I Always Wanted to Fly: America's Cold War Airmen

11. Challenging the Russian Bear

Chapter 11 Challenging the Russian Bear President Eisenhower turned his attention to what he would subsequently describe as ‘‘the most effective proposal of the [1955 Geneva Summit Conference] . . . mutual overflight by the U.S. and USSR of each other’s country as a technique of inspection, what became known as the ‘‘open skies’’ plan. . . . He observed that in his opinion, since the Russians already knew ‘‘the location of most of our installations, mutual agreements for such overflights would undoubtedly benefit us more than the Russians, because we know very little about their installations.’’ Peter Lyon, Eisenhower The fourth MiG . . . finally made a lucky hit as I was in a turn, through the top of our left wing, about eight feet from the fuselage, through the retracted wing flap. The shell exploded into the fuselage in the area of the forward main fuel tank, right behind our crew compartment. Hal Austin, RB-47E reconnaissance pilot The Strategic Air Command was the creation of World War II bomber General Curtis E. LeMay. Men such as Harold Austin populated the cockpits of SAC bombers and tankers during the 1950s and 196 Challenging the Russian Bear ’60s. It was a tightly knit, war-seasoned group of flyers who believed that no other flying command, sister service, or foreign air force could hold a candle to them. They were mostly survivors of epic World War II air battles over Europe, of B-29 raids against Japan, of the assemblyline flying of the Berlin Airlift, and, of course, of Korea. These combathardened survivors of adversity constituted the core of SAC air crews. LeMay’s heritage was German, like that of many other great American soldiers. In late 1942 LeMay, then a thirty-four-year-old colonel, took the 305th Bomb Group to England. Quickly determining that the current formations were suicidal, LeMay recalled how he climbed into the top turret of one of his airplanes, plugged into the radio extension, and personally placed each pilot in that formation (LeMay 234). This was the evolution of the wedge-shaped combat box finally adopted by everyone in the Eighth Air Force. LeMay’s tactics allowed the obsolescent B-17 bombers to strike deep into the heart of Nazi Germany in broad daylight and survive. Although the Eighth Air Force took fearsome losses, the Americans prevailed. By the time the 29th Infantry Division landed on Omaha Beach, there was no Luftwaffe there to greet them, thanks to the Mighty Eighth. In 1944 LeMay transferred to the Pacific and took over B-29 operations against Japan. With singleminded resolve, he developed the tactics for B-29 raids against Japan. It seemed only natural for a man with such tactical genius and strategic vision to be selected to command the newly created Strategic Air Command , a combat command reporting directly to the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Pentagon. LeMay took over a mixed bag of aircraft and crews in 1948. By the time he relinquished command in 1957, SAC was as deadly as a cat at a mousehole. SAC was an air force within an air force and the envy of those who were not part of it. He built SAC in the image of his Eighth Air Force but many times more lethal. He focused on his people, who had been the key to his success in World War II and who would be the key to building SAC. When LeMay first took over SAC, he ran a maximum simulated bombing effort against Wright-Patterson AFB, near Dayton, Ohio, with the small force then at his disposal. He wanted to 197 Strategic Reconnaissance see how bad it really was. LeMay wrote later, ‘‘Our crews were not accustomed to flying at altitude. Neither were the airplanes, [as] far as that goes. Most of the pressurization wouldn’t work, and the oxygen wouldn’t work. Nobody seemed to know what life was like upstairs [above fifteen thousand feet]. . . . Not one airplane finished that mission as briefed. Not one.’’ Not only that, but during an inspection of a SAC mess LeMay found low quality even there. ‘‘Let any reader think of the many bad messes he must have encountered during World War II, and apply that to SAC in 1948–49, and he’ll know what is meant. The s-on-s was there all right, and it wasn’t even good s-on-s. Steaks obviously came from the...