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  • Casualty of the War on Drugs

    Counterdrug efforts in the 1990s included gathering intelligence information on drug traffickers. On April 24, 1992, a C-130H flown by the 310th Airlift Squadron at Howard Air Force Base, Panama, was on such a mission when it was intercepted 60 miles off the coast of Peru by two Peruvian Air Force

  • General Electric AN/ASQ-145 Low Light Level Television Sensor System

    The Low Light Level Television Sensor (LLLTV) installed on AC-130 gunships enabled the aircrew to illuminate targets covertly during night operations. Located just in front of the 20mm guns, the LLLTV could amplify the existing light 60,000 times to produce television images as clearly as if it were

  • HEXAGON: Mapping Camera

    HEXAGON KH-9 reconnaissance satellites carried mapping cameras like this one on several missions. The Defense Mapping Agency used images from these cameras for war planning. These cameras improved mapping and charting accuracy with precise measurement data.To accurately measure sizes of objects and

  • Cold War in Space: Top Secret Reconnaissance Satellites Revealed

    During the Cold War, the U.S. relied on photo reconnaissance satellites to track adversaries' weapons development, especially in the Soviet Union and China. From the early 1960s to mid-1980s, photography from space was often the only way to get critical data about nuclear threats.The National

  • U-2 Aircraft Carrier Tail Hook and "Q-tip"

    Aircraft Carrier Tail HookIn the 1960s, U-2s could not reach certain remote targets because political difficulties prevented basing the aircraft in some foreign nations. The CIA and U.S. Navy, therefore, studied the idea of launching U-2s from aircraft carriers.Project Whale Tale fitted a few U-2s

  • Powerful New Cameras for the U-2

    Model A-2 Camera Set This system of three high-altitude aerial reconnaissance cameras was developed for the U-2 in the late 1950s. These Hycon model 732 cameras created much more detailed images than earlier cameras. For example, their lenses could "see" and record objects as small as two feet

  • Shapes and Patterns: The Photo Interpreter's Evidence

    Photo analysts used light tables like this one during the Cuban Missile Crisis to study negatives brought back by reconnaissance aircraft. Interpreters were trained to recognize shapes and patterns to identify objects such as aircraft, missiles, and structures. They could use either negative or

  • U-2 Pilot's Party Suit

    This "party suit" was not worn on missions, but instead was a strictly recreational outfit. It belonged to U-2 pilot Capt. Frank "Fuzzy" Furr, who wore it during the Southeast Asia War while deployed at U-Tapao, Thailand, in the early 1970s. Many pilots had customized party suits, and wore them for

  • David Clark MC-3 Partial Pressure Flying Suit

    Pilots of the 1950s-era high-altitude aircraft, including the U-2, wore partial pressure suits like this one. Partial pressure means the suit does not enclose the whole body. In an emergency where the cockpit depressurized, the suit would automatically tighten around the limbs and torso to protect

  • David Clark S-1010A Full-Pressure Flying Suit

    With the introduction of the larger U-2R in 1967, a roomier cockpit meant pilots could wear full-pressured suits. These new suits were more effective than partial-pressure suits in preventing the effects of exposure to the low pressure found at extreme altitudes. Full-pressure suits provide gas