Tags
Language
Tags
March 2024
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
25 26 27 28 29 1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31 1 2 3 4 5 6

Shadow Flights: America's Secret Air War Against the Soviet Union by Curtis Peebles

Posted By: madmaxau
Shadow Flights: America's Secret Air War Against the Soviet Union by Curtis Peebles

Shadow Flights: America's Secret Air War Against the Soviet Union by Curtis Peebles
Publisher: Presidio Press | Date: Nov, 2001 | ISBN: 0891417680 | Pages: 352 | siPDF in RAR | 51 mb


From Booklist
Peebles recounts in eye-opening detail the history of secret reconnaissance flights over the Soviet Union in the 1950s–a breach of international law exposed by the U-2 incident of May 1960 and a potentially deadly chapter of the cold war. Such was the fear of a nuclear Pearl Harbor that Truman and Eisenhower both deemed those brazen violations of secrecy-shrouded Soviet territory a dire necessity. They began in earnest, Peebles states, in late 1952 with overflights of bomber bases in Siberia. The type of plane initially used was proven vulnerable to air defense after being shot up in a 1954 air battle, and so began development of the high-flying eye-in-the-sky that was code lettered "U" for "utility plane." The letter didn't fool the Soviets, however, and they tracked most of the U-2 missions. The advent of satellite photography obviated airplane-borne and balloon-borne cameras, but hardly the interest of military-aviation buffs, who will greatly appreciate the particulars Peebles reveals in this fully researched, dramatic, now-it-can-be-told tome. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
Author Peebles sets these clandestine operations against the larger background of the ideological struggle between the US and USSR and draws on previously top secret Soviet and U.S. documents. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
–––––––––––––––––––––
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Before There Were Spy Satellites…, February 11, 2001
By Ron N. Butler (Powder Springs, GA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Shadow Flights: America's Secret Air War Against the Soviet Union (Hardcover)
Over the past ten years, much of the story of aerial spying against the Soviet Union by the U.S. and allies has been declassified. "Shadow Flights" is a concise, readable compendium of this material. Some of the book is a repeat of material in the author's "Dark Eagles" (also recommended), but the emphasis of "Shadow Flights" also includes operational factors and Cold War politics for a fuller picture. In particular, Dwight Eisenhower comes across as both more intelligent and more thoughtful of the consequences of overflights of the USSR than he is usually given credit for – and much more so than most of his military and CIA subordinates.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
–––––––––––––––––––
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars An Insightful Look into Cold War Aerial Surveillance, August 13, 2001
By D. Smith "former National Security Analyst" (Durham, NC, United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Shadow Flights: America's Secret Air War Against the Soviet Union (Hardcover)
As in "Dark Eagles," Peebles again demonstrates in "Shadow Flights" an amazing amount of research and insight into the world of classified and black-project aviation during the Cold War. Unlike "Dark Eagles," "Shadow Flights" is a much more integrated read, but is no less informative. Peebles accurately and conscisely recounts the history of Cold War reconnaissance flights and methods in a manner that is interesting to both the informed and casual reader. In so doing, Peebles covers everything from the development history of the U-2 to the shootdown of a USAF C-130A, s/n 60528, over Soviet Armenia in September 1958, including enhanced Soviet gun camera photos of the doomed ELINT aircraft.
Though the book lacks the detailed minutae of "The Price of Vigilance," it also covers a much larger subject and does so superbly. Reading this book immediately before Norman Polmar's slightly more recent U-2 history, "Spyplane," I found Peeble's style to be more accomodating to the average reader, and "Shadow Flights" in general to be more informative and accurate.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
–––––––––––––––––––––––-
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A good read, August 13, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Shadow Flights: America's Secret Air War Against the Soviet Union (Hardcover)
I am a great reader of war and cold war books and this is quite good.
The US needed intelligence on the Soviet Union. There was no way using traditional intelligence methods that she could do this. As such she developed air reconnaissance to a new degree.
The writer write very well about this development. He gives an great history of the development of these planes. I found it fascinating.
As too the political problems that emerged around these flights. The arguments for these missions that despite the large political cost that eventually occurred (as the result of Gary Powers capture showed) were worth paying.
You can feel what the pilots on the missions felt though their stories on the missions that they flew. I felt the excitement that the pilots must have felt on their trips.
I look forward to reading more from this writer.

Fully Bookmarked and Searchable, scanned by me :-)
[51 mb]


http://www.fileserve.com/file/VbpnBjp

or

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SKDYGIIZ