That would not happen today. Putin would keep the ring and that guy would be in prison. There was a short window open when this documentary was made but that window is now firmly shut. Russia now trains with communist China...
Don't forget, that all those russian or soviet aircradt was equiped with North American high tech parts. Now after sanctions in place, how you think russia's factories can continue with priduction of military hardware jets rockets or even bikes ??
Dropping that agent into Lithuania during that era of the Cold War…. man what a time to had been alive. Two parts of the world that really had their act together, both going head to head. It was serious business back then.
I'm a former US Marine. When I was young I was often angered by the military's reluctance to give recognition to those lost in black missions. When I got older I realized that acknowledging these men for their sacrifices would negatively affect national security and of course the lives of hundreds of millions of US citizens. Whatever the American people know, so do our enemies. There are reasons for secrecy.
Mid 60s I was running black ops out of Khe Sanh with Woods, Bowman and Hudson. The only reason I named those 3 is because their story has already been told. I understand the need for secrecy though.
You call everyone enemiy. US problem world wide. Call upon yourselves, like in Nam (loosers), Iraque (loosers), Libya (loosers), Afghanistan (loosers) - proud? Shame this nation - shame! 9/11 you bought yourselves years and years before. - loosers!
Told to me by a RCAF pilot that did it, Canadian Argus aircraft, outfitted with American electronic intelligence gathering equipment, would fly from PEI over Norway to a racetrack pattern over the arctic ocean. They would data link to a B 52 and in the dark, poor weather, penetrate soviet airspace. Their mission was to gather air defense info and at the right time turn and go down to the deck and get out . They would then recover back to base in Canada. Only aircraft in the world capable of doing this without refueling. Plus, massive testicles required to do this by the RCAF.
@@thelordgold Arrow fighter jet going back, even today was an state of art engineering. And yes Canada can make design and produce here without any problem. Skills know-how and high tech Canada got all. So please respond with respectful reply. OK. It would, make you look on those pages more intelligent.
Killed? We in the West tend to believe that foreign governments kill people left and right. That's probably why we get surprised that people defend their countries instead of welcome us when we attack them.
The American woman who speaks about her husband lost in action, speaks for millions of women down the history and it echoes into the future from the presence.
Remember: when we do it you're supposed to use the terms 'surveillance' 'reconnaissance' or 'gathering intelligence.' 'Espionage' is what our adversary does... even though it is exactly the same thing we do to them...
one of the prime reason why Soviets force sold Mig 21 to Finland was to make sure that finnish airforce could intercept US over flight missions - still in 1950 prime fighter was ME 109
@@Aindriuh I was thinking of the air recon missions. Mark Felton had an episode about a Canberra modified bomber over the USSR, to Stalingrad and then landing in Turkey, back in 1959. Etc.
they flew nightrecon Mission deep into USSR with RB-45 Tornado loan from USAF but with RAF Markings, a german Aviation magazine wrote (full report) about this Mission in the 90s
This stuff was still going on in the 1960s. Cuba,, Russia, and N Korea. I personally know several stories I was involved in. I was only involved in the communication part of it. Eyes only and top secret messages. That I had access to. During the sixties they not only used torture but also drugs.
We were doing alert duty in Duluth (F-4C). We we're watching for Bear Bombers over the Alaskan Pipeline that was being built. The Alert was launched and when I parked him, a missile was missing. Pilot came off the ladder, gave me a thumbs up and said, "Smoked him".
Proof that wars are started by the bureaucrats at the cost of OTHERS lives.All of my LIFE,I was taught that the "Commies," were our enemies.My dad was in the Air Force back in the 50's.What he told me as a child back in the 70's,and watching Walter Cronkite at night,along with what we were being taught in school,I personally was scared growing up during the Cold War.So.What did I do,I being from a multi-generational military family,I JOINED THE U.S.ARMY.Propaganda and fear is ONE HELLUVA WEAPON-
They were the enemy. They proved that with what they did in Eastern Europe after the war and breaking deals by helping North Korea and Vietnam invade southern neighbors. They literally wanted to take over the world.
He made a mistake, it's not Atlas it's Ararat. Ararat is a "Biblical" mountain very near the border between Turkey and Armenia (at the time SSSR) clearly visible from Yerevan. Ironically it's literally the highest peak in Turkey and makes an excellent land marker for the air crews who need to fly above it...
Tell me if I'm wrong but I'm at 36 and 32 minutes. Doesn't this all sound familiar, with what's going on with China-Russia snooping around Japan, and china on Taiwan...
Yeah, nothing new under the sun. It's Spain and Portugal all over again, and Britain and France, and Rome and Carthage. Tomorrow it might be China va India.
I remember a friend of the family was forced down when a flare went into their engine either in or near the Soviet bloc in the 80's. They landed safely in friendly territory.
The RB-69 was just as unremarkable as all the other types described, an off-the-shelf type (P2V) reworked a bit for the recon mission. It's weird that something different is implied by the documentary in this regard.
Can’t any aircraft big enough be outfitted with an elint suite ?And with today’s electronics,couldn’t a “ corporate jet” sized aircraft be used ?For that matter,couldn’t an airliner be fitted with hidden cameras?Fascinating .
This is a topic rarely spoken. 155 missing pilots and crewmen during this era of 1950's cold war. Better to die within seconds than end up in Russian jailhouse. They may have not used torture to extract info from prisoners, instead they knew what starvation and isolation can do. "Just tell us all what you know and we'll instantly give you bigger rations of food. How about a good juicy steak? And some red wine if you like?"
@@redbaron9029 How can a Land of free do such torture? Most of the prisoners at Guantamo Bay were terrorist but some were not. Sleep deprevation.Tthey kept the ligts on all hours even the night time and played Norwegian black metal all the time.
i read and heard nothing about Photo/Radarmapping Recon missions or SIGINT/ELINT missions penetrating European airspace but they flew such mission in Baltic sea around GB , North sea and in the atlantic with special equippet Tu-95 "Bear" they shadowed NATO Navy exercises normaly they were intercepted and pushed away
@Richter Hans Joachim Und da war dann noch die MiG-23 ende der 80er deren Pilot kurz nach Start ausgestiegen war und die bis Belgien flog um dort abzustürzen. Aber es ging ja um absichtliche Luftraumverletzungen zum Datensammeln/Aufklären und davon gibt es sicherlich wenig von russ. Seite. btw ich war H.Sich.Kp. MFG3 (76er) Anfang 80er , das MFG3 hatte soweit ich weiss auch einige für die SIGINT Rolle umgerüstete Atlantic1 die oft im Ostseeraum herumschlawenzelten um Daten zu sammeln
They had people on the ground as spies. It's much easier for spies to operate in a free society than a closed society. We had access to countries close by making it easier for us to fly. We we're also usually one step ahead technology wise.
@Richter Hans Joachim Danke das mit den Fischtrawlern u.a. Schiffen war mir ganz entfallen, die Trucks von Sovtransavto (Udssr`s Staatspedition) und dem DDR Gegenstück fallen mir da noch ein die waren ja (in den 80ern) überall bei uns unterwegs, ich denke mal die haben auch infos gesammelt um sie dann wie ein Puzzle zusammen zusetzen, Kleinvieh macht in dem Geschäft auch Mist. Als 12 jähriger hab ich bei uns im Solling (das war im Herbst immer Manövergebiet) mal ein Fahrzeug der sowjetischen Militärmission gesehen, wer weiss was die da für "Geschäfte" zu erledigen hatten. Sonst fällt mir noch das russische Whiskey Klasse UBoot ein das wohl auf einer Aufklärungsmission tief in schwedischen Hoheitsgewässern auf Grund oder eine Sandbank lief, das anschliessende Theater ging tagelang durch alle Medien damals.
It was a communist state throught the cold war and a close ally of the ussr until the split and move towards the none aligned states. It may not have been part of the ussr. But it wasn't a western state either. So kind of gets lumped in with all the other communist countries
@@AdamMGTF In late 40s and troughout the 50s Yugoslavia was enemy of Soviet Union we had our cold war with them. Stalin tried to kill Tito about 100 times.
@@deanmartin7924 I certainly don't disagree. But to "the West" you chaps were still in "the other camp" politically speaking. Ironic that Stalin killed tens of millions of people and couldn't finish off another dictator 😂
It is a myth that the so called “Cold War” had few casualties, but the truth is that there were huge numbers of allied casualties, some of whom are are known, and the circumstances behind those casualties, but the amount we don’t know about is, almost certainly, a lot worse, with even the families of them being told a completely different story about their loss. The Cold War has never actually ended, just China replacing Russia as the main communist protagonist, and that scares me more than the Russians ever did, and that’s including the 8 years I spent in Germany in the United Kingdom military, right on the front line between the NATO forces and the Russian hoard. We had regular “exercises and alerts” and every time you got “called out” you didn’t know, a the start, if it was just an exercise or if the “balloon had gone up”, there were evacuation plans made to get our wives and children out of harm’s way, but we all knew that if the Russians mounted a surprise attack that they wouldn’t get out, and even if it was a slow build to war the chances of evacuation of everyone was highly unlikely, the transport routes (including civilian forms of travel) would be totally taken up by troops and equipment flooding in from every country within the western allied nations. Sorry for going on about this but the way world tensions are, at this moment in time, I am quite twitchy, and In my opinion, rightly so. Nonetheless, thanks for sharing this excellent and informative documentary, I learnt a great deal. 😀👍🇬🇧🏴
Being staunch Catholics, In some ways the Russians were worse to my grandparents than the Germans (a German soldier once, very likely saved the life of my grandmother's sister. The way I heard the story, I believe it was a matter of faith trumping ideology), however despite being a son of a Polish Army officer who was demoted more than once because he refused to become a Communist and the fact his wife, and her sister were imprisoned in Communist concentration camp and nearly starved and froze to death; despite a son of a man who enlisted in the United States Army during the tail end of the Cold War and seeing an air raid a siren still hooked up to the power line as a kid, I have no ill will towards Russian or German people. With that said, I agree with you about China. I also know that Ethnic Russians are Ethnic Europans, and to that extent, saving face is not as important as it is with Asian folk. Thus, I can trust them more than the Chinese, even though they adhered to a poisonous ideology (not to mention, that many every day folk, weren't genuine fans of it).
My father flew for the US Navy from 42-64. In the late 50s, he flew Atlantic barrier missions out of NAS Argentia, Newfoundland which involved a bit more than just flying the standard barrier pattern from Argentia to Lajes in the Azores. No more needs to be said on that score. I served in the US Navy from 79-91 as an Aviation Anti-Submarine Warfare Technician. You are exactly correct. Both my father and I can personally attest that there were a LOT of casualties during the Cold War. Whenever I heard of a crew going down or an aircraft "disappearing" inexplicably during a "training mission", I knew something bad had happened.
I can't count how many times you contradicted yourself!. You know that something happened because you think that you know what happened? Is that what you meant?
the b-36 was so cool , would have loved to see it modernized and kept in service like the b-52 . the peacekeeper actually had more range and payload than the b52 it just took a lot of runway and the carb piston engines had issues modern tech would have easily fixed those issues though
the B-36 was a lumbering mess, a super-stretched WWII-era design bomber, given the worlds smokiest dual jet-pods just to keep it from being dramatically underpowered. I am very glad for the pilot's sake that it is no longer in use.
@@blacktoothfox677 modern computers and engine tech would make those piston engines work , fuel injection etc. those were carb engines . that solves 90% of the issues there . it carries more further than anything we have come up with
@@mikesmith-wk7vy yeah, yeah. And an airframe that was only tested in a 2% wind-tunnel is the reason it gets blown all across the ceiling too. Seriously? Go for it, get a fleet of them, with modern upgrades on that lumpy mess - I'll kick back and watch you get ripped to pieces by any 3rd world air defence in the 21st century. Look, I admire the B-36 too, but it was a HORRIBLE aircraft, and stood for absolute horror as a tool. Am glad it is resigned to memory. The Buff is bad enough. They have to surround those brutes as if they were aircraft carriers if the US does not have total air-dominance. enjoy the history - but don't try dragging it into the now where it will just take a terrible beating to no purpose
@@blacktoothfox677 yea the b52 is bad enough , would have been nice to phase them out for the b-2 like originally planned would have been worth the money , the b2 has done great although not as combat tested as the f117
I was aqauinted with a retired Airman who was active during this era. He told me (what he could) that Russians were captured as well... They never made it home.
@@nobodycallsmetubby5586 I'm literally a landscaper. That's what I do for a living. Why am I not allowed to point out obvious propaganda when I see it?
im surprised anything before the u-2 worked , the mig 15 and even the 17 were just so unbeatable for its time , we were flying our f84 straight wing fighters and piston stuff when that thing came out
Nah the Americans had the sabre, super sabre etc, the UK had the hunter, the French with their mirages. Even Argentina prototyped their own jet to counter the early migs
The U2 being in Central Germany which was full Soviet spy’s would make anyone nervous. We were always dealing with spy’s in Germany I remember couple soldiers being caught and civilians working at base caught spying in are own unit.
Really enjoy watching these videos all I know is October 11th 1975 arrived on a Hawk missile site and there in a hot status for 8 months straight, State 5 ... Ready to drop to state (3 and lower in 5 min) back to back Manning 24 hrs on 24 hrs off... When we came off that hot status to a maintenance status State 8. Stand buy 8 hrs on 8 hrs off, 8 on 8 off then 24 off... Only a year ago I learned that October 11th 1975 the Soviets had a frigate that mutiny state-of-the-art try to defect to Sweden..,. They damn near made it.... Which in return was the movie Hunt for Red October.. add into a little Hollywood adjustment.. you're in a world of hurt if you had to be told and do anything twice during that time frame... Watch many ranking soldiers... Lose it!
people tend to forget that Russians are people just like us in the west. I've been to Russia twice in the early 1990s i loved the people and life was the same as mine in new zealand.
You’re exactly right. There were and still are good people from Russia, just like there are good people from England and the U.S. It was just a different time. It’s the French that are the bad ones…. no I’m only kidding! I’m just kidding Lol.
it's 7499th Support Group. Who researched this? (EDIT: I noticed that they get it right when they caption John Bessette, the guy who was stationed there, but I guess somebody made a typo in the script and the narrator didn't know) Also - I think Keafe is full of something
Born and raised in the former USSR, I am ever so proud of my country, as we did our best to defend our sovereignty during the cold war. And to those claiming us a "regime" I can learn now the US was no less a "regime" in those days
Any communist regime is by design brutal. The US didn't come close to what the communist (everywhere) did and are still doing to their own people. That said, remember that the intelligence gathered also prevented war in it's own wacky way. It allowed Eisenhower to push agains generals who wanted to do a first strike. Do yourself a favor and go read a bit more about the history of the overflights etc. It is eye opening. (no disrespect intended or implied in my comment, I'm just a history nut, not a politician :))
@@hanznel8488 You tell the communist regime is brutal and say that Eisenhower avoided that american military started a war. American military, CIA and all of them are not brutal? Think about all brutal agression the nation you think is sinless did and still do around the world. Think about the two milion vietnamese dead by the malign action of the USA.
@@hanznel8488The US is imperial by design and are always provoking incidents that justify wars against any nation that is feared as a competitor. German twice (WWI & WWII), Japan, the USSR and now Russia and China. Nothing about freeing the world of communism but always trying to obtain full control. Imperial by design. Hegemonic in the world for ever. And to attain this goal, not any brutal means is avoided.
according to paul lashmars book ( Spy flights of the cold war ) austin asked for fuel and was told to ditch his plane and a friend of his heard this and without permission took a tanker from RAF Sculthorpe ( and not Mildenhall as the programe states ) He did save austins life but the programe never mentions sculthorpe or the fact that his plane had all markings removed before his flight, but the book does say that austin was told to take his own life and not to return to sculthorpe!! I wonder why Dan has left the true fact out??
The United States also funneled $2B to Sweden.. To monitor the Exit to the North Sea...Then they had laid so many under water Sonar listen devices. The Soviets could not leave port. Without being tracked.....This does not include the US submarines that would sneak in so close. They actually taken picture of a Soviet Submarine for 200 yards away....
continuing to send the converted bombers in after the mig 15 came out was just dumb , only a specialized plane like the u-2 was safe from the high performance stuff they came out with in the 50's
@ 8.55 the old "I was only obeying orders" line is trotted out. It seems that the only place such a statement is unacceptable was during the Nurenburg (show) trials following V.E. day. It aint what you say, it's who lets you say it!
When I was a pilot flying the F18-DCSVR during carrier ops, it was exciting and also terrifying when my wing was ordered to fly recon patterns near the Turkish-Russian border. The Russians have sophisticated surface to air guidance platforms, that are rivaled only by the US, so terrifying is a understatement. We need to stop allowing our rivals to make the first move. We have the most technologically advanced military this planet has ever seen and it is sitting idle while we allow those who wish us harm to modernize and plot to destroy us. We must remind the world we are mighty and just because we bicker among one another does not make us weak. They have forgotten who we are and how the earth shook the last time we awoke from our slumber. How about we remind them?!?!
@Redwan Rahman If I were younger and able to travel I would certainly be out there trying to help. I've done similar things elsewhere. Shame that I was a pilot rather than a grunt. Did do some basic infantry training as a baby officer though.
Interesting but this only covered US reconnaissance. For example, RAF reconnaissance flights flew similarly risky penetration missions using very capable Canberras and some using USAF U2s. Some came back with shrapnel damage as well as intelligence. An early prototype of English Electric Canberra operated by Rolls-Royce regularly flew to 63,000 ft. The Canberra set a world’s altitude record of 70,310 ft (21,430 m) in 1957. It was licensed to Martin and produced (and modified) in the US as the B57. The PR 9s brought back great imagery in Iraq (first war), which was shown to Gen Colin Powell who wondered why the USA could not do this and why did the US have to get such imagery from the RAF? The reason was that the PR 9 could take panoramic photographs at the same time as employing its EOS (electro-optical sensors) which the U2 could not do.
Some wildly wrong things here, specially about MiGs not able to reach B36/47 flight altitude. None of those bombers could get to 14k meters alt even in a lighter state while MiG15 had a service ceiling of 15k meters, even higher than F86 Sabers. The most likely cause of inability to intercept was probably time and position, B47 would have been too fast to get on its 6 on time which would have required a very precise GCI system which was not in place until the late 50s.
Most enjoyment video about spying struggle between USSR and USA...during cold war period...electronic recongcensis of US attacking USSR aircrafts and anti aircrafts missiles
The british RAF flew such Missions too, with RB-45 Tornado (loan from US but with RAF Markings) they flew at night deep into USSR, iam too lazy to look into the Book but i think it was a Recon Radarmapping Mission. Apart from Photo Recon and Radarmapping missions NATO planes on Sigint/ELINT Mission provoking again and again the USSR air defense, they violated russian airspace to collect the Emissions of the newest USSR track and search Radar, they needed this emission to develop electronic counter measure Equipmet like ECM pods and other jamming equipment, or they simply tested the USSRs reaction time, it was a dangerous and sometimes deadly cat and mouse play
Russian guy who returned the ring was a class act. Also an example of how many of these wars are not for the benefit of its citizens
Indeed, it’s mostly for which system lf governance works. usa’s backed by companies, while the ussr was held by the state.
@@mjolninja9358 what’s the difference in the US anymore. With media combined with Democratic Party we are more fascistic now than at any other time.
That would not happen today. Putin would keep the ring and that guy would be in prison. There was a short window open when this documentary was made but that window is now firmly shut. Russia now trains with communist China...
@@d1agram4 ikr the fascist conservatives are pretty crazy
@@robbrown4621 he would. He took Robert krafts super bowl ring
That clip of the Mig 17 firing it’s cannons was awesome
This is greater man trying to make a better world for others. You kept the ring in safe place so one day it could be returned to the family. Wow.
Loved seeing the MIG 17 deployment shown. Great work.
Don't forget, that all those russian or soviet aircradt was equiped with North American high tech parts. Now after sanctions in place, how you think russia's factories can continue with priduction of military hardware jets rockets or even bikes ??
Dropping that agent into Lithuania during that era of the Cold War…. man what a time to had been alive. Two parts of the world that really had their act together, both going head to head. It was serious business back then.
This was even more dangerous: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_airlift
I think that it had its squalid moments too. That said, better than nowadays for sure. 😢
I'm a former US Marine. When I was young I was often angered by the military's reluctance to give recognition to those lost in black missions. When I got older I realized that acknowledging these men for their sacrifices would negatively affect national security and of course the lives of hundreds of millions of US citizens.
Whatever the American people know, so do our enemies. There are reasons for secrecy.
Former? Once a Marine, ALWAYS a Marine! Thanks for your service
Mid 60s I was running black ops out of Khe Sanh with Woods, Bowman and Hudson. The only reason I named those 3 is because their story has already been told. I understand the need for secrecy though.
You call everyone enemiy. US problem world wide. Call upon yourselves, like in Nam (loosers), Iraque (loosers), Libya (loosers), Afghanistan (loosers) - proud? Shame this nation - shame! 9/11 you bought yourselves years and years before. - loosers!
We "conveniently forget" thousands of living guys at the end of conflicts in the 1900s. It's disgraceful, Depressing, but true story!
Even though this was made in 2003, to me, everyone looks so young to be from that era in time. Excellent episode too!
Omd CA
Yeah my Father was a pilot & trainer for SBD’s and he passed in ‘08, he was still a handsome man in his 80’s!
Lots of WWII people were in their eighties in 2003
When I saw this in early 2000s it did not seem unnatural at all.
Told to me by a RCAF pilot that did it, Canadian Argus aircraft, outfitted with American electronic intelligence gathering equipment, would fly from PEI over Norway to a racetrack pattern over the arctic ocean. They would data link to a B 52 and in the dark, poor weather, penetrate soviet airspace. Their mission was to gather air defense info and at the right time turn and go down to the deck and get out . They would then recover back to base in Canada. Only aircraft in the world capable of doing this without refueling. Plus, massive testicles required to do this by the RCAF.
Canada has airplanes? Maple syrup powered airplanes, I bet.
@@thelordgold indeed
More like when we had an airforce and allies who thought it was worth a darn.
@@jerrydewit5513 It's ok budday. Trudeau will place Canada's defense in Allah's hands.
@@thelordgold Arrow fighter jet going back, even today was an state of art engineering. And yes Canada can make design and produce here without any problem. Skills know-how and high tech Canada got all. So please respond with respectful reply. OK. It would, make you look on those pages more intelligent.
Wasn't just air skirmishes. I've talked to a few submarine vets that didn't out and out say they got into a fight. But heavily implied.
Excellent work Interesting and informative I really appreciated this video
Those old USAF guys have big brass balls
That man who returned the wedding ring is a brave man. Probably could have been killed for keeping the ring.
@Brazilla
😆 🤣 😂 😹
@Luka F
Exactly.
Killed? We in the West tend to believe that foreign governments kill people left and right. That's probably why we get surprised that people defend their countries instead of welcome us when we attack them.
@iNeFfAbiLiTy just because it's free doesn't mean it right.
@Luka F no thats capitalism.. but your deluded propaganda tends to speak in opposites.
Rarely good and unbiased doc.
Truly love these!! I can watch/listen to all the content you have. Thank you
Great doc! I love the interviews with the old USSR pilots
The American woman who speaks about her husband lost in action, speaks for millions of women down the history and it echoes into the future from the presence.
Remember: when we do it you're supposed to use the terms 'surveillance' 'reconnaissance' or 'gathering intelligence.'
'Espionage' is what our adversary does... even though it is exactly the same thing we do to them...
Thanks for uploading this.
one of the prime reason why Soviets force sold Mig 21 to Finland was to make sure that finnish airforce could intercept US over flight missions - still in 1950 prime fighter was ME 109
Hi. What are you talking about? You were a Soviet ally? Also, still using Messerschmitt ME 109 in that time?
The British too had their fair share of such highly classified misions and KIAs.
Until his defection, Kim Philby was responsible for betraying many of them.
@@Aindriuh I was thinking of the air recon missions. Mark Felton had an episode about a Canberra modified bomber over the USSR, to Stalingrad and then landing in Turkey, back in 1959. Etc.
@@Aindriuh there’s a book called The Spy Who went into the cold. I really want to swear about that guy.
they flew nightrecon Mission deep into USSR with RB-45 Tornado loan from USAF but with RAF Markings, a german Aviation magazine wrote (full report) about this Mission in the 90s
@@Sturminfantrist Absolutely right there was a BBC documentary about the hitherto classified missions of the RAF into Soviet air space.
This stuff was still going on in the 1960s. Cuba,, Russia, and N Korea. I personally know several stories I was involved in. I was only involved in the communication part of it.
Eyes only and top secret messages. That I had access to.
During the sixties they not only used torture but also drugs.
still goes on in some fashion or another...
And you probably still can't (legally) spill the beans. Correct?
We were doing alert duty in Duluth (F-4C). We we're watching for Bear Bombers over the Alaskan Pipeline that was being built. The Alert was launched and when I parked him, a missile was missing. Pilot came off the ladder, gave me a thumbs up and said, "Smoked him".
Nonsense!
Serious game of tag.
Love watching stuff like this with a cup of tea .
I watch it with only the finest vodka, so I can feel like a fellow comrade.
@@ritemolawbks8012 :))
@@ritemolawbks8012 is it nice to kill people??? Why don't you Look at Nagasaki and Hiroshima? Russia never did it!
@@annemariavonroith4268 I've never used nuclear weapons either, so why are you telling me about it. That happened nearly 40 years before I was born.
@@annemariavonroith4268 ummm…there Is plenty of blood on the Hands of history in both the Soviet Union and America.
My understanding is that almost all of the dropped agents were compromised before they jumped.
Proof that wars are started by the bureaucrats at the cost of OTHERS lives.All of my LIFE,I was taught that the "Commies," were our enemies.My dad was in the Air Force back in the 50's.What he told me as a child back in the 70's,and watching Walter Cronkite at night,along with what we were being taught in school,I personally was scared growing up during the Cold War.So.What did I do,I being from a multi-generational military family,I JOINED THE U.S.ARMY.Propaganda and fear is ONE HELLUVA WEAPON-
Herman Goering once said something to the effect of, the Russian people, the American people, nor our people want war. It is in control who wants war.
@@jed-henrywitkowski6470 So true-
You're not a Soldier lol
They were the enemy. They proved that with what they did in Eastern Europe after the war and breaking deals by helping North Korea and Vietnam invade southern neighbors. They literally wanted to take over the world.
@@d1agram4 Yeah but now we're meant to believe in the good will of all men and be apologetic for being born in a Western democracy.
Very thought provoking. All cloak and dagger stuff. We are, mainly, fed what they want us to know and no more.
27:20 What? Atlas Mountains? The Atlas Mountains are in North Africa wdym "the atlas mountains in eastern turkey" ?
Had to be either the Kaçkars/Lazistans or the Caucuses
He made a mistake, it's not Atlas it's Ararat. Ararat is a "Biblical" mountain very near the border between Turkey and Armenia (at the time SSSR) clearly visible from Yerevan. Ironically it's literally the highest peak in Turkey and makes an excellent land marker for the air crews who need to fly above it...
Great story, thank you for sharing this!! I never knew about this until now!!
Tell me if I'm wrong but I'm at 36 and 32 minutes. Doesn't this all sound familiar, with what's going on with China-Russia snooping around Japan, and china on Taiwan...
Yeah, nothing new under the sun. It's Spain and Portugal all over again, and Britain and France, and Rome and Carthage. Tomorrow it might be China va India.
I thought you meant that you are 36 and 32 minutes old.
@@vitg7043 I'm sorry about that, I'm glad you got to understand it.
@@vitg7043 still I didn’t get it so he is that age Or meant something else?
@@aliraza-iq9uc 36 minutes 32 seconds in the video. Not about his age.
Ì love cold war docs, fascinating vid. Thank you Timeline 🙂
Even though those were dangerous times, i somehow kind of missed those time.... Soldiers from both side were humans after all..
great video
Perfect time to review as Cold War 1.5 is starting now
How the old guy said the gauges stopped wiggling and the engine is on fire and he was in trouble, I would have been in all sorts of bother
I remember a friend of the family was forced down when a flare went into their engine either in or near the Soviet bloc in the 80's. They landed safely in friendly territory.
If it's the same time, I know someone who was on that flight. Probably not often a plane is taken down by a flare.
Weird, it showed someone else's name where my name is now. I made that comment 10 months ago, but don't remember.
The RB-69 was just as unremarkable as all the other types described, an off-the-shelf type (P2V) reworked a bit for the recon mission. It's weird that something different is implied by the documentary in this regard.
It’s what’s inside mate……think of F4 Wild Weasel and F18 Growler
Can’t any aircraft big enough be outfitted with an elint suite ?And with today’s electronics,couldn’t a “ corporate jet” sized aircraft be used ?For that matter,couldn’t an airliner be fitted with hidden cameras?Fascinating .
@@crowejoySoviets believed it was possible enough it got KAL 007 blasted from the sky.
Its called the CIA says they did not have them
This is a topic rarely spoken. 155 missing pilots and crewmen during this era of 1950's cold war. Better to die within seconds than end up in Russian jailhouse. They may have not used torture to extract info from prisoners, instead they knew what starvation and isolation can do. "Just tell us all what you know and we'll instantly give you bigger rations of food. How about a good juicy steak? And some red wine if you like?"
Cary Joya
Those methods were humane as compared to the ones used by the amerikans at Guantanamo bay torture cell.
@@redbaron9029 lol why even bring that up. Do you really think gitmo is worse?
SOLSHENITSYN WRITES ABOUT SLEEP DEPRIVATION AND MICRO LEEP
@@redbaron9029 How can a Land of free do such torture? Most of the prisoners at Guantamo Bay were terrorist but some were not. Sleep deprevation.Tthey kept the ligts on all hours even the night time and played Norwegian black metal all the time.
Thank you Nick T.
This is the first ive ever heard about any of this. Wow. All I ever knew about was the U2. Thanks !
Now that was interesting!
Now is there any information on Russian flights into the US or NATO air space?
i read and heard nothing about Photo/Radarmapping Recon missions or SIGINT/ELINT missions penetrating European airspace but they flew such mission in Baltic sea around GB , North sea and in the atlantic with special equippet Tu-95 "Bear" they shadowed NATO Navy exercises normaly they were intercepted and pushed away
@Richter Hans Joachim Und da war dann noch die MiG-23 ende der 80er deren Pilot kurz nach Start ausgestiegen war und die bis Belgien flog um dort abzustürzen.
Aber es ging ja um absichtliche Luftraumverletzungen zum Datensammeln/Aufklären und davon gibt es sicherlich wenig von russ. Seite.
btw ich war H.Sich.Kp. MFG3 (76er) Anfang 80er , das MFG3 hatte soweit ich weiss auch einige für die SIGINT Rolle umgerüstete Atlantic1 die oft im Ostseeraum herumschlawenzelten um Daten zu sammeln
They had people on the ground as spies. It's much easier for spies to operate in a free society than a closed society. We had access to countries close by making it easier for us to fly. We we're also usually one step ahead technology wise.
@Richter Hans Joachim Danke das mit den Fischtrawlern u.a. Schiffen war mir ganz entfallen, die Trucks von Sovtransavto (Udssr`s Staatspedition) und dem DDR Gegenstück fallen mir da noch ein die waren ja (in den 80ern) überall bei uns unterwegs, ich denke mal die haben auch infos gesammelt um sie dann wie ein Puzzle zusammen zusetzen, Kleinvieh macht in dem Geschäft auch Mist.
Als 12 jähriger hab ich bei uns im Solling (das war im Herbst immer Manövergebiet) mal ein Fahrzeug der sowjetischen Militärmission gesehen, wer weiss was die da für "Geschäfte" zu erledigen hatten.
Sonst fällt mir noch das russische Whiskey Klasse UBoot ein das wohl auf einer Aufklärungsmission tief in schwedischen Hoheitsgewässern auf Grund oder eine Sandbank lief, das anschliessende Theater ging tagelang durch alle Medien damals.
Very interesting documentary. Totally worth watching.
Mind boggling & painful !
I wonder if that tanker pilot who flew that emergency flight to refuel Austin's B-47 was awarded the DFC?
Probably not, but atleast he slept well at night
Great vid..:)
Thank You,Sir.
I love these Cold War Docs. Absolutely Fascinating !!! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
FYI the promo code advertised in the beginning doesn't work
The ring incident gives credence to the fact that the majority of humanity are well-intended pawns in a mere handful of evil men.
Yugoslavia was not Soviet satelitte state, was not part of Warshaw pact.
It was a communist state throught the cold war and a close ally of the ussr until the split and move towards the none aligned states. It may not have been part of the ussr. But it wasn't a western state either. So kind of gets lumped in with all the other communist countries
@@AdamMGTF Wrong, not close ally of Soviets. You have to learn a lot about Yugoslavia.
@@AdamMGTF In late 40s and troughout the 50s Yugoslavia was enemy of Soviet Union we had our cold war with them. Stalin tried to kill Tito about 100 times.
@@deanmartin7924 I certainly don't disagree. But to "the West" you chaps were still in "the other camp" politically speaking.
Ironic that Stalin killed tens of millions of people and couldn't finish off another dictator 😂
It is a myth that the so called “Cold War” had few casualties, but the truth is that there were huge numbers of allied casualties, some of whom are are known, and the circumstances behind those casualties, but the amount we don’t know about is, almost certainly, a lot worse, with even the families of them being told a completely different story about their loss. The Cold War has never actually ended, just China replacing Russia as the main communist protagonist, and that scares me more than the Russians ever did, and that’s including the 8 years I spent in Germany in the United Kingdom military, right on the front line between the NATO forces and the Russian hoard. We had regular “exercises and alerts” and every time you got “called out” you didn’t know, a the start, if it was just an exercise or if the “balloon had gone up”, there were evacuation plans made to get our wives and children out of harm’s way, but we all knew that if the Russians mounted a surprise attack that they wouldn’t get out, and even if it was a slow build to war the chances of evacuation of everyone was highly unlikely, the transport routes (including civilian forms of travel) would be totally taken up by troops and equipment flooding in from every country within the western allied nations.
Sorry for going on about this but the way world tensions are, at this moment in time, I am quite twitchy, and In my opinion, rightly so. Nonetheless, thanks for sharing this excellent and informative documentary, I learnt a great deal. 😀👍🇬🇧🏴
Being staunch Catholics, In some ways the Russians were worse to my grandparents than the Germans (a German soldier once, very likely saved the life of my grandmother's sister. The way I heard the story, I believe it was a matter of faith trumping ideology), however despite being a son of a Polish Army officer who was demoted more than once because he refused to become a Communist and the fact his wife, and her sister were imprisoned in Communist concentration camp and nearly starved and froze to death; despite a son of a man who enlisted in the United States Army during the tail end of the Cold War and seeing an air raid a siren still hooked up to the power line as a kid, I have no ill will towards Russian or German people.
With that said, I agree with you about China. I also know that Ethnic Russians are Ethnic Europans, and to that extent, saving face is not as important as it is with Asian folk. Thus, I can trust them more than the Chinese, even though they adhered to a poisonous ideology (not to mention, that many every day folk, weren't genuine fans of it).
My father flew for the US Navy from 42-64. In the late 50s, he flew Atlantic barrier missions out of NAS Argentia, Newfoundland which involved a bit more than just flying the standard barrier pattern from Argentia to Lajes in the Azores. No more needs to be said on that score. I served in the US Navy from 79-91 as an Aviation Anti-Submarine Warfare Technician. You are exactly correct. Both my father and I can personally attest that there were a LOT of casualties during the Cold War. Whenever I heard of a crew going down or an aircraft "disappearing" inexplicably during a "training mission", I knew something bad had happened.
Interesting. I'm confident BAOR would have done the business on the Sov's though. We had our secret weapon- TEA! lol :)
I can't count how many times you contradicted yourself!. You know that something happened because you think that you know what happened? Is that what you meant?
@John Cliff Err, something was true because your wife was scared???
the b-36 was so cool , would have loved to see it modernized and kept in service like the b-52 . the peacekeeper actually had more range and payload than the b52 it just took a lot of runway and the carb piston engines had issues modern tech would have easily fixed those issues though
It was unreliable, B-52 stood the test of time
the B-36 was a lumbering mess, a super-stretched WWII-era design bomber, given the worlds smokiest dual jet-pods just to keep it from being dramatically underpowered. I am very glad for the pilot's sake that it is no longer in use.
@@blacktoothfox677 modern computers and engine tech would make those piston engines work , fuel injection etc. those were carb engines . that solves 90% of the issues there . it carries more further than anything we have come up with
@@mikesmith-wk7vy yeah, yeah. And an airframe that was only tested in a 2% wind-tunnel is the reason it gets blown all across the ceiling too. Seriously? Go for it, get a fleet of them, with modern upgrades on that lumpy mess - I'll kick back and watch you get ripped to pieces by any 3rd world air defence in the 21st century.
Look, I admire the B-36 too, but it was a HORRIBLE aircraft, and stood for absolute horror as a tool. Am glad it is resigned to memory. The Buff is bad enough. They have to surround those brutes as if they were aircraft carriers if the US does not have total air-dominance.
enjoy the history - but don't try dragging it into the now where it will just take a terrible beating to no purpose
@@blacktoothfox677 yea the b52 is bad enough , would have been nice to phase them out for the b-2 like originally planned would have been worth the money , the b2 has done great although not as combat tested as the f117
Keith has survivors guilt.
13:48 Nice Chinese AK. That underfolding bayonet is a dead giveaway.
super stuff, cheers, MINT""!
Without any warning they opened fire, they were flying in Soviet airspace, what did they expect !
I was aqauinted with a retired Airman who was active during this era. He told me (what he could) that Russians were captured as well... They never made it home.
6 minutes in and I’m balling my eyes out
"Those people who were so poor..." damn. The propaganda really did a number on that widow didn't it?
go touch some grass
Thats what I was thinking too
@@nobodycallsmetubby5586 I'm literally a landscaper. That's what I do for a living. Why am I not allowed to point out obvious propaganda when I see it?
She was right. I am a grandson of people who the Communist "liberation" of Europe.
Yes he was so poor colonel in Soviet Army 😀
im surprised anything before the u-2 worked , the mig 15 and even the 17 were just so unbeatable for its time , we were flying our f84 straight wing fighters and piston stuff when that thing came out
Nah the Americans had the sabre, super sabre etc, the UK had the hunter, the French with their mirages. Even Argentina prototyped their own jet to counter the early migs
@@classunknown the f86 wasnt really around and in numbers until the later Korean war years and i the supersabre and f104 missed the war by a year or 2
@@mikesmith-wk7vy the mig 17 did too, just about
This is what a documentary should be like, not that garbage that is shown on History channel today.
The U2 being in Central Germany which was full Soviet spy’s would make anyone nervous. We were always dealing with spy’s in Germany I remember couple soldiers being caught and civilians working at base caught spying in are own unit.
Fun fact.......in Havana there is an outdoor museum of the Cuban Missile Crisis complete with wreckage from US Jets downed during the crisis.
Really enjoy watching these videos all I know is October 11th 1975 arrived on a Hawk missile site and there in a hot status for 8 months straight, State 5 ... Ready to drop to state (3 and lower in 5 min) back to back Manning 24 hrs on 24 hrs off... When we came off that hot status to a maintenance status State 8. Stand buy 8 hrs on 8 hrs off, 8 on 8 off then 24 off... Only a year ago I learned that October 11th 1975 the Soviets had a frigate that mutiny state-of-the-art try to defect to Sweden..,. They damn near made it.... Which in return was the movie Hunt for Red October.. add into a little Hollywood adjustment.. you're in a world of hurt if you had to be told and do anything twice during that time frame... Watch many ranking soldiers... Lose it!
This episode would serve folks well who think that anyone who questions things wears a tin foil hat.
people tend to forget that Russians are people just like us in the west. I've been to Russia twice in the early 1990s i loved the people and life was the same as mine in new zealand.
Hi 👋 I'm also from Auckland City. Thinking of the Soviets
The Russians hate us Americans and we hate them
@@Mudvillereacts Only a fool would hate someone he does not know
@@hueyfreeman1983
Only a fool would comment that
@@Mudvillereacts How?
How did they not mention the battle over Merklin or the St Lawrence Island Air battle?
I cannot confirm, nor deny that this is a real documentary. The names and faces have been changed to protect the innocent. - some tv show
The Russians are not bad people .... that wedding ring proves it .
What a lovely story that was ...Salute from England friends .
You’re exactly right. There were and still are good people from Russia, just like there are good people from England and the U.S. It was just a different time.
It’s the French that are the bad ones…. no I’m only kidding! I’m just kidding Lol.
@@MrKnoxguy101 Times change ...and we have to move on ......time waits for no body .
Of course they are not.. Governments are bad people are people
@@noka79 yep all governments are .
She say soviet sailor is poor man 🤣🤣😹 she don't about soviet sailors salaries
Most people in russia dont live extravagant lives. They had barely enough to not be considered dirt poor.
@@justinlance4174 Source:CNN
it's 7499th Support Group. Who researched this? (EDIT: I noticed that they get it right when they caption John Bessette, the guy who was stationed there, but I guess somebody made a typo in the script and the narrator didn't know) Also - I think Keafe is full of something
I feel sorry for Mary Dunham
17:39 gobble gobble!
Born and raised in the former USSR, I am ever so proud of my country, as we did our best to defend our sovereignty during the cold war. And to those claiming us a "regime" I can learn now the US was no less a "regime" in those days
Any communist regime is by design brutal. The US didn't come close to what the communist (everywhere) did and are still doing to their own people. That said, remember that the intelligence gathered also prevented war in it's own wacky way. It allowed Eisenhower to push agains generals who wanted to do a first strike. Do yourself a favor and go read a bit more about the history of the overflights etc. It is eye opening. (no disrespect intended or implied in my comment, I'm just a history nut, not a politician :))
@@hanznel8488 You tell the communist regime is brutal and say that Eisenhower avoided that american military started a war. American military, CIA and all of them are not brutal?
Think about all brutal agression the nation you think is sinless did and still do around the world. Think about the two milion vietnamese dead by the malign action of the USA.
@@hanznel8488The US is imperial by design and are always provoking incidents that justify wars against any nation that is feared as a competitor. German twice (WWI & WWII), Japan, the USSR and now Russia and China. Nothing about freeing the world of communism but always trying to obtain full control. Imperial by design. Hegemonic in the world for ever. And to attain this goal, not any brutal means is avoided.
@@clovisra what incredibly stupid things to say. The USA provoked Germany in ww1 and ww2? Talk about being ignorant of history.
according to paul lashmars book ( Spy flights of the cold war ) austin asked for fuel and was told to ditch his plane and a friend of his heard this and without permission took a tanker from RAF Sculthorpe ( and not Mildenhall as the programe states ) He did save austins life but the programe never mentions sculthorpe or the fact that his plane had all markings removed before his flight, but the book does say that austin was told to take his own life and not to return to sculthorpe!! I wonder why Dan has left the true fact out??
The United States also funneled $2B to Sweden.. To monitor the Exit to the North Sea...Then they had laid so many under water Sonar listen devices. The Soviets could not leave port. Without being tracked.....This does not include the US submarines that would sneak in so close. They actually taken picture of a Soviet Submarine for 200 yards away....
Make sure you watch this till the very end. The last 5 minutes are important...
i have lost faith in the world sadly
@@mclarenm1 I know that feeling. :-/
Secret until this day
Interesting
after he said "my name is dan snow; I'd heard enough...
42:03 Pilots ears big enough to be spy devices in of themselves.....
At least during the cold war americans were proud to be americans, and they loved democracy and their civil liberties. Its crazy how things change.
True
I have no idea why I’m watching this
continuing to send the converted bombers in after the mig 15 came out was just dumb , only a specialized plane like the u-2 was safe from the high performance stuff they came out with in the 50's
Did Bruce Olmsted end up getting out of solitary too? I wonder
31:13 Ahhh... "aerial chest," my favorite type of war fun too. Anyone else into chesT?
@ 8.55 the old "I was only obeying orders" line is trotted out. It seems that the only place such a statement is unacceptable was during the Nurenburg (show) trials following V.E. day. It aint what you say, it's who lets you say it!
Sad to think what the rest of Bruce Olmstead's life was like !
When I was a pilot flying the F18-DCSVR during carrier ops, it was exciting and also terrifying when my wing was ordered to fly recon patterns near the Turkish-Russian border. The Russians have sophisticated surface to air guidance platforms, that are rivaled only by the US, so terrifying is a understatement. We need to stop allowing our rivals to make the first move. We have the most technologically advanced military this planet has ever seen and it is sitting idle while we allow those who wish us harm to modernize and plot to destroy us.
We must remind the world we are mighty and just because we bicker among one another does not make us weak. They have forgotten who we are and how the earth shook the last time we awoke from our slumber. How about we remind them?!?!
I'm rather sure that the 400 series SAMs are way better than anything that other nations can field.
@Redwan Rahman If I were younger and able to travel I would certainly be out there trying to help. I've done similar things elsewhere. Shame that I was a pilot rather than a grunt. Did do some basic infantry training as a baby officer though.
Reading this in 2022 and my god are you right...
So many adverts. Ridiculous
8:58-8:59 *Go fly near
Imagine what the world would look like if we could get a long and use all these resources for the benefit of humanity instead of the destruction.
Interesting but this only covered US reconnaissance. For example, RAF reconnaissance flights flew similarly risky penetration missions using very capable Canberras and some using USAF U2s. Some came back with shrapnel damage as well as intelligence.
An early prototype of English Electric Canberra operated by Rolls-Royce regularly flew to 63,000 ft. The Canberra set a world’s altitude record of 70,310 ft (21,430 m) in 1957. It was licensed to Martin and produced (and modified) in the US as the B57.
The PR 9s brought back great imagery in Iraq (first war), which was shown to Gen Colin Powell who wondered why the USA could not do this and why did the US have to get such imagery from the RAF? The reason was that the PR 9 could take panoramic photographs at the same time as employing its EOS (electro-optical sensors) which the U2 could not do.
Some wildly wrong things here, specially about MiGs not able to reach B36/47 flight altitude. None of those bombers could get to 14k meters alt even in a lighter state while MiG15 had a service ceiling of 15k meters, even higher than F86 Sabers. The most likely cause of inability to intercept was probably time and position, B47 would have been too fast to get on its 6 on time which would have required a very precise GCI system which was not in place until the late 50s.
Obnoxious LOUD commercials make this unwatchable. Turned off and thumbs down after first ear shattering commercial
You mean the ads?
Holy Spirit 45:30 woot woot
Most enjoyment video about spying struggle between USSR and USA...during cold war period...electronic recongcensis of US attacking USSR aircrafts and anti aircrafts missiles
A sailor was listening......hundreds were listening.
The british RAF flew such Missions too, with RB-45 Tornado (loan from US but with RAF Markings) they flew at night deep into USSR, iam too lazy to look into the Book but i think it was a Recon Radarmapping Mission.
Apart from Photo Recon and Radarmapping missions NATO planes on Sigint/ELINT Mission provoking again and again the USSR air defense, they violated russian airspace to collect the Emissions of the newest USSR track and search Radar, they needed this emission to develop electronic counter measure Equipmet like ECM pods and other jamming equipment, or they simply tested the USSRs reaction time, it was a dangerous and sometimes deadly cat and mouse play