Rating: 
Summary: Kick the tires and light the fires! Next stop Vladivostok¿
Review: I recommend this book as a "must read" for anyone interested in Cold War military history and intelligence gathering as well as all former "spooks". Mr. Burrows has written a detailed account of United States Air Force, Navy and CIA airborne electronic and photographic reconnaissance efforts from the end of WWII through the US Navy's P3 incident on Hainan in 2001. The development of specialized aircraft (U-2, SR-71), electronics and camera equipment as well as modification of ordinary aircraft (B-29, B-47, C-130, etc) for reconnaissance missions is covered in sufficient detail to satisfy everyone expect hardcore technical buffs.Besides detailed descriptions of 16 Cold War shootdowns that involved US deaths - many of which did not become widely known until recently - Mr. Burrows presents evidence to support the premise that many crewmen initially survived shootdowns only to be murdered or die in Soviet prisons. There are also many tales of crews that returned with damaged aircraft, and sometimes wounded men, to their home base or after a period of Soviet incarceration. The efforts of families of lost crewmen to find out what happened to their relatives, despite stonewalling by both the US and foreign governments, add a deeply human touch to what would otherwise be a recitation of interesting facts and scary war stories. There are lots of footnotes supporting the events described and a number of photographs of lost aircrews and some of the aircraft they flew. The lack of chronological order throughout the chapters, and frequent flashforwards and flashbacks, make some of the incidents hard to follow or recall. I would also like to see pictures of each major aircraft mentioned and a summary of all the non-fatal shootdown and attack incidents. I recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: The Not-so-Cold War
Review: William Burrows' effort here is very successful. The sacrifices made by intelligence gathering personnel, mostly military, in the early stages of the cold war is not well known. The US government went to great pains to insure that being the case. As Burrows recounts, these missions to snoop imperative targeting data, along with the offensive and defensive capabilities of the Soviet Union, China and other potential adversaries, wasn't the cold part of the cold war--it was the dangerous, tedious, frightening and secret part. The bravery and accomplishments of those who served in this manner, living and dying under the prohibitive stress of secrecy, deserves the attention finally coming to light. While Burrows' story is more one of hardware than people, we do get a sense of the personal sacrifice for both those who served and their families. For readers unfamiliar with these operations, Burrows provides an extensive overview. The numbers of aircraft shot down or lost, American captives enslaved and beaten to death without chance of reparation, and the danger in each mission is sobering. These men could reveal none of this to friends or family. We get details of the progression of aircraft and sensor capability that is engaging. Aircraft like the B-50, B-45, B-47, P2V and so on aren't nearly as well known as those types made famous by open combat. As in his This New Ocean, a very good portrayal of the US/Soviet space programs, Burrows makes use of declassified and Russian information. I wonder, however, about the description of the Powers U-2 shoot down. It varies greatly from other accounts. Rather than SAMs launched like bottle rockets and scores of MiGs flailing desperately, we're told this brand-new weapon system fires just three missiles in salvo. Two misfire but the other scores the hit. In addition, only three MiGs scramble. One, an unarmed MiG-19 with a pilot ordered to ram the target, easily climbs to the U-2's altitude, but fails to make visual contact. After Powers is down, two other interceptors reach the area. One turns back low on fuel. Thinking the lone remaining fighter is the U-2, a different SAM site launches a single SA-2 and brings it down. I don't know how a reader can simply accept this account. As thoroughly footnoted as is this book, no footnotes address this episode. To borrow a line from Dr. Strangelove, it sounds like a bunch of Commie bull. (I've always felt, by the way, that the overflight by Powers on May 1, crossing central Russia from Turkey to Norway, was an overt attempt by the CIA to humiliate the Russians that backfired.) The continuing cover up of the fate of American prisoners at the hands of their captors is troubling. A cover up, Burrows states, that is an ongoing joint arrangement for the sake of diplomacy. Burrows confuses the reader from time to time but jumbling the chronology of events (we get the Cuban Missile Crisis before the Powers story, for example). But still its a good, detailed book that I recommend and will probably re-read again some day. For a more first-hand, although less detailed account of cold war air operations, see Paul Lashmar's Spy Flights of the Cold War. Its quite good, too.
Rating:
Summary: The Not-so-Cold War
Review: William Burrows' effort here is very successful. The sacrifices made by intelligence gathering personnel, mostly military, in the early stages of the cold war is not well known. The US government went to great pains to insure that being the case. As Burrows recounts, these missions to snoop imperative targeting data, along with the offensive and defensive capabilities of the Soviet Union, China and other potential adversaries, wasn't the cold part of the cold war--it was the dangerous, tedious, frightening and secret part. The bravery and accomplishments of those who served in this manner, living and dying under the prohibitive stress of secrecy, deserves the attention finally coming to light. While Burrows' story is more one of hardware than people, we do get a sense of the personal sacrifice for both those who served and their families. For readers unfamiliar with these operations, Burrows provides an extensive overview. The numbers of aircraft shot down or lost, American captives enslaved and beaten to death without chance of reparation, and the danger in each mission is sobering. These men could reveal none of this to friends or family. We get details of the progression of aircraft and sensor capability that is engaging. Aircraft like the B-50, B-45, B-47, P2V and so on aren't nearly as well known as those types made famous by open combat. As in his This New Ocean, a very good portrayal of the US/Soviet space programs, Burrows makes use of declassified and Russian information. I wonder, however, about the description of the Powers U-2 shoot down. It varies greatly from other accounts. Rather than SAMs launched like bottle rockets and scores of MiGs flailing desperately, we're told this brand-new weapon system fires just three missiles in salvo. Two misfire but the other scores the hit. In addition, only three MiGs scramble. One, an unarmed MiG-19 with a pilot ordered to ram the target, easily climbs to the U-2's altitude, but fails to make visual contact. After Powers is down, two other interceptors reach the area. One turns back low on fuel. Thinking the lone remaining fighter is the U-2, a different SAM site launches a single SA-2 and brings it down. I don't know how a reader can simply accept this account. As thoroughly footnoted as is this book, no footnotes address this episode. To borrow a line from Dr. Strangelove, it sounds like a bunch of Commie bull. (I've always felt, by the way, that the overflight by Powers on May 1, crossing central Russia from Turkey to Norway, was an overt attempt by the CIA to humiliate the Russians that backfired.) The continuing cover up of the fate of American prisoners at the hands of their captors is troubling. A cover up, Burrows states, that is an ongoing joint arrangement for the sake of diplomacy. Burrows confuses the reader from time to time but jumbling the chronology of events (we get the Cuban Missile Crisis before the Powers story, for example). But still its a good, detailed book that I recommend and will probably re-read again some day. For a more first-hand, although less detailed account of cold war air operations, see Paul Lashmar's Spy Flights of the Cold War. Its quite good, too.
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