Asia From Above

By Col. Roy Stanley

Thought you folks might be interested in the activities of the USAF 67th Reconnaissance Technical Squadron at Yokota Japan from 1957 to 1971.  The 67th did the initial film processing and photo interpretation on all the Black Cat U-2 missions, starting in 1962, we worked OXCART/Black Shield after September 1967 (including the Pueblo missions and the final search for the lost A-12), and we did all the Giant Scale missions from the first operational flight over SEA until 1971.  GRC 100 and BX 6847 were probably our most famous/exciting efforts, but it was the 67th RTS that converted all those flights into useable intelligence and gave them meaning. I too believe some of your members would enjoy knowing what and how the imagery they risked so much to collect was processed into intelligence that influenced national decision-making.

We never called the Chinat U-2 missions "Black Cats."  We knew those missions as Church Door.  I worked some of the first ones, the really deep penetrations that were treated like CIA missions.  Before that we had RB-57 missions.  The very first mission I PI-ed for "real" was a Chinat RF-101 dicing over a Chicom airfield across from Taiwan.  We also worked SAC and CIA U-2 missions, high altitude SEA drone, as well as the Black Shield and Giant Scale.  I'd have to say the A-12 and Perkin-Elmer camera were the finest imagery collection system I ever worked with.  So, most of the material your folks collected in the Far East, went through us.

Many of us began our careers with the Recce Tech still part of the 67th TRW.  Our last CO was Mike Mitchell who won a Silver Star in an RF-80 over Manchuria while assigned to the 67th TRW during the Korean War.  I'm sure some of your "sled drivers" would remember him.



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