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Shadow Flights: America's Secret Airwar Against the Soviet Union: A Cold War History
In the dark days of the Cold War the American military conducted a secret air war against the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc. Flown by a handful of American crews, these photographic and intelligence gathering missions were a well-kept secret and unknown to the world at large. Initially, in the 1940s and 1950s, the Americans used converted bombers and transports to carry out these dangerous operations. The price of failure was high and unsuccessful missions were hushed up or reported as 'training accidents'. Later, the US developed the famed U-2 spyplane, an aircraft designed to fly higher than any other and thus ideal for the sinister world of espionage. The downing of Francis Gary Power's U-2 however blew the lid off the supersecret aerial war and heralded a new chapter in the history of the Cold War. Curtis Peebles, having investigated both American and Soviet sources, tackles this controversial issue in a cool and methodical manner, throwing light on a still secret and intriguing aspect of Super Power relations.
352 pages, Paperback
First published October 10, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 27, 2020
A very well researched book about the photo and electronic reconnaissance aircraft and many of the flights flown over and around the Soviet Union during the Cold War. A previous knowledge of the aircraft mentioned would help as the black and white photos in the book are not the best available. Mentioned are the RB-29, RF-80A, a single F-84 modified for photo recon, RF-86F, RF-100A, B-47B, RB-47E, B-45, RB-45C, RB-57A, RB-57D, C-130A-II, U-2 and U-2C.
I felt sympathy for Pres. Eisenhower as the political problems he faced with the so called bomber and missile gaps led to his authorization for more overflights of the USSR after he put a halt on flights due to the loss of aircraft and protests by the Soviets from previous overflights, eventually leading to the loss of the U-2 flown by Francis Gary Powers.
Highly recommended to anyone interested in the early history of the Cold War.
I felt sympathy for Pres. Eisenhower as the political problems he faced with the so called bomber and missile gaps led to his authorization for more overflights of the USSR after he put a halt on flights due to the loss of aircraft and protests by the Soviets from previous overflights, eventually leading to the loss of the U-2 flown by Francis Gary Powers.
Highly recommended to anyone interested in the early history of the Cold War.
August 11, 2025
A detailed review of this country's approach to aerial reconnaissance from the early use of balloons to the Corona satellites. Well researched and presented.
March 25, 2013
Slowly but surely information has been coming forward about United States and American-sponsored reconnaissance missions against the Soviet Union and China during the early years of the Cold War. In this study, Curtis Peebles, a freelance aerospace historian, examines the American reconnaissance effort from the late 1940s to Operation Grand Slam in 1960. The author is well-known for his studies including The Moby Dick Project: Reconnaissance Balloons over Russia (1991), The Corona Project: America’s First Spy Satellites (1997), and Twilight Warriors: Covert Air Operations against the USSR (2005).
Peebles depicts the rise of Cold War reconnaissance from the first U.S. Far East Air Forces RF-80 covert overflight of the Soviet Far East during the Berlin Crisis (1948-1949) to the Soviet shootdown of a Central Intelligence Agency U-2 mission in May 1960. The author points out the vital need for intelligence regarding the testing, production, and deployment of Soviet bombers, submarines, missiles, and nuclear weapons. Overflights during this period included the flying of RB-45C, RB-47, RB-57, and U-2 aircraft by American and British aircrews. These flights consisted of border shadowing, shallow penetration, deep penetration, and cross-county overflight missions over East Europe, the Soviet Union, China, and other countries to gather daytime photographic, nighttime radarscope photographic, and signal intelligence. Reconnaissance balloon operations, such as Operation Genetrix, are not ignored. Peebles is commended for discussing the results of reconnaissance operations. The study is informative on the risks involved in carrying out these missions with the threat of anti-aircraft fire, MiG interceptors, and later surface-to-air missiles. Peebles explains that each mission from the mid-1950s on required the permission of President Eisenhower. He did not take lightly the risks to the aircrews and world peace. There were some very long delays between U-2 missions (up to sixteen months) waiting for the President to approve flights over the Soviet Union in the late 1950s.
The study closely examines the development of the CIA’s U-2 program. From the Lockheed “Skunk Works” plant in California to the testing of the U-2 at “The Ranch” at Groom Lake in Nevada, followed by the operational deployment of the reconnaissance plane to England, West Germany, Turkey, Pakistan, and Japan, the history of the CIA’s covert U-2 operations is revealed. Three U-2 detachments provided valuable intelligence of the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries, actions involved in the buildup and conduct of the Suez Crisis (1956), Lebanon (1958), Taiwan Strait Crisis (1958), and Tibet (1959). Peebles is great at integrating international relations with intelligence needs and the U-2 operations. U-2 intelligence confirmed that there was no bomber gap in the mid-1950s or missile gap in the late 1950s. The last U-2 mission over the Soviet Union, flown by CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers, launched from Peshawar, Pakistan, on its way to Bodo, Norway, in May 1960. It was the first U-2 mission planned to fly across the whole width of the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, it was shot down near Degtyarsk in the Ural Region of the USSR.
Shadow Flights is an intriguing look at Cold War strategic reconnaissance. It uses the many sources now available that were previously classified for national security purposes. The mostly declassified official CIA history, Gregory W. Pedlow and Donald E. Welzenbach’s The CIA and the U-2 Program, 1954-1974 (1998), is a great source on U-2 missions. Other highly recommended works are Chris Pocock’s The U-2 Spyplane: Toward the Unknown, A New History of the Early Years (2000) and The Black Bats: CIA Spy Flights over China from Taiwan, 1951-1969 (2010), Dino A. Brugioni’s Eyes in the Sky: Eisenhower, the CIA and Cold War Aerial Espionage (2010), and, of course, Francis Gary Powers and Curt Gentry’s Operation Overflight: The U-2 Spy Pilot Tells His Story for the First Time (1970, reprinted as Operation Overflight: A Memoir of the U-2 Incident [2004]).
Peebles depicts the rise of Cold War reconnaissance from the first U.S. Far East Air Forces RF-80 covert overflight of the Soviet Far East during the Berlin Crisis (1948-1949) to the Soviet shootdown of a Central Intelligence Agency U-2 mission in May 1960. The author points out the vital need for intelligence regarding the testing, production, and deployment of Soviet bombers, submarines, missiles, and nuclear weapons. Overflights during this period included the flying of RB-45C, RB-47, RB-57, and U-2 aircraft by American and British aircrews. These flights consisted of border shadowing, shallow penetration, deep penetration, and cross-county overflight missions over East Europe, the Soviet Union, China, and other countries to gather daytime photographic, nighttime radarscope photographic, and signal intelligence. Reconnaissance balloon operations, such as Operation Genetrix, are not ignored. Peebles is commended for discussing the results of reconnaissance operations. The study is informative on the risks involved in carrying out these missions with the threat of anti-aircraft fire, MiG interceptors, and later surface-to-air missiles. Peebles explains that each mission from the mid-1950s on required the permission of President Eisenhower. He did not take lightly the risks to the aircrews and world peace. There were some very long delays between U-2 missions (up to sixteen months) waiting for the President to approve flights over the Soviet Union in the late 1950s.
The study closely examines the development of the CIA’s U-2 program. From the Lockheed “Skunk Works” plant in California to the testing of the U-2 at “The Ranch” at Groom Lake in Nevada, followed by the operational deployment of the reconnaissance plane to England, West Germany, Turkey, Pakistan, and Japan, the history of the CIA’s covert U-2 operations is revealed. Three U-2 detachments provided valuable intelligence of the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries, actions involved in the buildup and conduct of the Suez Crisis (1956), Lebanon (1958), Taiwan Strait Crisis (1958), and Tibet (1959). Peebles is great at integrating international relations with intelligence needs and the U-2 operations. U-2 intelligence confirmed that there was no bomber gap in the mid-1950s or missile gap in the late 1950s. The last U-2 mission over the Soviet Union, flown by CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers, launched from Peshawar, Pakistan, on its way to Bodo, Norway, in May 1960. It was the first U-2 mission planned to fly across the whole width of the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, it was shot down near Degtyarsk in the Ural Region of the USSR.
Shadow Flights is an intriguing look at Cold War strategic reconnaissance. It uses the many sources now available that were previously classified for national security purposes. The mostly declassified official CIA history, Gregory W. Pedlow and Donald E. Welzenbach’s The CIA and the U-2 Program, 1954-1974 (1998), is a great source on U-2 missions. Other highly recommended works are Chris Pocock’s The U-2 Spyplane: Toward the Unknown, A New History of the Early Years (2000) and The Black Bats: CIA Spy Flights over China from Taiwan, 1951-1969 (2010), Dino A. Brugioni’s Eyes in the Sky: Eisenhower, the CIA and Cold War Aerial Espionage (2010), and, of course, Francis Gary Powers and Curt Gentry’s Operation Overflight: The U-2 Spy Pilot Tells His Story for the First Time (1970, reprinted as Operation Overflight: A Memoir of the U-2 Incident [2004]).
May 6, 2012
This excellent history of US airborne espionage on the Cold War highlights the close entanglement of technology and politics. It focuses at length on the decisions of president Eisenhower, who had to reconcile the need for more information on Soviet capabilities with the danger of triggering major political incidents and even the risk of provoking war. But such decisions made at the highest level directly affected the fate of the men who flew those long, lonely and highly illegal missions. Peebles successfully intertwines these threads in an intelligent account of those frightening years.
As is probably common enough in intelligence, the photographs brought back by RB-45s, RB-57s, U-2s and balloons often served to allay fears. In the early years of the nuclear arms race, Krushev attempted to hide the military weakness of the USSR with bluff and carefully timed demonstrations. Covert intelligence, by painting a more realistic picture of Soviet capabilities, helped Washington to pursue realistic policies, despite the clamour of "hawks" who were not party to this highly secret information.
There are many histories of these events. This book provides a comprehensive overview, complex as well as complete in its scope, with attention given to many different levels. As such its seems an excellent basis for the understanding of this period.
As is probably common enough in intelligence, the photographs brought back by RB-45s, RB-57s, U-2s and balloons often served to allay fears. In the early years of the nuclear arms race, Krushev attempted to hide the military weakness of the USSR with bluff and carefully timed demonstrations. Covert intelligence, by painting a more realistic picture of Soviet capabilities, helped Washington to pursue realistic policies, despite the clamour of "hawks" who were not party to this highly secret information.
There are many histories of these events. This book provides a comprehensive overview, complex as well as complete in its scope, with attention given to many different levels. As such its seems an excellent basis for the understanding of this period.
May 22, 2014
Lots of detail on U-2 flights. If you are interested in other "shadow flights", much of the info is sketchy or inaccurate. I flew some of these missions during the cold war, so I have first hand info on some of the flights. I was disappointed with the data unrelated to U-2 flights.
July 28, 2012
This book is about the U-2 Spy Plane. The this book to gain an understanding of the Cold War and the importance of the U-2 Spy Plane.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews