On 1 May 1960, a United States U-2 spy plane was shot down by the Soviet Air Defence Forces while performing photographic aerial reconnaissance deep into Soviet territory. The single-seat aircraft, flown by pilot Francis Gary Powers, was hit by an S-75 Dvina (SA-2 Guideline) surface-to-air missile and crashed near …
Read More »Why The Faster Soviet SA-2 Surface-to-air Missile Was Never Able To Shootdown SR-71 Blackbird
The Lockheed SR-71 “Blackbird” is a long-range, high-altitude, Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft that was operated by the United States Air Force. It was developed as a black project from the Lockheed A-12 reconnaissance aircraft in the 1960s by Lockheed and its Skunk Works division. American aerospace engineer Clarence “Kelly” …
Read More »60 Years Ago Today First Aircraft Was Successful Shoot-Down Using Surface-To-Air Missile
In 1958, the Central Intelligence Agency started sponsoring a program known as Diamond Lil, in which Chinese Nationalist pilots were trained to fly Martin RB-57D Canberra high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft. Six Black Cat Squadron Taiwanese pilots were trained on the B-57C at Laughlin AFB, Texas, arriving back in Taiwan, and two …
Read More »The story of the SR-71 Blackbird that outran North Korea SA-2 SAMs missiles flying over Korean Demilitarized Zone
In 1981 North Korea the communist regime of Kim il sung started flexing its military muscles with the aim to invade South Korea. Fearing an invasion on democratic South Korea by North Korea the U.S and its allies desperately need intelligence about missile sites, Anti-aircraft missile, the order of battle and …
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