The Miracle at Cortez

Note: If you click on the link toward the end of the column, don’t turn off your volume. Even though the video starts in Chinese with English sub-titles, it soon goes to English with Chinese sub-titles, the only one I’ve ever seen to do that.

I’m going to take you back to the year 1959 to introduce today’s column.  Some of you were alive at that time and some weren’t.  And even those who were might never have heard or read this story.  I know I hadn’t until very recently because I was over in Korea at the time.  Besides, the incident was classified for many years afterwards.

Okay, August of 1959… The U.S.S.R has launched their Sputnik two years earlier, and we are on a fast track to try and catch up in the space race.  Everything is, however, top secret, and nobody knows the names of the astronauts, or that there are astronauts, or even that the term “astronaut” exists. Communist China is threatening to attack two islands off their coast called Quemoy and Matsu, which are held by the Republic of China on Taiwan.  It is still a secret that we have a spy plane designated U-2, or “Dragon Lady,” and Gary Powers is not a name anyone knows, because his U-2 will not be shot down by the Soviets for another few months.

That U-2 is the focus of the column, because we were testing it with American and Republic of China pilots.  We were doing so with a terrible loss of aircraft and pilots.  On one of those test flights a ROC Major, Hsichun Mike Hua, took off from Laughlin Air Force Base in Texas on a U-2 mission.  He was to fly a trapezoidal pattern up to Ogden, Utah and back. The flight was designed to test celestial navigation, and therefore, it was conducted at night.

All went well until Major Hua reached Delta, Utah on his return flight.  Then, at an altitude of 70,000 feet, his engine suddenly flamed out.  The time was 10:28 PM, so it was pitch black outside.  And if you have ever driven or flown over the Wasatch Mountains in Utah, you will know that there are several peaks in the range that top 10,000 feet.  Beyond the mountains there is a canyon- and mesa- filled land.

Major Hua tried several times to restart the engine after he glided to a lower altitude, but his efforts were unsuccessful.  Fortunately, the U-2 has a great glide slope, so the plane was kept high for a considerable time while major Hua assessed the situation.  But finally, he was down to about 15,000 feet and things were getting dicey.  He was in danger of becoming the 18^th casualty and the 12^th fatality of the U-2 program. As he was preparing for a forced night landing, possibly in those rugged mountains, he spotted runway lights in the distance. 

Southwest of the little town of Cortez, the gateway to Mesa Verde in extreme southwest Colorado, there was a municipal airport not even shown on Major Hua’s aviation maps.  The town council had been debating for months the practice of leaving runway lights on overnight.  No decision had yet been made, so they were on that night while Captain Tom Johnson finished up some paperwork in the flight shack.  Little did he know the events that were unfolding far above him.

Major Hua was able to turn the craft while still on a glide path and line up with the runway, though he had no idea in which direction the wind was blowing or what the altimeter setting would be to touch down on the runway.  And since the U-2 doesn’t have the typical tricycle landing gear, but rather a in-line bicycle configuration, he would have to land it very precisely while totally unable to see the ground and with a dead stick—no power.

Not only was Major Hua successful in bringing the U-2 in on the runway; he was able to turn it off to the edge before the wing touched down.  He climbed out of the craft and proceeded to the flight shack, walking in on Captain Johnson in what must have appeared to be a totally alien “space suit.”  It was later suggested by Captain Johnson that he fully expected the alien to say the words, “Take me to your leader.”

Major Hua, who later retired with the rank of General, was awarded the “Distinguished Flying Cross” for his achievement on the night of august 3, 1959.  And he was in Cortez on August 2, 2009 for the celebration of the 50^th anniversary of the feat.

On my recent trip to the Four Corners I stayed three nights in Cortez, and I was able to drive over some of the country that Major Hua had traversed in his crippled airplane.  I also visited the airport at Cortez. It has a wall of fame inside the passenger terminal that recounts the “Miracle at Cortez.” 

The runway at Cortez, barely visible in the middle running center to right edge, is just below the Mesa Verde National Park in the background.  On the other side, behind the photographer, is Sleeping Ute Mountain, an even higher obstacle.

A modern passenger terminal has since replaced the crude flight shack that existed in 1959 and Cortez is a commercial airport today with commuter flights to and from Denver.

Here is a 2-minute video that shows how difficult it is to land a U-2 even with a chase car to relay height above the runway to the pilot. Chase cars are always used during landing the U-2 night or day, so Major Hua's feat was even that much more challenging.