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The 91st Bombardment Group, the forerunner of the 91st Strategic
Reconnaissance Wing, arrived in England in September 1942 prepared
for the initial bombing operations against Fortress Europe.
Commander of the 305th Bomber Command, Curtis LeMay and Director of
Operations, Joseph J. Preston, trained air crews in locating and
identifying strategic targets in Nazi Germany. LeMay and Preston
developed a dynamic working relationship and left a lasting legacy.
News correspondents were trained as gunners in order to fly on the
bombing missions and report the war first hand. Young college-aged
crews rapidly became seasoned warriors and struggled to meet the
25-mission requirement before their return home. One of the most
famous B-17s during World War II was the "Memphis Belle" which was
featured in a movie "Saga of the Memphis Belle" / In February
20-25, 1944, known as "Big Week," the VIII Bomber Command put up
1,000 heavy bombers that flew 3,800 sorties, destroyed 75 percent
of buildings bombed in Germany and downed 600 Nazi fighters. The
following month, 800 bombers struck Berlin targets during such bad
weather that Luftwaffe fighters never became airborne. That
offensive established aerial supremacy in Europe in preparation for
General Dwight Eisenhower's command of the D-Day invasion on
Nazi-occupied France. The 91st was again in the thick of world
events when the Soviet-backed North Koreans pushed through the 38th
Parallel into South Korea. Photographic reconnaissance and mapping
of the uncharted Korean peninsula became a top priority. The
nation's first jet-propelled bomber, the RB-45C, led the newly
designated US Air Force assigned to a detachment bound for Japan.
Capable of air refueling, the RB-45C detachment made an
island-hopping flight due to the time constraints to become
proficient in working with tanker refueling. The 91st SRW
detachments continued to perform at Forward Operating Locations in
Eielson AFB, Alaska, Thule AFB, Greenland, Turkey, Libya, Morocco,
Spain, England and Japan, with the same skill and security. 'We
Served with Honor' tells the history of the 91st Strategic
Reconnaissance Wing from the perspective of the men who lived it.
One pilot describes his Top Secret overflight of the Soviet Union's
Kola Peninsula including an attack by MiG fighters. The partnership
between the Royal Air Force and the 91st SRW was a unique
collaboration and is described by the RAF officer who was the
center of the events.
Ninety miles from the US coast of Florida, dictators and zealots
ruled the island of Cuba for hundreds of years. The last half of
the 20th century saw dictator Fulgencio Batista deposed by rebel
leader Fidel Castro and his followers. Proclaiming himself a
supporter of Cubanism not Communism, Castro's nationalization of
agriculture and businesses revealed a different side. Thousands of
Cubans departed by air and sea en route to the US and Europe. The
US government, alerted by the Central Intelligence Agency, became
concerned when an alliance forged between Castro and Nikita
Khrushchev brought arms and ammunition to the island so close to US
shores. John F. Kennedy, sworn into office as the 35th president
when critical actions required attention, did not immediately
approve the plan without considerable evaluation. The Agency
hierarchy enjoyed power and influence and at times withheld
critical pieces of the plan. The CIA hatched a plan to have Castro
removed and enlist the Cuban exiles to be trained by US agents and
invade the island to establish a new government. The operation, an
invasion at the Bay of Pigs, or Bahia de Cochinos, began during the
administration of President Eisenhower with participation from all
departments of government up to the Oval Office. Brigade 2506 - as
the exile force called themselves - was trained in Guatemala and
Nicaragua by Agency representatives. With patched up B-26s from the
"boneyard" in Tucson, Arizona and commercial vessels leased from an
exile in New York, the Brigade had an active military force. Former
military pilots, students, farmers, lawyers and doctors comprised
the group who opposed Castro and wanted to be part of his takedown.
Three days after the invasion at the beach, all hell broke loose.
When Chang-di 'Robin' Yeh departed on his scheduled recon flight on
1 November 1963, his life was full of promise. In an instant, the
experienced pilot transitioned from a free man to a prisoner held
on spy charges by mainland China. Promised early on he would be
returned to Taiwan, the weeks and months passed without change.
Denounced by the government of Taiwan, Yeh became a man without a
country. The son of a retired nationalist army general and educated
in private schools, Yeh was forced to do the most menial jobs while
in captivity: cleaning after farm animals, pulling weeds by hand,
overhauling trucks and tallying workers' farm productions.
Interrogations continued with the hope Yeh would break; the guards
and interrogators were surprised at his unwavering position. Day
after day, the examiners continued the questions about his flight,
his aircraft, his squadron and even his family. They could not
understand why he would not know all the intricacies of his
aircraft and flight. After all, his was a new and special aircraft.
Global changes between East and West provided slightly improved
living conditions for prisoners. When the Chinese learned by
accident that Yeh spoke English, they hatched a plan to use his
language ability to their benefit while offering a better job using
his skills. When Yeh's usefulness was exhausted, the Chinese
offered him a chance to leave, but not without strings. After
almost 20 years captive in China, the Taiwanese refused to allow
him to return. Where could he go? Who could he turn to for help?
Did his family know he was alive? Arranging his exit from China was
another hurdle to clear. Using his ROCAF contacts from years past,
'Robin' found assistance where he did not expect it...
With heightened tensions mounting in the Cold War, President Dwight
Eisenhower's request for more accurate intelligence information on
the Soviet Union was the spark that ignited the U-2 project.
Modified USAF bombers began overflights of the Soviet Union in
1951, but existing lower flying aircraft in the US inventory were
vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire and a number of cross-border
flights were shot down. To meet the challenge and improve the
survivability, the Lockheed Corporation received approval for their
revolutionary design of a new recon aircraft on December 9, 1954.
The company began work under a heavy veil of secrecy with only 81
people, including 25 engineers. A test pilot flew the first flight
on August 1, 1955, after only eight months of production, a
record-breaking result for rollout of a new project, especially one
this complex and innovative. A dedicated and inventive group of
contractors came together to support the project with partial
pressure suits for pilots, high-resolution cameras, and an engine
that could carry the aircraft to altitudes of 70,000 feet and
higher. Nicknamed the Dragon Lady, the U-2 has flown over Cuba,
Alaska, North and South poles, Vietnam, Australia, Sweden, New
Zealand, and Afghanistan. The U-2 is as relevant today as it was 50
years ago. More recently it flew over the hurricane-ravaged US Gulf
Coast to collect imagery of the destruction over a 90,000 square
mile area. First-person memoirs of many of the men who supported
the early US spy plane project are included in this book. They
include pilots, maintenance specialists, a flight surgeon,
photographic specialists and some family members. The US also
trained U-2 pilots from Taiwan and the UK and some of their photos
and memoirs are in this collection. Maintenance technicians
recalled working long hours to prepare aircraft for historic
flights over Cuba. Photographic specialists remembered the
difficult conditions in Vietnam, and the care required to download
the exposed film of North Vietnamese targets from the cameras in
the aircraft. All of these experiences were achieved under Top
Secret security conditions and on a"need to know" basis.
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