USAF Overflights of Russia
I ran across a fascinating article this morning. I thought I’d share it.
The article deals with USAF involvement in overflights of the Soviet Union between 1950 and 1956. And no, not just quick in-and-out “border dashes”. Some of the missions were indeed deep penetration overflights.
The article is not sourced, and the author appears to desire anonymity. I thus can’t give a good assessment of how credible the article is based on sources or author’s reputation.
However, the article does generally square with other accounts generally accorded to be of high-reliability. It also provides details that lead me to believe the author had access to some . . . very good documentation. My assessment is that very likely quite accurate.
The CIA and the U2 generally get the bulk of the credit for overflying the Soviet Union. But the CIA weren’t the only “players” in that deadly Cold War game – which was at times neither “cold” nor played for low stakes.
Fascinating reading. Highly recommended.
. . .
(Note: it’s been my experience that sites such as the one to which this article is posted are often ephemeral. I’ve captured the article to PDF in the case it disappears.)
Category: Air Force, Historical, Military issues, We Remember
Hondo,
Just a quick note (I’m about to run out and don’t have time to research.)
Wasn’t there an agreement for a while where the USA and USSR (and I mean cold-war USSR, not current day Russia) allowed high altitude fly-overs? It seems I remember reading something about this, somewhere.
You are thinking of the Open Skies Treaty, that was signed in 1992. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_on_Open_Skies
Gravel: cobrakai99 is correct – so far as a formal treaty goes. However, you’re partially correct. There was a far earlier proposal of the same type.
During the U2’s development (and prior to its first flight in August 1955), on 21 July 1955 during the Geneva Conference Eisenhower proposed such an agreement to the USSR. That was the original “Open Skies” proposal.
The USSR turned down Eisenhower’s proposal.
The U2 began overflying Russia less than a year later.
Hondo…Thank you for the interesting article and write up. I learn more every day here on TAH.
Our C-118 inbound to McGuire from England in Feb 62 was diverted to Dover because of a priority flight into McGuire carrying U-2 pilot Gary Powers. Most of you are not old enough to recall he was the guy shot down over Russia a couple of years earlier.
I remember Gary Powers being shot down over Russia.
At the time, I was an “Army brat”, attending Bassett Junior High School in El Paso, Texas, where my father was a Master Sergeant at William Beaumont General Hospital, and we lived in military housing on “Snake Hill”.
When I lived in Washington, D.C. at the United States Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home (now named, the “Armed Forces Retirement Home”), I ate chow with a guy (now deceased) who spent his Air Force career flying on covert EC-135 missions out of Turkey.
Later, when looking at statistics, I learned that at least one or more of those top secret EC-135 reconnaissance missions had been shot down by Soviet aircraft, with all hands lost.
A group of us from the Ol’ Soldiers’ Home (i.e., the “United States Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home”, now known as the “Armed Forces Retirement Home”) attended an Open House at Andrews Air Force Base.
When I saw a EC-135, I remembered the guy I ate chow with, and telling them about, asked about what they did, et cetera?
Their response was that they could neither confirm or deny any of what I knew or was inquiring about.
I got the same response when I saw a U-2, and inquired about it, as I thought the U-2 was obsolete and no longer in the Air Force’s inventory.
I’m not sure of some of the dates mentioned in the article. From what I could find, the first B-47B flew in April 1951. I couldn’t find when they went operational.
Also, no mention is made of the RB-36 and it’s overflights of Russia. It could fly unrefueled just about forever and with a ceiling of 50,000 ft. It could fly faster than any of the Soviet interceptors of the day and higher as well.
Bill Cook: the B-47’s first flight appears to have been in Dec 1947. It entered service with the USAF in mid-1951.
You are correct. However the B model first flew in April of 1951. If the AF flew the B in these roles on some of the earlier dates, it was before the ac was operational.
The B-47B appears to have been accepted and gone operational in June 1951. The first B-47B penetration flight referenced in the article occurred in October 1952. (An earlier flight in Aug 1951 was allegedly scheduled using the 4th production B-47B with special mods, but was not flown because the aircraft was destroyed in a ground fire.) The article further says overflights earlier than Oct 1952 were made using other airframes – USAF RB-45Cs and USN P2V-3Ws, for the most part.
Frankly, I don’t see any inconsistency between the article and known history.
http://www.barnstormers.com/eFLYER/2009/078-eFLYER-FA01-Peacetime.html
PARPRO = “Peacetime Airborne Reconnaissance Program” used RB-45s and RB-47s to deliberately over fly the USSR. This was in the early 1950s.
See the book “The Cold War, a Military History” edited by Robert Crowley with articles by a bunch of names you should recognize. Section III of the book is “The Deep Cold War”. The first chapter in that section is titled “The Truth about Overflights”. This chapter was written by C. Cargill Hall. He gives dates, times, routes, names and aircraft types.