MILITARY HISTORY
"By Any Means Necessary" By William E.
Burrows 
A long overdue tribute to America's Cold War Warriors
At the end of World War II we found ourselves faced
with a new enemy, the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, we knew little about them and
they made every effort to close their borders. When Russia obtained nuclear
weapons, America and Russia scrambled to create strategic forces to assure
annihilation of their enemy if they should be so stupid as to attack The
Strategic Air Command (SAC) was formed for America's deterrent force (the first
leg of the triad which later included land based ICBMs and Navy ballistic
missile submarines). But SAC was faced with a real problem: what and where are
the targets? We knew where the major cities were, but we did not want to attack
the civilian population. Thus America began a series of bold incursions into
Russia to find strategic targets. The British also contributed with some daring
flights over Russia and Eastern Europe. The early spy planes were converted
World War II prop driven relics that were easy prey for Mig-15 and Mig-17
fighters and several were lost with their crews. America replaced the aging prop
planes with Boeing's RB-47, Martin's RB-57 and the famous U-2. Several of these
planes were shot down, some over international waters. The spy missions later
expanded to include radar mapping and gathering of electronic intelligence. We
needed to know where radar sites were and what frequencies they were operating
at in order for our bombers to penetrate. Many missions were also carried out
against North Korea and China. Intelligence gathering flights continue today,
but satellites now do much of the job. The most recent incident is the collision
of a Navy intelligence plane and a Chinese fighter in early 2001. The author
also covers the distress of the families of the missing men and the Government's
continued veil of secrecy surrounding the loss of aircraft and crew. I had no
idea that we had lost dozens of aircraft and hundreds of crewmen. This is a
story that deserves to be told and read by all Americans.
Reviewed by Kenneth S. Smith
11/14/2001
Available from:
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
19 Union Square West
New York, NY 10003
