The Price of Vigilance: Attacks on American Surveillance Flights

by Larry Tart, Robert Keefe

Book publishers can't react to current events as quickly as newspapers and magazines, of course, so it's a remarkably fortuitous coincidence when a book comes into print covering a subject that has entered the news unexpectedly. In April 2001, a hostile aerial encounter over international waters forced an American military crew to land its damaged surveillance plane on the Chinese island of Hainan, prompting a nail-biting hostage crisis and hurting relations between the United States and China. Just weeks after this event, Larry Tart and Robert Keefe offered The Price of Vigilance, a historical treatment of airborne reconnaissance during the Cold War--plus a lengthy, hot-off-the-press introduction that describes exactly what happened over the South China Sea and why. This late addition, in fact, may be the most useful and interesting section of The Price of Vigilance. The rest of Tart and Keefe's book describes how airborne reconnaissance operations "played a major role in avoiding armed conflict with the Soviet Union during the Cold War, but at a grave cost in American lives." The authors count 264 Americans dead or missing from engagements with the Soviets, Chinese, North Koreans, North Vietnamese, and Cubans. They pay particularly close attention to the destruction of an Air Force C-130 SIGINT in 1958, over Armenia: "Without even time for a mayday call, 17 men, the majority of them in their late teens or early 20s, had been blasted out of the sky and burned to cinders." They go on to describe how security concerns prevented the Air Force from telling the relatives of these crew members much about what had happened: "The families waited almost four decades before finally learning a few scant details about what happened to their loved ones on that fateful afternoon."

Some readers may consider The Price of Vigilance an aerial version of Blind Man's Bluff, the bestselling story of Cold War submarine espionage. The storytelling, frankly, isn't as good, but The Price of Vigilance nevertheless shines a welcome spotlight on a poorly understood aspect of the Cold War. --John J. Miller

Genres: History, Aviation, Military History, Military Fiction

608 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good historical reference for those who are interested in learning more about aircraft intelligence and surveillance platforms. Especially if you thought that all this type of work was without risk. The downside of this book in my opinion is that the organization of the book is not very fluid, and at times the details require an extreme amount of attention to get through. The importance of this book, is that it tells the stories of many of have given the United States the ultimate sacrifice so that we can enjoy the freedoms we have today.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Larry and Robert have written and compiled an incredible amount of information about our nation's airborne reconnaissance missions. I observed just a piece of it when I was stationed with the Air Force on Crete in 1969-1970. The Air Force, Navy, and British airborne crews are to be admired for their contributions to our nation's security.

[Mark Moxley-Knapp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent overview of aerial signals intelligence during the Cold War, combined with a focus on the downing of a specific plane. Tons of background, interesting interviews and comments from participants, etc. Touching stories about the families of the fallen, and memorial services.

[Tom Nolan]

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