Download or read book Spyflights and Overflights written by Robert Hopkins and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few aviation subjects have been shrouded in more secrecy or been more controversial than Cold War aerial reconnaissance. Former reconnaissance pilot Robert S. Hopkins, III, offers new insights into strategic intelligence flights during the early years of the cold war. Primarily undertaken by RB-50s and RB-47s of the Strategic Air Command and by CIA U-2s, other Western nations such as Britain, Sweden, and Taiwan were equally committed to gathering intelligence about the Soviet Union and its allies, and conducted their own peripheral and overflight missions. Hopkins challenges longstanding beliefs that the flights served to prevent war, curtailed needless defense spending, and were undertaken by rogue generals bent on starting World War III. For the first time he shows the Soviet perspective on the flights, and makes a compelling case that reconnaissance flights did not have a sustained adverse effect on Soviet relations with the West. Using newly-declassified materials, interviews with crews and policy makers, and his own experience flying strategic reconnaissance missions, Hopkins links the daily operations of courageous fliers with decisions by presidents and prime ministers that decided the outcome of the Cold War.
Download or read book Spy Flights of the Cold War written by Paul Lashmar and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author reveals the secret spyplane war which took place in the skies over Soviet Russia during the Cold War.
Download or read book Operation Overflight written by Francis Gary Powers and published by Potomac Books, Inc.. This book was released on 2011-03 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this new edition of his classic 1970 memoir about the notorious U-2 incident, pilot Francis Gary Powers reveals the full story of what actually happened in the most sensational espionage case in Cold War history. After surviving the shoot-down of his reconnaissance plane and his capture on May 1, 1960, Powers endured sixty-one days of rigorous interrogation by the KGB, a public trial, a conviction for espionage, and the start of a ten-year sentence. After nearly two years, the U.S. government obtained his release from prison in a dramatic exchange for convicted Soviet spy Rudolph Abel. The narrative is a tremendously exciting suspense story about a man who was labeled a traitor by many of his countrymen but who emerged a Cold War hero.
Download or read book Silent Warriors Incredible Courage written by Wolfgang W. E. Samuel and published by Univ. Press of Mississippi. This book was released on 2019-02-19 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 took the American military by surprise. Rushing to respond, the US and its allies developed a selective overflight program to gather intelligence. Silent Warriors, Incredible Courage is a history of the Cold War overflights of the Soviet Union, its allies, and the People's Republic of China, based on extensive interviews with dozens of pilots who flew these dangerous missions. In 1954 the number of flights expanded, and the highly classified SENSINT program was born. Soon, American RB-45C, RB-47E/H, RF-100s, and various versions of the RB-57 were in the air on an almost constant basis, providing the president and military leadership with hard facts about enemy capabilities and intentions. Eventually the SENSINT program was replaced by the high-flying U-2 spy plane. The U-2 overflights removed the mysteries of Soviet military power. These flights remained active until 1960 when a U-2 was shot down by Russian missiles, leading to the end of the program. Shortly thereafter planes were replaced by spy satellites. The overflights were so highly classified that no one, planner or participant, was allowed to talk about them—and no one did, until the overflight program and its pictorial record was declassified in the 1990s. Through extensive research of existing literature on the overflights and interviews conducted by Wolfgang W. E. Samuel, this book reveals the story of the entire overflight program through the eyes of the pilots and crew who flew the planes. Samuel's account tells the stories of American heroes who risked their lives—and sometimes lost them—to protect their country.
Download or read book The CIA and the U 2 Program 1954 1974 written by Gregory W. Pedlow and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1998 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive & authoritative history of the CIA's manned overhead reconnaissance program (MORP), which from 1954 to 1974 developed & operated 2 extraordinary aircraft, the U-2 & the A-12 OXCART. Describes not only the program's technological & bureaucratic aspects, but also its political & international context. The MORP, along with other overhead systems that emerged from it, changed the CIA's work & structure in ways that were both revolutionary & permanent. The formation of the Directorate of S&T in the 1960s, principally to develop & direct reconnaissance programs, is the most obvious legacy of the events in this study.
Download or read book The Black Bats written by Chris Pocock and published by Schiffer Pub Limited. This book was released on 2010 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After Mao's communists took control of mainland China in 1949, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency developed an uneasy partnership with the nationalist Chinese government on Taiwan for covert air operations over the mainland - dropping agents and propaganda, and collecting signals, imagery and nuclear intelligence. But Communist China's air defences reacted with determination and ingenuity to the unwelcome intruders. Ten of the aircraft - B-17s, B-26s, and P-2s - were lost and over 100 aircrew killed in this epic yet hardly-known struggle, told in English for the first time. Each chapter is punctuated with vivid, first-hand accounts from the participants - Chinese nationalists, Chinese communists, and Americans. The book also describes how during the Vietnam War, America subcontracted many of its covert air operations to the same group of airmen from Taiwan. AUTHOR:
Download or read book Shadow Flights written by Curtis Peebles and published by Presidio Press. This book was released on 2001-11 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Espionage, American -- Soviet Union -- History. Air warfare -- History. Cold War.
Download or read book CROWDED SKIES written by ROBERT. HOPKINS III and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book SAC IN THE UK written by ROBERT S. HOPKINS and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Spying from the Sky written by Robert L. Richardson and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 427 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The “must read” story of America’s first high-altitude aviation program and one of its pilots (Francis Gary Powers Jr.). William “Greg” Gregory was born into a sharecropper’s life in the hills of North Central Tennessee. From the back of a mule-drawn plow, Greg learned the value of resilience and the importance of determined living. Refusing to accept a life of poverty, he found a way out: a work-study college program that made it possible for him to leave farming behind forever. While at college, Greg completed the Civilian Pilot Training Program and was subsequently accepted into the US Army’s pilot training program. Earning his wings in 1942, he became a P-38 combat pilot and served in North Africa during the summer of 1943—a critical time when the Luftwaffe was still a potent threat, and America had begun the march northward from the Mediterranean into Europe proper. Following the war, Greg served with a B-29 unit, then transitioned to the new, red-hot B-47 strategic bomber. In his frequent deployments, he was always assigned the same target in the Soviet Union: Joseph Stalin’s hometown of Tbilisi. While a B-47 pilot, Greg was selected to join America’s first high-altitude program, the Black Knights. Flying RB-57D aircraft, he and his team flew peripheral “ferret” missions around the Soviet Union and its satellites, collecting critical order-of-battle data desperately needed by the US Air Force at that time. When the program neared its design end—and following the Gary Powers shoot-down over the Soviet Union—Greg was assigned to command of the CIA’s U-2 unit at Edwards AFB. Over this five-year command, he and his team provided critical overflight intelligence during the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam buildup, and more. He also became one of the first pilots to fly U-2s off aircraft carriers in a demonstration project. Spying from the Sky is the in-depth biography of William Gregory, who attended the National War College, was assigned to the reconnaissance office at the Pentagon, and was named vice-commandant of the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) before retiring from the force in 1972.
Download or read book The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance written by Gregory Pedlow and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-03-15 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The CIA’s 2013 release of its book The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance 1954–1974 is a fascinating and important historical document. It contains a significant amount of newly declassified material with respect to the U-2 and Oxcart programs, including names of pilots; codenames and cryptonyms; locations, funding, and cover arrangements; electronic countermeasures equipment; cooperation with foreign governments; and overflights of the Soviet Union, Cuba, China, and other countries. Originally published with a Secret/No Foreign Dissemination classification, this detailed study describes not only the program’s technological and bureaucratic aspects, but also its political and international context, including the difficult choices faced by President Eisenhower in authorizing overflights of the Soviet Union and the controversy surrounding the shoot down there of U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers in 1960. The authors discuss the origins of the U-2, its top-secret testing, its specially designed high-altitude cameras and complex life-support systems, and even the possible use of poison capsules by its pilots, if captured. They call attention to the crucial importance of the U-2 in the gathering of strategic and tactical intelligence, as well as the controversies that the program unleashed. Finally, they discuss the CIA’s development of a successor to the U-2, the Oxcart, which became the world’s most technologically advanced aircraft. For the first time, the more complete 2013 release of this historical text is available in a professionally typeset format, supplemented with higher quality photographs that will bring alive these incredible aircraft and the story of their development and use by the CIA. This edition also includes a new preface by author Gregory W. Pedlow and a foreword by Chris Pocock. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
Download or read book Aces in Command written by Walter J. Boyne and published by Potomac Books. This book was released on 2001 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Eddie Rickenbacker, Hub Zemke, Boots Blesse, and Robin Olds are in the pantheon of American fighter aces. Their names are familiar to many, but there has never been a book that examined their brilliant leadership ability as well as their aerial prowess." "These four men were all robust personalities, difficult to discipline, and, more often than not, thorns in the sides of their commanders. Each of these elite pilots burned to become the leading ace of his time. These qualities were not unique. However, the achievements of these men were extraordinary, even for the miniscule percentage of fighter pilots who ever became aces. Rickenbacker, Zemke, Blesse, and Olds distinguished themselves by becoming "force multipliers" - they used their leadership skills, instinctive knowledge of air warfare, and superior piloting abilities to make the other pilots in their units better warriors. These men put their units' interest ahead of every other goal and in the process made their units far more effective. Instead of using their skills merely to achieve personal glory, they trained units that produced multiple aces while achieving ace status themselves." "Renowned aviation historian Walter Boyne details the careers of these legendary aces but also explains the reasons why these pilots achieved such great success as aces and leaders. Boyne's fascinating narrative puts you in the cockpits of fighter planes that varied vastly in technology, against enemies of ever-increasing capability in World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Aces in Command takes you in a SPAD XIII with Rickenbacker over the Western Front. It puts you in a P-47 Thunderbolt with Zemke over Germany, breaking all the rules but shooting down Germans. Then you fly with Blesse in a Sabre, getting your victories deep inside North Korean lines - but never losing a wingman. Finally, it tells you of the exploits of the maverick Robin Olds in two wars, learning the trade in a P-38 Lightning during World War II and, later, using all he learned to whip a F-4 Phantom wing into shape in Vietnam." "Despite the differences among the planes and jets of each era, Boyne makes a strong case that Rickenbacker, Zemke, Blesse, and Olds could have been aces in any era. More importantly, he reveals the characteristics and common denominators that made these aces superior combat leaders."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Download or read book Killing Hope written by William Blum and published by . This book was released on 2022-07-14 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Killing Hope, William Blum, author of the bestselling Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower, provides a devastating and comprehensive account of America's covert and overt military actions in the world, all the way from China in the 1940s to the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and - in this updated edition - beyond. Is the United States, as it likes to claim, a global force for democracy? Killing Hope shows the answer to this question to be a resounding 'no'.
Download or read book Lockheed Blackbird written by Paul F. Crickmore and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-11-17 with total page 894 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using previously unpublished information, globally renowned expert Paul Crickmore builds upon his definitive account of the SR-71 Blackbird, In 1986 Paul Crickmore's first groundbreaking book about the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird was published. At that time, the Cold War was at its height and the SR-71 was an integral element in securing crucial intelligence from all parts of the globe. The highly sensitive nature of its missions couldn't be compromised, and it wasn't until the end of the Cold War that the operational exploits of this incredible aeronautical masterpiece could be openly written about. As time passed has more and more information has come to light, with a vast number of official documents declassified and key military figures able to talk openly about the Blackbird programme. Paul Crickmore has used these updated facts to revise his previous history of one of the world's most iconic aircraft of all time, creating what will surely be considered the definitive, timeless volume about the SR-71 Blackbird.
Download or read book Boeing KC 135 Stratotanker written by Robert Smith Hopkins and published by Voyageur Press (MN). This book was released on 1997 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Subtitled: More Than Just a Tanker. This highly readable text follows the development and service use of this globe-trotting aircraft and takes you through tasks the KC-135 has performed such as transport, tanker, weather recce, reconnaissance and intelligence gathering, special ops, test-bed and more. Charts every variant and sub-variant. The most complete KC-135 history available. Sftbd., 8 1/2x 11, 224 pgs., 185 bandw ill., 50 color.
Download or read book Spy Pilot written by Francis Gary Powers (Jr.) and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most talked-about events of the Cold War was the downing of the American U-2 spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers over the Soviet Union on May 1, 1960. The event was recently depicted in the Steven Spielberg movie Bridge of Spies. Powers was captured by the KGB, subjected to a televised show trial, and imprisoned, all of which created an international incident. Soviet authorities eventually released him in exchange for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel. On his return to the United States, Powers was exonerated of any wrongdoing while imprisoned in Russia, yet a cloud of controversy lingered until his untimely death in 1977. Now his son, Francis Gary Powers Jr., has written this new account of his father's life based on personal files that have never been previously available. Delving into old audio tapes, the transcript of his father's debriefing by the CIA, other recently declassified documents about the U-2 program, and interviews with his contemporaries, Powers sets the record straight. The result is a fascinating piece of Cold War history. Almost sixty years after the event, this will be the definitive account of a famous Cold War incident, one proving that Francis Gary Powers acted honorably through a trying ordeal in service to his country.
Download or read book Flying with the Fifteenth Air Force written by Tom Faulkner and published by University of North Texas Press. This book was released on 2018-11-15 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1944 and 1945, Tom Faulkner was a B-24 pilot flying out of San Giovanni airfield in Italy as a member of the 15th Air Force of the U.S. Army Air Forces. Only 19 years old when he completed his 28th and last mission, Tom was one of the youngest bomber pilots to serve in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. Between September 1944 and the end of February 1945, he flew against targets in Hungary, Germany, Italy, Austria, and Yugoslavia. On Tom’s last mission against the marshalling yards at Augsburg, Germany, his plane was severely damaged, and he had to fly to Switzerland where he and his crew were interned. The 15th Air Force generally has been overshadowed by works on the 8th Air Force based in England. Faulkner’s memoir helps fill an important void by providing a first-hand account of a pilot and his crew during the waning months of the war, as well as a description of his experiences before his military service. David L. Snead has edited the memoir and provided annotations and corroboration for the various missions.
