Air Force pilots remember U-2 spy plane flights from Minot AFB
U-2s, the now famous spy planes, flew out of Minot Air Force Base during the late 1950s, but the specifics of their mission were top secret.
A former member of the unit recently provided insight into "Operation Crowflight."
Retired Air Force Tech Sgt. Glenn R. Chapman, of Tucson, Ariz., was at the Minot Air Force Base with the U-2 unit from January to March 1960, as a camera repairman.
"Our mission, although highly top secret at that time, was to sample for upper air radioactivity," Chapman said. Samples were collected to determine how much radioactive fallout was in the atmosphere, he said.
"Besides Minot, we had operating locations in Puerto Rico, Argentina, Australia, Alaska, Panama and other places," he said. "The idea was to sample air at altitudes of 70,000 feet plus from the North Pole to the South Pole.
"Therefore, we would be gathering air samples longitudinally of air that was traveling latitudinally around the earth. Think of the old statement 'as the crow flies' and it is easier to understand," he said.
The air samples were sent to a company in New Jersey to analyze.
"Remember, this was during the days of all the A-bomb testing in the open air," Chapman said. "By analyzing these particles, they could estimate how much fallout would end up where and how it would affect worldwide population.
"We were the first reliable operation that would be able to discover when an atomic weapon was exploded by a foreign nation, what the yield was, how much fallout was developed, and even where and when the weapon was destructed," he said.
The Minot Crowflight unit was based out of the 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Laughlin Air Force Base near Del Rio, Texas.
Files from the Minot Daily News show the U-2s were at the base from September 1958 to May 1960 and were working out of the Minot base before any other aircraft were permanently assigned there.
Maj. Mel Braaten was the first commander of Minot's Crowflight unit, Chapman said. Each Crowflight detachment, including the one at the Minot Air Force Base, consisted of 38 people and three U-2 aircraft.
"We were an extremely tight group of people, all of us who knew each other very well, although there was a very wide distinction between the officials and enlisted corps, and we respected that deeply," Chapman said.
He has written a book about being with the elite and highly secretive group.
The U-2 operations were top secret until 1960, after Francis Gary Powers went down in his U-2 over the Soviet Union, Chapman said.
In 1994, the CIA and the Air Force finally lifted all security restrictions from the U-2 operations, Chapman said.
Crowflight went on from 1957 until late in the 1990s, eventually becoming Operation Olympic Race, with the new updated version of the U-2 known as the U2R, now the U-2S, which is still flying, Chapman said.
Beale Air Force Base in California now is the home of the Air Force U-2s, he said.
Today, Chapman's son, Joseph, works on U-2s. His father retired from the Air Force in 1977.
Buddy Brown and Tony Bevacqua remember those days of being among the first Air Force pilots to fly the top-secret U-2 "spy" plane for Operation Crowflight, though neither was assigned to the Minot Air Force Base.
"They could tell if you collected some radioactivity debris up at that altitude, they could tell the date it was set off - or plus or minus a few days, what area that was set off - if it was a ground burst or air burst - they could tell the types of metals that were involved, the triggering device … It was very, reconnaissance accurate," Brown said.
Glenn Chapman said he still believes the U-2 "was the one thing that kept us from going to war."
The 38 men assigned to Operation Crowflight were not well liked at the Minot base, he said. Access to the Crowflight hangar was restricted and even the base wing commander was not allowed inside, Chapman said.
"We were not well liked at all by the Minot personnel, probably because of all the stencils of crows that we painted all over the base," he said.
In one incident, he said, "another guy and I painted a bunch of black crows on the boom operator's window of about six KC-135 tankers," he said. "And we got away with it and never got caught."
U-2s, the now famous spy planes, flew out of Minot Air Force Base during the late 1950s, but the specifics of their mission were top secret.
A former member of the unit recently provided insight into "Operation Crowflight."
Retired Air Force Tech Sgt. Glenn R. Chapman, of Tucson, Ariz., was at the Minot Air Force Base with the U-2 unit from January to March 1960, as a camera repairman.
"Our mission, although highly top secret at that time, was to sample for upper air radioactivity," Chapman said. Samples were collected to determine how much radioactive fallout was in the atmosphere, he said.
"Besides Minot, we had operating locations in Puerto Rico, Argentina, Australia, Alaska, Panama and other places," he said. "The idea was to sample air at altitudes of 70,000 feet plus from the North Pole to the South Pole.
"Therefore, we would be gathering air samples longitudinally of air that was traveling latitudinally around the earth. Think of the old statement 'as the crow flies' and it is easier to understand," he said.
The air samples were sent to a company in New Jersey to analyze.
"Remember, this was during the days of all the A-bomb testing in the open air," Chapman said. "By analyzing these particles, they could estimate how much fallout would end up where and how it would affect worldwide population.
"We were the first reliable operation that would be able to discover when an atomic weapon was exploded by a foreign nation, what the yield was, how much fallout was developed, and even where and when the weapon was destructed," he said.
The Minot Crowflight unit was based out of the 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Laughlin Air Force Base near Del Rio, Texas.
Files from the Minot Daily News show the U-2s were at the base from September 1958 to May 1960 and were working out of the Minot base before any other aircraft were permanently assigned there.
Maj. Mel Braaten was the first commander of Minot's Crowflight unit, Chapman said. Each Crowflight detachment, including the one at the Minot Air Force Base, consisted of 38 people and three U-2 aircraft.
"We were an extremely tight group of people, all of us who knew each other very well, although there was a very wide distinction between the officials and enlisted corps, and we respected that deeply," Chapman said.
He has written a book about being with the elite and highly secretive group.
The U-2 operations were top secret until 1960, after Francis Gary Powers went down in his U-2 over the Soviet Union, Chapman said.
In 1994, the CIA and the Air Force finally lifted all security restrictions from the U-2 operations, Chapman said.
Crowflight went on from 1957 until late in the 1990s, eventually becoming Operation Olympic Race, with the new updated version of the U-2 known as the U2R, now the U-2S, which is still flying, Chapman said.
Beale Air Force Base in California now is the home of the Air Force U-2s, he said.
Today, Chapman's son, Joseph, works on U-2s. His father retired from the Air Force in 1977.
Buddy Brown and Tony Bevacqua remember those days of being among the first Air Force pilots to fly the top-secret U-2 "spy" plane for Operation Crowflight, though neither was assigned to the Minot Air Force Base.
"They could tell if you collected some radioactivity debris up at that altitude, they could tell the date it was set off - or plus or minus a few days, what area that was set off - if it was a ground burst or air burst - they could tell the types of metals that were involved, the triggering device … It was very, reconnaissance accurate," Brown said.
Glenn Chapman said he still believes the U-2 "was the one thing that kept us from going to war."
The 38 men assigned to Operation Crowflight were not well liked at the Minot base, he said. Access to the Crowflight hangar was restricted and even the base wing commander was not allowed inside, Chapman said.
"We were not well liked at all by the Minot personnel, probably because of all the stencils of crows that we painted all over the base," he said.
In one incident, he said, "another guy and I painted a bunch of black crows on the boom operator's window of about six KC-135 tankers," he said. "And we got away with it and never got caught."
Air Force pilots remember U-2 spy plane flights from Minot AFB
U-2s, the now famous spy planes, flew out of Minot Air Force Base during the late 1950s, but the specifics of their mission were top secret.
A former member of the unit recently provided insight into "Operation Crowflight."
Retired Air Force Tech Sgt. Glenn R. Chapman, of Tucson, Ariz., was at the Minot Air Force Base with the U-2 unit from January to March 1960, as a camera repairman.
"Our mission, although highly top secret at that time, was to sample for upper air radioactivity," Chapman said. Samples were collected to determine how much radioactive fallout was in the atmosphere, he said.
"Besides Minot, we had operating locations in Puerto Rico, Argentina, Australia, Alaska, Panama and other places," he said. "The idea was to sample air at altitudes of 70,000 feet plus from the North Pole to the South Pole.
"Therefore, we would be gathering air samples longitudinally of air that was traveling latitudinally around the earth. Think of the old statement 'as the crow flies' and it is easier to understand," he said.
The air samples were sent to a company in New Jersey to analyze.
"Remember, this was during the days of all the A-bomb testing in the open air," Chapman said. "By analyzing these particles, they could estimate how much fallout would end up where and how it would affect worldwide population.
"We were the first reliable operation that would be able to discover when an atomic weapon was exploded by a foreign nation, what the yield was, how much fallout was developed, and even where and when the weapon was destructed," he said.
The Minot Crowflight unit was based out of the 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Laughlin Air Force Base near Del Rio, Texas.
Files from the Minot Daily News show the U-2s were at the base from September 1958 to May 1960 and were working out of the Minot base before any other aircraft were permanently assigned there.
Maj. Mel Braaten was the first commander of Minot's Crowflight unit, Chapman said. Each Crowflight detachment, including the one at the Minot Air Force Base, consisted of 38 people and three U-2 aircraft.
"We were an extremely tight group of people, all of us who knew each other very well, although there was a very wide distinction between the officials and enlisted corps, and we respected that deeply," Chapman said.
He has written a book about being with the elite and highly secretive group.
The U-2 operations were top secret until 1960, after Francis Gary Powers went down in his U-2 over the Soviet Union, Chapman said.
In 1994, the CIA and the Air Force finally lifted all security restrictions from the U-2 operations, Chapman said.
Crowflight went on from 1957 until late in the 1990s, eventually becoming Operation Olympic Race, with the new updated version of the U-2 known as the U2R, now the U-2S, which is still flying, Chapman said.
Beale Air Force Base in California now is the home of the Air Force U-2s, he said.
Today, Chapman's son, Joseph, works on U-2s. His father retired from the Air Force in 1977.
Buddy Brown and Tony Bevacqua remember those days of being among the first Air Force pilots to fly the top-secret U-2 "spy" plane for Operation Crowflight, though neither was assigned to the Minot Air Force Base.
"They could tell if you collected some radioactivity debris up at that altitude, they could tell the date it was set off - or plus or minus a few days, what area that was set off - if it was a ground burst or air burst - they could tell the types of metals that were involved, the triggering device … It was very, reconnaissance accurate," Brown said.
Glenn Chapman said he still believes the U-2 "was the one thing that kept us from going to war."
The 38 men assigned to Operation Crowflight were not well liked at the Minot base, he said. Access to the Crowflight hangar was restricted and even the base wing commander was not allowed inside, Chapman said.
"We were not well liked at all by the Minot personnel, probably because of all the stencils of crows that we painted all over the base," he said.
In one incident, he said, "another guy and I painted a bunch of black crows on the boom operator's window of about six KC-135 tankers," he said. "And we got away with it and never got caught."
U-2s, the now famous spy planes, flew out of Minot Air Force Base during the late 1950s, but the specifics of their mission were top secret.
A former member of the unit recently provided insight into "Operation Crowflight."
Retired Air Force Tech Sgt. Glenn R. Chapman, of Tucson, Ariz., was at the Minot Air Force Base with the U-2 unit from January to March 1960, as a camera repairman.
"Our mission, although highly top secret at that time, was to sample for upper air radioactivity," Chapman said. Samples were collected to determine how much radioactive fallout was in the atmosphere, he said.
"Besides Minot, we had operating locations in Puerto Rico, Argentina, Australia, Alaska, Panama and other places," he said. "The idea was to sample air at altitudes of 70,000 feet plus from the North Pole to the South Pole.
"Therefore, we would be gathering air samples longitudinally of air that was traveling latitudinally around the earth. Think of the old statement 'as the crow flies' and it is easier to understand," he said.
The air samples were sent to a company in New Jersey to analyze.
"Remember, this was during the days of all the A-bomb testing in the open air," Chapman said. "By analyzing these particles, they could estimate how much fallout would end up where and how it would affect worldwide population.
"We were the first reliable operation that would be able to discover when an atomic weapon was exploded by a foreign nation, what the yield was, how much fallout was developed, and even where and when the weapon was destructed," he said.
The Minot Crowflight unit was based out of the 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Laughlin Air Force Base near Del Rio, Texas.
Files from the Minot Daily News show the U-2s were at the base from September 1958 to May 1960 and were working out of the Minot base before any other aircraft were permanently assigned there.
Maj. Mel Braaten was the first commander of Minot's Crowflight unit, Chapman said. Each Crowflight detachment, including the one at the Minot Air Force Base, consisted of 38 people and three U-2 aircraft.
"We were an extremely tight group of people, all of us who knew each other very well, although there was a very wide distinction between the officials and enlisted corps, and we respected that deeply," Chapman said.
He has written a book about being with the elite and highly secretive group.
The U-2 operations were top secret until 1960, after Francis Gary Powers went down in his U-2 over the Soviet Union, Chapman said.
In 1994, the CIA and the Air Force finally lifted all security restrictions from the U-2 operations, Chapman said.
Crowflight went on from 1957 until late in the 1990s, eventually becoming Operation Olympic Race, with the new updated version of the U-2 known as the U2R, now the U-2S, which is still flying, Chapman said.
Beale Air Force Base in California now is the home of the Air Force U-2s, he said.
Today, Chapman's son, Joseph, works on U-2s. His father retired from the Air Force in 1977.
Buddy Brown and Tony Bevacqua remember those days of being among the first Air Force pilots to fly the top-secret U-2 "spy" plane for Operation Crowflight, though neither was assigned to the Minot Air Force Base.
"They could tell if you collected some radioactivity debris up at that altitude, they could tell the date it was set off - or plus or minus a few days, what area that was set off - if it was a ground burst or air burst - they could tell the types of metals that were involved, the triggering device … It was very, reconnaissance accurate," Brown said.
Glenn Chapman said he still believes the U-2 "was the one thing that kept us from going to war."
The 38 men assigned to Operation Crowflight were not well liked at the Minot base, he said. Access to the Crowflight hangar was restricted and even the base wing commander was not allowed inside, Chapman said.
"We were not well liked at all by the Minot personnel, probably because of all the stencils of crows that we painted all over the base," he said.
In one incident, he said, "another guy and I painted a bunch of black crows on the boom operator's window of about six KC-135 tankers," he said. "And we got away with it and never got caught."
See photo in original gallery.