Ebook: Silent warriors, incredible courage: the declassified stories of Cold War reconnaissance flights and the men who flew them

When peace came to America (1945) -- The peace that wouldn't take (1947) -- More secret than the Manhattan Project (1952) -- To the Yalu River and beyond (1950) -- 'Honey Bucket Honshos' of the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron (1952) -- The 19th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron (1955) -- The incredible RF-86F sabre jet (1952-1955) -- Remembering Major Rudolph 'Rudy' Anderson (1953-1955) -- The last hurrah of the 'Wild Bunch' (1954-1955) -- The short-lived RB-57A 'Heart Throb' program (1955-1956) -- The RB-57A-1 Heart Throb: a challenging plane to fly (1955-1956) -- A P2V-7 Neptune surviving the Czechoslovak border (1956) -- Franz Josef land (1952) -- Teamwork: P2V and RB-50E (1952) -- Come the B/RB-47 Stratojet (1952)-- Challenging the Russian bear (1954) -- Slick Chick RF-100AS (1955-1956) -- Project home run: RB-47S over Siberia (1956) -- Fate is the hunter: the shootdown of RB-47H 53-4281 over the Barents Sea (1960) -- The RB-57D that killed the SENSIT program (1956) -- The Cuban Missile Crisis through the eyes of a raven (1962) -- The last flight of RB-47H 53-4290 over the sea of Japan (1964) -- An unintentional overflight of East Germany (1964) -- The reasons why (1948-1960) -- The price we paid (1945-1993).;"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 1952 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." -- Provided by publisher.