Talk:Bomber gap

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A fact from Bomber gap appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 22 September 2007. The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that partially as a result of the mythical "bomber gap" between the USA and USSR, the USAF built an enormous fleet of over 2,500 jet bombers to deter what turned out to be only twenty Soviet aircraft?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2007/September.

Wikipedia

1956 overflight of Engels

A section in the article, "Gap disproven", describes a U-2 mission (2020) on 4 July 1956 which overflew Engels, spotted 20 Bisons, and settled the question. This appears to be incorrect information. I have looked through new declassified CIA Crest reports and in it it laments that Engels was specifically not observed between 1954-1958, and in May 1958 it was calling for an overflight:

LONG RANGE AVIATION, Central Intelligence Agency, December 23, 1958.

This overflight was Mission 8005 conducted in December 1959 and it observed 37 Bison aircraft. However it is other studies based on factory reports in 1958 that led the CIA to revise the figures downward before this U-2 observation. The CIA site also shows Mission 2020 was on July 9, not July 4, and was confined to areas west of Moscow. No photography was available of anything on the Volga River was available between WWII and 1959 according to the CIA document for Mission 8005. I am pretty certain most of the information about Mission 2020 in 1956 targeting the bomber bases is anecdotal and may need to be removed. -Rolypolyman (talk) 21:16, 14 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

@Rolypolyman: The confusion here is simply the date and number of the mission. As you can see here, Knutson talks about this mission all the time, and in this particular example, was kind enough to present the very photograph in question. According to another source this mission was not 2020 but one in 1959, so we just need to figure out which one it was. Maury Markowitz (talk) 19:49, 24 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Link

Hi! The link to Stanley Baldwin remains unclear for non-specialized reader. Could it perhaps be explained? Tazmaniacs 20:12, 19 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Good point, fixed! Maury 12:11, 20 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Category Creation Suggestion

It's surprising there is no category for USA Shadowboxing - a prevalent, virulent and resistent political phenomena.

--Philopedia 18:39, 21 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

WP:Be bold ! Tazmaniacs 18:52, 21 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Good idea. If you can win with shadowboxing that is better than real boxing. :-) Steve Dufour 22:53, 21 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Opening sentence

The opening sentence has a poor choice of words - "unfounded belief." As the article later points out, their were at least two indications that the gap existed - that is, foundations for the belief. The first was the Soviet Aviation Day demonstrations. The second was the early U2 recon intelligence. It should be pointed out that the Aviation Day demonstration was most likely an intentional deception on the part of the Soviets. Based on this evidence, the conclusion of a bomber gap is founded and reasonable. It is easy to sit back with 20/20 hindsight and criticise, but given the times and Kruschev's threat, "We will bury you!" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.41.108.34 (talk) 17:23, 29 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]