Talk:1960 U-2 incident/Archives/2022/December

Background

ADDING NEW DATA UNDER OLD TOPIC

This is the lead para under the said topic in the early part of the article:

In July 1958, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower requested permission from the Pakistani prime minister Feroze Khan Noon for the U.S. to establish a secret intelligence facility in Pakistan and for the U-2 spy plane to fly from Pakistan. The U-2 flew at altitudes that could not be reached by Soviet fighter jets of the era; it was believed to be beyond the reach of Soviet missiles as well. A facility established in Badaber (Peshawar Air Station), 10 miles (16 km) from Peshawar, was a cover for a major communications intercept operation run by the United States National Security Agency (NSA). Badaber was an excellent location because of its proximity to Soviet central Asia. This enabled the monitoring of missile test sites, key infrastructure and communications. The U-2 "spy-in-the-sky" was allowed to use the Pakistan Air Force section of Peshawar Airport to gain vital photo intelligence in an era before satellite observation.

What has been missed out is that the U-2 also operated from Charbatia Airfield in the State of Odisha, India. (And Kalaikunda Airfield in the State of Bengal. No unclassified/declassified records that may be availed in respect of the latter exist in any form or forum. An ATC Officer from Kalaikunda and an ARC Official from Delhi are live witnesses, but do not make for acceptable references. The CIA data revealed in the references is reportedly somewhat skimpy.) Charbatia was used for missions over China and not Russia. Prime Minister Nehru was reluctant to accede to the USA request for the use of an Indian airfield for missions over the USSR, given his Govt's Socialist bias. Any Indian airfield could, however, be used as an emergency recovery base. This concurrence was hastened by India's resounding defeat by China in 1962.

I would welcome any opinions on the issue and then add a short para to the existing article. The data revealed is most interesting, probably a first in Wikipedia, specifically how and why a 10-hour limit was imposed on mission endurance.Moitraanak (talk) 09:16, 7 December 2022 (UTC)