Retired Air Force Col. Charles B. Stratton

Retired Air Force Col. Charles B. Stratton, died this week. Stratton was an elitevU-2 spy pilot who once bailed out of a plane at 70,000 feet.

Section:Gallery

Sat., Jan. 14, 2017

Charles B. Stratton is seen in this early 1950s photo, before he became a U-2 spy plane pilot in the U.S. Air Force.
This family photo shows pilots Charles B. Stratton, second from left, with Francis Gary Powers, left, and other unidentified pilots during their training in early jets in the 1950s. Both Powers and Stratton became U-2 spy plane pilots.
This is a 1976 family photo of the Charles and Ann Stratton family, with sons Chuck, upper left, and Bob, upper right. The two boys followed their father into the military, but both chose the Army over the Air Force. Charles was a U-2 pilot during the Cold War.
COURTESY OF STRATTON FAMILY This newspaper front page from 1963 tells the story of Capt. Charles B. Stratton and how he bailed out of a disintegrating U-2 spy plane over the southern United States and survived. Stratton ended up hanging in a tree, over water in a swamp, overnight until he could be rescued.
Charles and Ann Stratton are shown in a family snapshot on their 62nd anniversary in 2014.
Brothers Bob, left, and Chuck Stratton reminisce about their father, retired Air Force Col. Charles B. Stratton at their family home in Spokane, Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017. The elder Stratton, a U-2 pilot from the Cold War era, died on Tuesday at the age of 87.

Jesse Tinsley The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
Brothers Bob, left, and Chuck Stratton reminisce about their father, retired Air Force Col. Charles B. Stratton at their family home in Spokane, Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017. The elder Stratton, a U-2 pilot from the Cold War era, died on Tuesday at the age of 87.

Jesse Tinsley The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo