U2 - Not the Band

I recently finished listening to the story of Lockheed's Skunk Works from Ben Rich's view.  Fortunately for me, the name of the book is Skunk Works.  Easy for me to remember.  The Skunk Works is the builder of the U2 Dragon Lady, SR-71 Blackbird (Habu) and the F117 Nighthawk aircraft among others.  The book is a fascinating read/listen.  As with a number of military aircraft from the past, I have been fortunate enough to have seen them up close.  And in their natural environment.  Not an Air Show.
While stationed at Kadena, Okinawa in the early 80's I witnessed the Blackbird doing take offs and landings.  On Okinawa, we called it Habu, local for an indigenous snake.  Magnificent aircraft.  Watching night take-offs was spectacular.  White afterburner.  
Just before I rotated off the island, I got this shot.

From a post, almost exactly 10 years ago:  
https://kurtpankopfphotography.blogspot.com/2010/03/sr-71-1982-kadena.html

I saw the Nighthawk at a downrange base in the early 90's as part of Desert Storm.  Good story to tell.  But not for the public, sorry.  I saw the Nighthawk in the States once during an air show.  It was parked in front of our C5.  I was able to see it from the top.  No photos though.
But no photos of a U2.  I don't ever recall seeing one live.  Until 2018.
The U2 is a high altitude reconnaissance aircraft.  Run by not the Air Force.  The aircraft was designed in 1953 and entered the inventory a year later.  Like the B-52 and C-130, it is tough to improve some airframes.
In 2018 at the Reno Air Races, one of the unannounced events was a U2 flyby.  I was pretty excited to see this.  My first live U2.  I was so excited to see this that out of 20 shots, only two were usable.  What went wrong?
The airspace at Reno is often changing.  You go from T-6s that are large and slow with slow props to more advanced prop driven racers that are smaller and faster.  Faster speeds, faster props.  And then you have jet powered aircraft.  Mix in a rookie behind the camera to the fast paced environment and you get a situation of shooting a jet with slow prop settings.  And that is what happened here.  And I'm happy that two shots survived.
Two years ago, I tried to 'save' this image.  I could get close, but not enough to post.
The sharpening software I use just came out with an update.  The software can now target sharpening via a mask.  Yes, I could do this using layers, but this is much easier.

U2 Flyby - Dirty

NIKON D7200 Ver.1.04/70.0-300.0 mm f/4.5-5.6

450 mm, 1/125 sec, f/18, ISO 100

MANUAL Mode, Size DX

I need to get the aircraft sharp, not the sky.  Without layer lines.  This upgrade works.
The shot should have been around 1/1200 second at f/5.6.  Jet settings.
This is a pretty aggressive crop.  At screen saver size, the tail number can be read.  But as to the rest, it has a clarity that only the owner could like.  The smaller the format, the better the shot.