From Kites to Cold War tells the story of the evolution of manned airborne reconnaissance. Long a desire of military commanders, the ability to see the terrain ahead and gain foreknowledge of enemy intent was realized when Chinese airmen mounted kites to surveil their surroundings. Kite technology was slow to spread, and by the late nineteenth century European nations had developed the balloon and airship to conduct this mission. By 1918, it was obvious that the airplane had become the reconnaissance platform of the future. Used successfully by many nations during the Great War, aircraft technology and capability experienced its most rapid evolutionary period during World War II. Entering the war with just basic airborne imagery capabilities, by V-E and V-J days, air power pioneers greatly improved imagery collection and developed sophisticated airborne signals intelligence collection capabilities. The United States and other nations put these capabilities to use as the Cold War immediately followed. Flying near the periphery of and sometimes directly over the Soviet Union, airborne reconnaissance provided the intelligence necessary to stay one step ahead of the Soviets throughout the Cold War.

The Cold War lasted for more than 40 years. This interesting book gives readers a look at what caused the Cold War and some of the important events from this time. The helpful glossary, index, and easy-to-read text allows readers to further understand such things like totalitarian government, communism, capitalism, atomic bombs, blacklisting, espionage, and arms race. The fascinating images and photos along with the vibrant scrapbook layout, introduce leaders and events like the Berlin Wall, Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill, Fidel Castro, and the Cuban missile crisis. This book will have children fascinated and engaged from beginning to end!

"The fundamental purpose of this dissertation is to enable students of air power to understand and appreciate the evolution of manned airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and the way it has fundamentally changed the conduct of warfare. The manner by which it evolved and its subsequent importance to today's militaries has significant contemporary relevance. As the United States advances into a new postwar era, evaluating the historical treatment of manned airborne ISR is important to informing current decisions. The historical tendency has been to drastically reduce intelligence forces following major combat operations. During the early 21st century, United States Air Force (USAF) airborne ISR grew considerably to match the requirements of the ground-focused conflicts it faced. Operations enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom demanded a tactically-focused airborne ISR force that the Air Force (AF) did not have when those operations began. Now that those conflicts have wound down with 'boots on the ground' minimized, the question that faces the AF ISR community is how to rebalance the airborne ISR force to best prepare for major contingency operations? Additionally, there has long existed a question of whether manned airborne ISR forces are more appropriately used as strategic intelligence collection platforms or if they are better suited to provide intelligence directly to warfighters. While this distinction may seem trivial to some, within the USAF airborne ISR community it is not. Tactical intelligence collection often requires distinct aircraft, and more importantly, distinctly trained personnel. As this dissertation will show, the necessity to maintain proficiency in both capabilities is of utmost importance. In addition to illuminating the evolution of airborne ISR, this dissertation seeks to fill an historiographical gap. Other authors have tackled aspects of this subject, but none have comprehensively approached the evolution. The hope is that by reading this dissertation, all will have a better-informed appreciation of the travails of airborne ISR over history and will use the past to inform future decisions--Abstract.

The US-Soviet arms race, told through the story of a colorful and visionary American Air Force officer—melding biography, history, world affairs, and science to transport the reader back and forth from individual drama to world stage. "Compulsively readable and important.” —The New York Times Book Review In this never-before-told story, Neil Sheehan—winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award -- details American Air Force officer Bernard Schriever’s quest to prevent the Soviet Union from acquiring nuclear superiority, and describes American efforts to develop the unstoppable nuclear-weapon delivery system, the intercontinental ballistic missile, the first weapons meant to deter an atomic holocaust rather than to be fired in anger. In a sweeping narrative, Sheehan brings to life a huge cast of some of the most intriguing characters of the cold war, including the brilliant physicist John Von Neumann, and the hawkish Air Force general, Curtis LeMay.

Dino A. Brugioni, author of the best-selling account of the Cuban Missile crisis, Eyeball to Eyeball, draws on his long CIA career as one of the world's premier experts on aerial reconnaissance to provide the inside story of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's efforts to use spy planes and satellites to gather intelligence. He reveals Eisenhower to be a hands-on president who, contrary to popular belief, took an active role in assuring that the latest technology was used to gather aerial intelligence. This previously untold story of the secret Cold War program makes full use of the author's firsthand knowledge of the program and of information he gained from interviews with important participants. As a founder and senior officer of the CIA's National Photographic Interpretation Center, Brugioni was a key player in keeping Eisenhower informed of developments, and he sheds new light on the president's contributions toward building an effective and technologically advanced intelligence organization. The book provides details of the president's backing of the U-2's development and its use to dispel the bomber gap and to provide data on Soviet missile and nuclear efforts and to deal with crises in the Suez, Lebanon, Chinese Off Shore Islands, Tibet, Indonesia, East Germany, and elsewhere. Brugioni offers new information about Eisenhower's order of U-2 flights over Malta, Cyprus, Toulon, and Israel and subsequent warnings to the British, French, and Israelis that the U.S. would not support an invasion of Egypt. He notes that the president also backed the development of the CORONA photographic satellite, which eventually proved the missile gap with the Soviet Union didn't exist, and a variety of other satellite systems that detected and monitored problems around the world. The unsung reconnaissance roles played by Jimmy Doolittle and Edwin Land are also highlighted in this revealing study of Cold War espionage.

In 1949, mounting tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States created an intense distrust between the two nations. This book tells the story of how that rivalry-known as the Cold War-dominated the foreign policies of the time, ultimately leading America into the Korean War and the Vietnam War. It also tells the story of how influential leaders, both black and white, advanced the cause of civil rights. Book jacket.

In a gripping story of international power and deception, Jeffrey Engel reveals the “special relationship” between the United States and Great Britain in a new and far more competitive light. As allies, they fought communism. As rivals, they locked horns over which would lead the Cold War fight. In the quest for sovereignty and hegemony, one important key was airpower, which created jobs, forged ties with the developing world, and, perhaps most importantly in a nuclear world, ensured military superiority.Only the United States and Britain were capable of supplying the post-war world’s ravenous appetite for aircraft. The Americans hoped to use this dominance as a bludgeon not only against the Soviets and Chinese, but also against any ally that deviated from Washington’s rigid brand of anticommunism. Eager to repair an economy shattered by war and never as committed to unflinching anticommunism as their American allies, the British hoped to sell planes even beyond the Iron Curtain, reaping profits, improving East-West relations, and garnering the strength to withstand American hegemony.Engel traces the bitter fights between these intimate allies from Europe to Latin America to Asia as each sought control over the sale of aircraft and technology throughout the world. The Anglo–American competition for aviation supremacy affected the global balance of power and the fates of developing nations such as India, Pakistan, and China. But without aviation, Engel argues, Britain would never have had the strength to function as a brake upon American power, the way trusted allies should.