Flying High This Past Week: 30 March-5 April

A day late on posting the latest edition of Flying High This Past Week, but no worries, here's what's been getting a lot of hits lately here at TAILS THROUGH TIME:

• The Early History of the Air Line Pilots Association, ALPA: Quite obviously the latest article on TAILS THROUGH TIME is going to be getting the most hits in the past week! The early history of Northwest Airlines is weaved into the early history of ALPA as the founder of the union, Dave Behncke, was Northwest's first pilot and flew its first passengers in 1927. The early history of ALPA gives us a good look at the state of the airline industry in the 1920s which was just on the cusp of making the leap into greater technologies led off by the Boeing 247 and Douglas DC-3. Despite the landmark in aviation history those aircraft were, flying for many professional pilots was still a hazardous profession in the years prior and many airline heads of the day tried to do what they could to stamp out ALPA in its early days. Fortunately a strike at a small airline that ran between St. Louis and Chicago thrust ALPA into the national spotlight and won it friends in high places. 
• Francis Gary Powers: After the Return: Best known as the Lockheed U-2 pilot that was shot down over the Soviet Union in May 1960 that ended US overflights of the USSR, his return to the United States was less than hospitable as the Director of Central Intelligence sought to blame Powers for any number of error that resulted in his shoot down despite being cleared by a CIA damage assessment team, the USAF, and a formal board of inquiry. Recognition of Powers' integrity and bravery were finally acknowledged posthumously in 2000 on the 40th anniversary of his shoot down. Note the comment at the bottom of my article by Powers' son, Francis Gary Powers Jr, who is the founder of the Cold War Museum! 
• The First Steps to a Turboprop Transport, Part Two: The Boeing YC-97J was a Stratofreighter that was modified with Pratt & Whitney T34 turboprops so the USAF could gain operating experience with the new class of engines before the Lockheed C-130 Hercules and Douglas C-133 Cargomaster become operational. Two KC-97Gs were converted to use the same engines and propellers as what would be used on the upcoming C-133. 
• Soviet Wild Weasels, Part One: Doctrine/Tactics: This was the first part of a three article series I did back in 2010 on the differences between American and Soviet SEAD (suppression of enemy air defenses) doctrines. The second part looked at the aircraft that functioned as the Soviet equivalent of the Wild Weasels and the third part looked at the missiles used by those aircraft. 
• Frontier Airlines and the Boeing 737-200: In the 1970s, Denver-based Frontier Airlines (the first incarnation, not the current one flying) became one of the most significant operators of the Boeing 737-200. Originally investing in the Boeing 727-100/200, the switch to the 737-200 and its better operating economics for Frontier's route system undoubtedly helped the airline weather the economic roller coaster that buffeted the US economy in the 1970s.

The next article will be posted tomorrow night and it will cover the development of the Boeing flying boom used in air refueling. Remember, every five days a new article is posted here at TAILS THROUGH TIME and you'll never be quite sure until then where in aviation history we'll be flying!

The Cessna 310 as a U-2 Trainer

The Cessna U-3A "Blue Canoe"

In 1957 the United States Air Force selected the Cessna 310 twin as its new utility transport for light cargo, liaison, and administrative missions to replace the Beech C-45 which was a military adaptation of the stalwart Beech 18 transport. Eighty were ordered and originally designated L-27 (in 1962 the rationalization of military aircraft designations led it to be redesignated the U-3). That first group of 80 aircraft were delivered within the year thanks to Cessna's already high production output to meet the civilian market. Another 80 were ordered later that same year and in 1960 came the final contract for another 35, this time of the swept fin version of the 310. The older version with the straight vertical fin became the L-27A, later U-3A, and that last group of aircraft were designated the L-27B, later the U-3B. The distinctive blue and white colors used by the USAF on the aircraft led to its nickname, "Blue Canoe" and even though the US Army and the US Navy ordered the aircraft and used their own service specific color schemes, personnel still referred to the aircraft as the "Blue Canoe". But one of the most unique uses of the U-3 was also its most little-known and in the smallest of numbers by the military- that of a trainer for the early U-2 program!

At the time, Lockheed U-2 pilot training was the responsibility of the 100th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona. The first-generation U-2 spyplanes didn't have a two seat trainer version in use at the time, which made every pilot's first flight in the U-2 a solo flight- and even back then, the U-2 had the unenviable reputation as one of the most difficult aircraft to land properly. The 100th SRW had already been using a souped vehicle, the "Mobile", which back then was a Ford El Camino modified with a big-block engine which would sprint down the runway alongside the landing U-2 to assist the pilot with altitude information as the U-2's long span wings meant that the only way to land was to land in a full-stall. The Mobile called out altitude down in single foot increments until the aircraft was only a foot above the runway at which point speed was bled off to stall the aircraft into a touchdown. Needless to say, it was a completely counter-intuitive way to land an aircraft and was just one of many idiosyncrasies of the "Dragon Lady". But an aircraft was needed that could help train novice U-2 pilots to the point before the Mobile took over assisting with the landing. The 100th SRW evaluated different types of aircraft and quite surprisingly, found the Cessna U-3 ideal for the role. It was inexpensive, available, dual control, and it had a yoke which the U-2 also had as well. With most U-2 pilots coming from the fighter community, many hadn't used a yoke since basic flight training. The instructors at the 100th SRW specifically selected the straight-fin U-3A as the later swept-fin version was more unstable at the low approach speeds needed to train novice Dragon Lady pilots. 

An early generation U-2 from the U-3 chase plane

The U-3 had a turn rate, descent profile and pattern airspeed very close to that of the U-2; given that airspeed management was critical in the U-2 given its very narrow handling envelope, the "Blue Canoe" could be used as both a training aid and chase aircraft for a U-2 on approach. On training missions out of Davis-Monthan AFB, the pair in formation was known as the U-2 and "Me-Too". The U-3 would intercept the approaching U-2 at 15,000 to 18,000 feet at 160-180 KIAS and stay on the spyplane's right wing through the descent and traffic pattern until the landing was handed over to the Mobile. In addition, the sightlines from the student's seat in the U-3 were similar to that of the Dragon Lady and it was used as a pre-solo trainer. In preparing U-2 pilots for their first flight in the spyplane, the U-3 was known as the "Dragon Lady Pattern". The instructor would manage the flaps and throttles on the simulated approach to mimic the flying characteristics of the U-2 while the student in the left seat concentrated on the approach. Because the U-2 was stalled one foot above the runway in order to land, the student was required to level off and float the Cessna U-3 one foot starting over the numbers and to maintain that one foot altitude the entire length of the 12,500 foot runway at Davis-Monthan. If the student completed this exercise several times to the satisfaction of the instructor, the U-3 would then land and taxi to a waiting U-2 where the student would climb in for their first solo flight with the U-3 flying chase. For the first solo flight, the wing pogo gears were locked into place. 

Note the pogo landing gear still in place as seen from the U-3A.

The instructor in the U-3 then took off and waited at 15,000 feet for the student in the U-2. Once they had rendezvoused, the instructor by radio then walked the student through various approach-to-stall exercises as well as manually trimming the aircraft for landing by pumping fuel amongst the wing tanks to even the aircraft out. With a 100+ foot wingspan and a wet wing, it was critical that the fuel be evenly distributed through the wing tanks before landing. If the student had done this satisfactorily, it was time to shoot some approaches in what was called the "Dragon Lady Checkout". With the U-3 flying as "Me-Too", the student completed three traffic patterns with touch and gos with the Mobile participating in the final touch down. Completion of this exercise meant the newly minted U-2 pilot could proceed with advanced training. Only two Cessna U-3As were assigned to the 100th SRW at the time and the pace of training meant that no more aircraft than that were needed and only three instructors were checked out to train and fly chase in the U-3. The U-3As also flew chase in emergency situations to assist pilots in getting the U-2 back to the base and often flew chase for pilots returning from long-duration missions who were at their most vulnerable due to exhaustion. 

Source/Photos: Cessna Warbirds- A Detailed & Personal History of Cessna's Involvement in the Armed Forces by Walt Shiel. Jones Publishing, 1995, p127-132. Additional photos from the USAF Museum.

Project Palladium: Testing Soviet Radars

The A-12 Cygnus flew mostly in bare titanium with few markings

When the Lockheed U-2 made its first overflight of the Soviet Union on 4 July 1956, it was common knowledge that its apparent invulnerability was time-limited as advances in Soviet air defense systems were sure to eventually bring one down. In fact, USAF analysts were in the planning stages of a replacement to the U-2 long before it even made its first flight. The first such study was for an exotic liquid hydrogen powered aircraft called Suntan from Lockheed which ended up getting canceled in 1959 at the urgings of its designer, the legendary Kelly Johnson. Running parallel to the Suntan which was an Air Force project, the CIA had two studies going for a U-2 replacement- one was a subsonic design code named Gusto and the other was a supersonic design that ultimately became Oxcart. That program's flying hardware was the Lockheed A-12 Cygnus, a single-seat predecessor to the two-seat SR-71 Blackbird. The A-12 made its maiden flight at Groom Lake/Area 51 on 26 April 1962, two years after Francis Gary Powers had been shot down over the Soviet Union in his U-2. 

A-12 landing at Groom Lake; note the single seat cockpit

The design of the A-12 was the first to take into consideration a reduction in radar cross section (RCS) to limit the detection range by an adversary's radar systems. On the Lockheed A-12, the leading edges of the wings and chines had pie-shaped wedges that were filled with a composite material that would theoretically reduce the RCS of the aircraft. With three A-12s in flight testing by October 1962 at Groom Lake/Area 51, the Cuban Missile Crisis took place- with the shoot-down of Major Rudolph Anderson and his U-2 by an SA-2 missile on 27 October 1962 in the midst of the crisis, the Oxcart project took added urgency and the need for operational Mach 3 strategic reconnaissance capability as soon as possible was deemed an urgent national priority. While the intensity of flight testing at Groom Lake picked up, a program was established to determine the A-12's detectability to Soviet radar systems. Two radar systems in particular were of interest to the CIA, the P-12 "Spoon Rest" radar which was used as a search radar for the SA-2 surface-to-air missile batteries and had a range of 100 miles, and the even more powerful P-14 "Tall King" radar which had double the power and range of the P-12 system. 

Soviet P-12 "Spoon Rest" radar

As part of a broad reaching program of electronic intelligence to support the A-12 Cygnus, a highly-classified program called Palladium was established to test the sensitivity of Soviet radars. Palladium was a special electronic transmitter that could project a false target into the "Tall King" and "Spoon Rest" radar systems. Technicians could adjust the Palladium signal to present varying targets of RCS values and with National Security Agency (NSA) technicians eavesdropping on communications channels, it became possible to find out what size RCS target the Soviet radar systems could acquire. During the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, nineteen SA-2 missile sites were constructed on the island supported by P-14 "Tall King" radars. Oxcart planners realized they had a unique opportunity to test the sensitivity of the latest in Soviet defense radars during the Crisis. 

Soviet P-12 "Tall King" radar

One night during the crisis a US Navy destroyer carrying the Palladium transmitter positioned itself north of Havana and used the CIA's special transmitter to project the signal of an aircraft racing south from NAS Key West towards the Cuban capital. At a predetermined time with a P-14 radar tracking the Palladium ghost target, a US Navy submarine surfaced just offshore of Havana and released a series of balloons, each carrying a radar reflector corresponding to a specific RCS value. The sudden appearance of multiple targets offshore then triggered the SA-2 operators to activate their fire control radars as well. With the NSA listening to Cuban and Soviet communications, it was possible to determine the smallest size RCS reflector that could be detected by both the P-14 search radar and the SA-2 batteries' fire control radars. Cuban MiGs were scrambled that night and it must have made for an interesting post-flight debrief when CIA technicians aboard the destroyer switched off the Palladium set, causing the targets to suddenly disappear. As a result of this unique test, it was determined that the RCS-reducing features of the A-12 Cygnus still made it detectable by not only the long range search radars, but also the fire control radars of the SA-2 missile batteries. Despite the findings of this unique and risky test given the tensions present during the crisis, the flight testing and operational deployment of the A-12 Cygnus continued. Its first operational recon missions over hostile territory took place in 1967 over North Vietnam. 

Source: Lockheed Blackbird: Beyond the Secret Missions by Paul Crickmore. Osprey Publishing, 2010, p16-45.

The U-2's Antecedent: The Martin RB-57D Canberra

In the early 1950s the Strategic Air Command asked Martin, the American license builder of the English Electric Canberra as the B-57, if a modified version of the B-57 could be built that would operate at altitudes in excess of 60,000 as a reconnaissance aircraft. Though not as radically modified as the better-known RB-57F (which were stock B-57s modified by General Dynamics), the RB-57D was unique in its own right and set the stage for high-altitude reconnaissance operations by its successor, the Lockheed U-2. To operate in the rarefied air of the stratosphere, the most noticeable change in the RB-57D was its enlarged wing which resulted in an increase in wingspan from 64 feet in the standard B-57 Canberra to 106 feet. Special lightening measures were taken from skinning over the bomb bay doors to reduce weight and the bomb bay was used to house the reconnaissance equipment. In addition, enlarged nacelles replaced the B-57's Wright J65 engines with Pratt & Whitney J57s (as were used on the KC-135) which offered a 6,000 lb thrust increase and better high altitude performance. 

Despite the massively enlarged wing, an empty RB-57D weight not much more than an empty B-57 due to the lightening measures taken. The most extreme measures were taken with the wings which were thin metal honeycomb sections that formed a full wet wing (even in the leading edges). To avoid the weight of rivets, the wings were assembled with a special glue and the wing skin was waxed for aerodynamic smoothness. With a surface skin of only 0.010 inch thick, even dropping a small tool on the wing could damage the skin. Even deicing fluid used on the aircraft could potentially cause the glue used to lose strength!

Only twenty RB-57Ds were built, but they were built in four groups, each group had a unique set of mission equipment and capabilities that were practically custom-made for missions in specific parts of the world. The first group of RB-57Ds were called "Group A" and "Group B" and only differed in the Group A aircraft being capable of inflight refueling. Four optical cameras were carried in the forward fuselage and a large optical viewfinder was installed in the cockpit for the pilot to use for both navigation and as a viewsight for the cameras. Thirteen aircraft (seven and six respectively) were built to Group A and Group B standards.

The next version was the single Group D RB-57D built which was also single seat and designed for electronic reconnaissance with a nose mounted radar and SLAR built into the lower sides of the fuselage. Capable of inflight refueling, the sole Group C aircraft flew most of its missions over Europe, using its powerful SLAR to peek deep into the Soviet bloc. 

The final variant were the six Group C RB-57Ds which were two seaters with a pilot and electronic warfare officer. These RB-57D were designed as electronic ferrets to collect enemy radar emissions for later analysis in the development of electronic countermeasures. These aircraft were also capable of inflight refueling. 

In 1956 the newly-formed 4028th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron was assigned to the 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing to operate the unique RB-57Ds. In the space of a year the 4028th SRS would be moved from Lockbourne AFB in Ohio, to Turner AFB in Georgia, and finally settled down at Laughlin AFB in Del Rio, Texas. Despite being moved three times, the squadron would become fully operational with its first six RB-57Ds only 120 days from the delivery of its first RB-57D. Those first six aircraft, all Group A RB-57Ds, deployed to Japan in late 1956 for reconnaissance missions over what is presumed to be China, North Korea and the Soviet Union. A year after the Japan deployment, three of the Group A RB-57Ds were sent to Taiwan wearing Republic of China markings for further missions over China during the Taiwan Straits Crisis. Flown by USAF pilots, two Taiwanese pilots were preparing to fly RB-57D missions after only 30 days of training, but the plans came to end when both the People's Republic of China and Taiwan began dogfighting each other over the Taiwan Straits. 

In  1958 the first atmospheric samplings missions were flown by RB-57Ds in support of nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands, the high flying capability of the RB-57Ds allowed them to get particle samples from high in the atmosphere as part of the post-detonation analysis. At the same time, Several Group B and the sole Group D aircraft were deployed to Europe for missions over Eastern Europe. 

The pace of missions put a strain on the delicate wings of the RB-57D and the first aircraft were put into storage by SAC following two incidents when the wings outboard of the engine nacelles cracked and fell off during landing. Martin had designed the wings for only 500 flight hours and many of them had already exceeded that limit but strategic necessity resulted in the RB-57Ds still flying missions. At this point the USAF was planning for the arrival of the Lockheed U-2 and the Air Defense Command took over the remaining RB-57Ds to act as high altitude targets for the supersonic interceptor force. Fitted out with electronic countermeasures, the 4677th Defense Systems Evaluation Squadron at Hill AFB, Utah, was formed to operate 12 of the 20 RB-57Ds. Martin modified the wings to extend their surface life. However, the high flying capabilities of the RB-57Ds meant that the 4677th DSES was always asked to send aircraft in support of nuclear testing. 

By 1963 wing structural problems cropped up again when one of the RB-57Ds lost its wing at 50,000 feet. But the ADC still needed a high altitude target aircraft and since the last US atmospheric nuclear test had taken place in 1962, Martin agreed to modify the remaining RB-57Ds for another 3,000 flight hours. Upgrades to the electronic countermeasures to challenge the ADC interceptor crews resulted in these aircraft being designated EB-57Ds and they served in this role along with other testing roles until the mid-1970s. 

The big wing and engine power of the RB-57Ds in many ways prepared pilots for what it would be like to fly the Lockheed U-2. On takeoff, only 50% engine power was necessary for takeoff which only needed a ground roll of about 2,000 feet. Climbing at 25-30 degrees, the RB-57Ds could reach 50,000 feet in only 15 minutes. Maximum cruise altitude was 65,000 feet and the pilots wore full pressure suits that were improved for the U-2 and SR-71 programs. With over 200 gallons less than a stock B-57, the RB-57D could fly twice the duration, approximately seven hours compared to four hours for a B-57. Landing was challenging as the big wing didn't lose lift easily. Even with the engines at idle, it was still too much power for landing. Even with the spoilers out and landing gear extended, the plane still had a very low sink rate and pilots resorted to actually holding the RB-57Ds into a series of slight stalls to get the aircraft down to the runway!

Source: Martin B-57 Canberra: The Complete Record by Robert C. Mikesh. Schiffer Military History Press, 1995, p132-141.

 

Francis Gary Powers: After the Return

On May 1, 1960 a lone CIA U-2 spyplane took off from a forward operating base in Peshawar, Pakistan for what would be one of the most fateful flights of the Cold War era. After over 5 years of uneventful US overflights of the Soviet Union, this mission, piloted by Francis Gary Powers, would change the strategic balance of the Cold War. Powers' mission was to take him on a marathon mission over several reconnaissance targets of interest, from the Baikonur missile test facility, the Sverdlosk industrial center, the ICBM bases at Plesetsk, the submarine construction yards at Severodvinsk, and the Soviet Northern Fleet base at Murmansk before recovering at the NATO base at Bodo, Norway. Halfway through his flight before reaching Sverdlosk at an altitude of 70,500 feet, an SA-2 surface-to-air missile exploded aft of his aircraft, sending it spiraling downward. Powers survived and was promptly apprehended by Soviet authorities and in one of the dramatic moments of the Cold War, was tried in the Hall of Columns at the Kremlin in a highly-publicized proceeding that began on August 17, 1960. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for espionage.

For the next 18 months Powers was in prison, the US government negotiated for his release and settled upon a trade for convicted Soviet spy Rudolf Abel. Interestingly, the idea for the trade originated with Powers' father, Oliver. In November 1961 acting Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) Charles Cabell notified Secretary of State Dean Rusk of the CIA's support of a trade. On February 1962 following President Kennedy's final approval, at a bridge in Berlin that connected East and West sides of the city, Francis Gary Powers was traded for the spy Rudolf Abel. Powers was immediately flown back to the United States for a comprehensive debriefing, convening what the agency called a "damage assessment team" to determine what damage Powers' shootdown and subsequent interrogation/imprisonment had done to US airborne intelligence efforts. Considering that Powers was extensively involved with the U-2 program from its beginnings, it was assumed that he had revealed everything to the Soviets- instructions to U-2 pilots of what to do in case of capture was scant at best. They were advised to "tell everything since they're going to get it out of you anyway". Some pilots flew on Soviet overflights with cyanide capsules and Powers was given a poison-tipped needle to inject himself with in the event of capture, but it was seized from him when he was apprehended after bailing out. At any rate, after a two week debrief, the damage assessment team concluded that the damage was minimal and were very satisfied with Powers' efforts to reveal as little classified information on the U-2 program as possible.

This wasn't sufficient for the newly-appointed DCI, John A. McCone (the previous appointed DCI was Allen Dulles who resigned in November 1961 in the wake of the shootdown and the failed Bay of Pigs invasion) demanded a further examination of Powers' actions while in Soviet custody despite a letter of support from the previous DCI, Allen Dulles. A new board of inquiry headed by federal judge Barrett Prettyman was convened to investigate the matter further. Testimony from the agency experts who debriefed him was taken, a thorough examination of Powers' background from his doctors to his fellow pilots and commanders from his former Air Force units was performed as well as a voluntary polygraph examination of Powers himself. Soviet photographs taken of the U-2 wreckage were reviewed by Lockheed Skunk Works engineer Kelly Johnson (who designed the U-2) and he found them consistent with Powers' story. DCI McCone was unconvinced and ordered the Air Force to have its own panel of experts review the evidence. The US Air Force echoed the Prettyman Board's findings as well with DCI McCone having only a possible procedural error by Powers in maintaining his course/altitude as the only bit of information contrary to Powers' testimony.

DCI McCone ordered the Prettyman Board reconvened to re-examine the evidence but their second report remained essentially unchanged from their original findings. In March 1962 Powers himself testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee who commended his actions and conduct during the mission and his subsequent capture. Despite all this, any findings that exonerated Powers weren't released to the public and the sensationalized press of the day resulted in a very negative portrayal of Francis Gary Powers. With no public statements from government officials commending Powers for his efforts to withhold classified information from the Soviets during his 18 month internment, in the public eye his motives and loyalties were questioned. His 1962 divorce from his wife further stained his reputation in the press. Powers was snubbed by President Kennedy who had already warmly received other pilots who had been shot down and captured by the Soviets and in 1963 DCI McCone awarded the CIA Intelligence Star to all the Soviet overflight U-2 pilots except Powers (It wasn't until 1965 that Powers got the Intelligence Star from McCone's successor).

CIA U-2 pilots were all drawn from USAF units with the agreement that they would temporarily be on leave from the Air Force for their tour of duty with the CIA, after which they could return to the USAF unit and active duty. Though there was significant initial opposition to his reinstatement with the Air Force, it was approved pending the conclusion of all the investigative proceedings. In the interim time, Kelly Johnson hired him as a U-2 test pilot at Lockheed in support of upgrades and developments being worked on for future U-2 versions. In late 1963 he was offered a chance to return to the Air Force, but Powers elected to remain at Lockheed working for Kelly Johnson. In 1969, with the end of U-2 production work, Kelly Johnson reluctantly had to furlough Powers as Lockheed was unable to place Powers in any other programs. Kelly Johnson would write in his test logs "I must let Gary Powers go. I have protected him for about seven years..."

Powers subsequently found work flying for a Los Angeles radio station as a traffic reporter and subsequently went to work for KNBC as a helicopter pilot. On August 1, 1977, Powers and his cameraman, George Spears were flying back to the KNBC heliport in Burbank in a Bell Jet Ranger 206 after covering a brush fire in Santa Barbara, when for reasons unknown, the helicopter ran out of fuel and crashed near the Sepulveda Dam in the San Fernando Valley community of Encino. Powers and Spears were killed instantly. Powers was laid to rest with honors at Arlington National Cemetery. On May 1, 2000, on the 40th Anniversary of his shootdown, USAF and CIA officials posthumously awarded Francis Gary Powers the Prisoner-of-War Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the National Defense Service Medal. The ceremony with Powers' family took place at Beale AFB, home of the 9th Reconnaissance Wing which today still operates the U-2. At the conclusion of the ceremony, a lone U-2 made a low-level flyby.

Powers' shootdown in 1960 marked the first time a surface-to-air missile successfully brought down a hostile aircraft and his overflight would be last US overflight of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union would go on to develop one the most comprehensive air-defense systems in the world and that would dictate US strategic planning well into the 1990s with a shift towards low-level penetration bombers, stealth, and most importantly, the technological shift to relying on satellites to provided imagery of Soviet installations and activities.

Source: Spyplane: The U-2 History by Norman Palomar. Zenith Press, 2001.

If there was any one factor during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 that could have escalated the situation out of the control of President Kennedy and Premier Khrushchev, it wasn't the threat of an American invasion of Cuba and believe it or not it wasn't the presence of the SS-4 and SS-4 medium-range ballistic missiles that targeted most of the Continental United States. It was the presence of tactical nuclear weapons not just on Cuba itself (2 kiloton warheads on the battlefield FROG rockets) but the tactical nuclear weapons on the periphery of the crisis that had release authority vested in lower-ranking officers.

Case in point, each of the five diesel-electric submarines the Soviet Navy deployed to Cuba to monitor the merchant fleet that was bringing war materiel and personnel the island each had single nuclear-tipped torpedo amongst the conventionally-armed torpedoes normally carried. There were tense moments and the quarantine line Kennedy ordered ships carrying military cargoes bound for Cuba had to turn around or stop and be inspected by US Navy warships and in some cases, US ASW forces were tracking and hounding these very submarines, tempting their captains to fire their single nuclear torpedo. But it didn't happen there, thankfully, but there was a routinely scheduled U-2 flight from Alaska half a world away that nearly triggered an escalation of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

On the same day on 27 October 1962 Major Rudolf Anderson, Jr's U-2 flight was shot down over Cuba by an SA-2 SAM missile, a world away at Eielson AFB in Fairbanks Major Chuck Maultsby took off in a U-2 headed to the North Pole on a high-altitude sampling flight to try and collect particle debris from Soviet nuclear tests on the Arctic island of Novaya Zemlya. Upon collecting the required samples, Maultsby set course for Alaska but erred in his navigation and instead started heading towards the eastern peninsulas of Siberia. A rescue Douglas C-54 Skymaster airborne to support his flight noted the start of sunrise and Maultsby reported he didn't see a sunrise indicating he was far to the west of the return path and entering Soviet air space.

US radar sites in Western Alaska detected the MiG-19 fighter scrambled to intecept the lost U-2 who made an immediate turn to the east post-haste! At the same time, two USAF Air Defense Command Convair F-102 Delta Dagger interceptors were scrambled to counter the MiGs and guild the U-2 home. On each Delta Dagger were nuclear-tipped GAR-11 Nuclear Falcon missiles.

Five days earlier when the Strategic Air Command and the US armed forced worldwide went to DEFCON-2 (one stage of full war with the Soviet Union), tactical nuclear weapons like the GAR-11 Nuclear Falcon were loaded on ADC interceptors and entrusted to lower-ranking officers. The GAR-11's warhead was only 0.25 kiloton, but there were larger warheads equally entrusted like the 40-kiloton warhead used on the Nike-Hercules SAM sites that protected the US industrial centers.

So now over the Bering Sea, nuclear armed F-102 Delta Daggers have scrambled under DEFCON-2 preparations to rescue an errant U-2 under pursuit by two Soviet MiG-19s. Maultsby didn't have enough fuel to land back at Eielson AFB but made a deadstick landing at a small Alaskan airfield and the MiGs broke off pursuit and returned to the bases. The Air Defense Command F-102s never got into missile engagement range of the MiG-19s, but the event sent reverberations through Washington and Moscow. Moscow saw the U-2 flight as a prelude to a nuclear bomber strike over the North Pole and Khrushchev protests vigoruously on the 28th to Kennedy, berating him for this "provocation". Kennedy, in a rare moment during the Cuban Missile Crisis, was forced to apologize to his protagonist and to seek every measure to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Kennedy was pissed, to say the least, berating his special Executive Committee of close advisors (ExComm) expasperated "There's always some sonofabitch that doesn't get the message!" Privately Khrushchev consigned the U-2 flight as a navigational error and not a true prelude to an attack- quite possibly the smartest decision he made during the crisis!

Source: DEFCON-2: Standing on the Brink of Nuclear War During the Cuban Missile Crisis by Norman Palomar and John D. Gresham. John Wiley and Sons, Ltd, 2006, p-120-153.

Tabasco/Purple Flash: Sensor Pods Delivered by U-2 Spyplanes

Last month I had posted about Steel Eagle, a modern-day counterpart to the Igloo White acoustic/seismic sensors dropped on the Ho Chi Minh Trail during the Vietnam War. The use of such remote-sensing pods that embedded themselves in the ground after being dropped by an aircraft weren't just limited to tactical use- a similar program was under taken in the 1960s called Tabasco (the unclassfied project name was Purple Flash) to drop sensor pods from Lockheed U-2 spyplanes flying some of the longest range flights in the aircraft's history over the Chinese nuclear tests sites at Lop Nor, deep in the desert basins of northwest China.

Corona satellite imagery detailed the Lop Nor installation ever since the first Chinese nuclear detonation in 1964 caught Western scientists off guard. The Department of Energy's Sandia Labs in Albuquerque had been working on adapting US seismic equipment used to analyze nuclear tests in Nevada to fit into the air-dropped pods that weighed 285 lbs. The pods were carried under the U-2 wing and a parachute deployed after the drop to slow the pod just enough to not damage the sensors but allow the spike-shaped pod to embed itself in the ground. Once on the ground, a 10-foot telescopic antenna deployed to transmit data to listening posts on the periphery of the People's Republic of China.

On 29 April 1966 the first prototype pod was dropped over the White Sands Missile Range from a U-2 and landed only 800 feet from the target but the sensors were damaged. While the design was being reworked by Sandia, Lockheed and the CIA embarked on a series of long-range flights to see just how much range they could get out of the U-2 to demonstrate the Lop Nor site could be reached from Takhili AB in Thailand.

By 1967 Taiwanese pilots with the RoCAF were training in the United States for the Tabasco flights. On 7 May 1967 the first operational Tabasco mission successfully dropped two sensor pods at Lop Nor, but for whatever reason, no signal was received from them. Another Chinese nuclear test took place that June while the CIA was still trying to interrogate the sensor pods in the desert. Needless to say, it was frustrating for intelligence officials. It was concluded the only way to know for sure was to send another U-2 flight to Lop Nor carrying interrogation equipment to try and activate the pods. On 31 August 1967 another RoCAF pilot took a U-2 to Lop Nor and was nearly ambushed by a salvo of SAMs but no signal was received from the pods.

After two high-risk flights, a second set of Tabasco pods were dropped at Lop Nor, this time by a Lockheed C-130 flown by Taiwanese pilots flying at low level. The outcome of that mission remains classified. After the second Lop Nor mission, the six year program of overflights of the People's Republic of China by the Taiwanese pilots of the "Black Cat" squadron came to an end as improved defenses made further flights too risky.

Source: 50 Years of the U-2: The Complete Illustrated History of the "Dragon Lady" by Chris Pocock. Schiffer Publishing, 2005, p246-252.

During the design of the first Lockheed U-2 spyplanes, designer Kelly Johnson held fast to his rule "one pound equals one foot of altitude" and if it wasn't completely necessary to the mission, it wasn't going on the aircraft. As a result, many of the navigational aids considered standard on most military aircraft were absent on the U-2. Central to the U-2's navigation equipment was the driftsight- a downward looking periscope that had two selectable magnifications. The circular driftsight dominated the center of the instrument panel on the U-2 until its replacement by GPS and glass displays in the 1990s. The driftsight give the pilot a 360-degree view underneath the aircraft and it was used for navigation in addition to sighting for the cameras.

If the ground wasn't visible due to overcast, dead reckoning was also used since the winds at the altitudes the U-2 operated were usually very light. The aircraft did have a radio compass, the AN/ARN-6, but on deep penetration flights of the Soviet Union, radio stations were far and few between.

A HF antenna system was planned for the U-2, allowing the pilot to tune into HF ground stations and determine his position by triangulation. Though tested successfully, the CIA realized that HF transmissions could betray the aircraft's position and the system, called System II, was dropped from the design.

The solution was to use the driftsight in combination with a specially-made sextant that was aligned with the driftsight's optical path. A mirror could be switched that diverted the view through the optical driftsight to the sextant unit that was mounted just ahead of the cockpit atop the nose. At the 50,000+ feet altitudes the U-2 operated, the sky was black as night even in midday and star fixes could be taken using the sextant coupled to the driftsight. Since the fully suited pilot wouldn't be able to compute the star fixes and positions during the mission, an essential crewmember to each U-2 mission was a flight-rated navigator who planned the star fixes and did all the calculations ahead of each mission. As the calculations were specific for a particular timeframe, it was essential that the U-2 takeoff within a prescribed window of time or the star fixes would have to be recalculated by the navigator.

Source: 50 Years of the U-2: The Complete Illustrated History of the "Dragon Lady" by Chris Pocock. Schiffer Publishing, 2005, p32.

On 27 January 2000, Dee Porter, a Lockheed pilot under contract to the NASA Dryden Airborne Science program, became the first pilot to fly a Lockheed U-2 (in its NASA ER-2 version) through Russian airspace since the shootdown of Francis Gary Powers in 1960. Apprehensive about the safety of the overflight, Porter asked a Russian air defense general if the air traffic control centers and air defense systems would be notified in advance. Rather wryly, the general responded "There will not be a second incident."

Entering Russian airspace near the Finnish border, Porter was responsible for operating 17 different atmospheric experiments at various points in the route as designated by the NASA team's 250 scientists. The ER-2 was loaded with over a ton of scientific equipment for this particular mission.

At the time of the mission, Porter had 3,200 hours in the U-2, more than any other active U-2 pilot, having started his career in the U-2 with the US Air Force in 1980. During his first Arctic mission, Arctic survival instructors told him that ejection at high altitude where the ambient temperature was -83 Centigrade made survival irrelevant as he would be frozen by the time he reached the ground.

Source: 50 Years of the U-2- The Complete Illustrated History of the "Dragon Lady" by Chris Pocock. Schiffer Publishing, 2005, p380.