Secret NOFORN
Hiring U-2 Pilots ... 73
Pilot Training ... 75
Final Tests of the U-2 ... 76
Three Fatal Crashes in 1956 ... 79
Coordination of Collection Requirements ... 80
Preparations To Handle the Product of U-2 Missions ... 82
The Impact of the Air Force Project GENETRIX Balloons ... 84
AQUATONE Briefings for Selected Members of Congress ... 88
The U-2 Cover Story ... 89
Chapter 3
U-2 Operations in the Soviet Bloc and Middle East, 1956-1958
The Deployment of Detachment A to Lakenheath ... 94
The Move to Wiesbaden ... 95
President Eisenhower’s Attitude Toward Overflights ... 96
First Overflights of Eastern Europe ... 100
First U-2 Flights Over the Soviet Union ... 104
Soviet Protest Note ... 109
The End of the Bomber Gap ... 111
Tactical Intelligence From U-2s During the Suez Crisis ... 112
Renewed Overflights of the Soviet Union ... 122
Radar-Deceptive “Dirty Birds” ... 128
The New Detachment C ... 133
Detachment B Flights From Pakistan ... 135
The Decline of Detachment A ... 139
... 142
Declining Overflight Activity ... 143
Concerns About Soviet Countermeasures Against the U-2 ... 147
More Powerful Engines for the U-2 ... 149
Intervention in Lebanon, 1958 ... 152
British Participation in the U-2 Project ... 153
The U-2 Project at the Beginning of 1959 ... 157
Chapter 4
The Final Overflights of the Soviet Union, 1959-1960
The U-2 and the “Missile-Gap” Debate... 159
The Last Overflight: Operation GRAND SLAM... 170
The Aftermath of the U-2 Downing... 177
The Withdrawal of the Overseas Detachments... 181
The Fate of Francis Gary Powers... 183
Changes in Overflight Procedures After May 1960... 187