the sun during daytime) knobs, which flips a mirror inside the viewsight, and allows you to use the bubble on top of the nose (vs. the bubble underneath) and sight the sun (daytime) or the moon and/or specific aiming stars (nighttime).

If you look here, you can see the hand controller for the viewsight, it the triangular piece that’s on the lower right console. It was really hard to find this photo, BTW.

Oh, yeah, they took the viewsight out of the Block 20 cockpit, now there are three big color Multi Function Displays (MFDs).

Here’s a photo of what it looks like in flight.

Well, it’s not that. It’s called a “viewsight”. It’s a reverse periscope—all optical, no electronics involved—that allows you to look directly down, as well as around the bottom of the jet. The closest under you can see out of the cockpit, under the jet, is around 22 miles, so if you want to see directly downwards, say for missiles or AIs trying to intercept, or to simply navigate over geographic points in case you lose INS and GPS, you can do so. In fact, take a really close look at the viewsight in your photo...you’ll see it has crosshairs and a little aiming box at the center. Also, either the photo was originally doctored to put the “map” in the viewsight with the crosshairs, because it’s definitely a high altitude shot of a port area, or they put a photo under the viewsight for display purposes (though I’m fairly certain it would be out of focus if they had done that).

@ChiChiWerx I'm joking, it's a screen/monitor

@Destroyerz117 ha, ha. No. That’s not what it’s for. Would you like to know what it is?

@ChiChiWerx for admiring your reflection on a long flight

So...what’s the “mirror” for? ;)

thx @Destroyerz117

@Freerider2142 @AWESOMENESS360 thank you!

@Nerfenthusiast will do!

tag me on the build please

nice detail work!

I may have to work this into my U2! Looks great!

Impressive!

No problem, will do! @Destroyerz117

@CRJ900Pilot Sure! That's what its for just make sure to mention me in the description

Mind if I use for a WWII night fighter and modify it?