A Dangerous Business: The U.S. Navy and the National Reconnaissance During the Cold War

miles

southeast

of

Liepaja,

Latvia;

an unprovoked

attack

that took

the

lives of

all

l0 sailors

aboard

"Turbulent

Turtle"

(NSG

personnel

are denoted

with an

asterisk):

AII

Frank L.

Beckman

AL3

foseph

J.

Bourassa

ENS Tommy

L. Burgess

ADI

Joseph

H. Danens

LI

John

H. Fette

Although

some

wreckage

was eventually

recovered,

there

was

no trace

of the

missing

men, who

were

presumed

dead due

to the

fact that the

lumbering

PB4Y2

was blasted

out of the

sky, as

evidenced

by the bullet-ridden

state

of

what

wreckage

was found.

Soviet authorities

were unhelpful

about

the

missing

men.

The Nary

had little

public

comment

on the

incident,

as the SESP

missions

were top secret

and considered

of

vital importance

to

national security.

Establishing a

precedent for the remainder

of the

Cold

Wat the

Navy told

the

families of

the missing

sailors

little about

the loss

-

in

part

because

the

Navy

did

not know

much, as there

were

no survivors

-

but the

lack of

information

gave

rise to unfortunate

yet unsubstantiated

rumors that

the missing

men

might be alive

in Soviet

captivity.

The

Years of

Living Dangerously

t-ft

h.

young men of

"Turbulent

Tirrtle" became

the

Naly's first

casualties

in

I the secret

reconnaissance

war with the

Soviet

bloc, but they

would

be far

from the

last. Yet despite

the considerable

risks involved

in the

SESP

program,

there

was

no question that

it had to

continue.

The Cold

War had

just

begun,

and the

need for

intelligence on

the Communist

enemy

only

grew more

pressing with the

Korean War,

when the

Pentagon

feared that

a global

atomic

conflagration

could

break out

without notice.

The SESP

program

expanded, and

soon

the

mission would be

taken over

by

specially

trained

Fleet Air

Reconnaissance

Squadrons

(VQ),

with VQ-1

for the

Pacific

Fleet and

VQ-2 supporting

the

Atlantic

Fleet.

Naval

crews began

flying

ELINT

missions against

the Soviet

Union and

its allies

on

a daily basis,

attempting

to

give the fleet

and the

Intelligence Community

a

current

picture of enemy

air defenses

and

force dispositions.

Such a

high ops

CT3

Edward

J.

Purcell"

LIJG

Robert

D. Reynolds

AI3

foseph

N.

Rinnier

LT Howard

W. Seeschaf

ADI

JackW.

Thomas

PB4Y2 in Flight

tempo

took a toll

on sailors

and their

aircraft.

On 7 March

195 l, VP-26's

special

detachment

(soon

to

be called VQ-2)

lost

another PB4Y2,this

time

to

mechanical

failure. The

SESP craft abruptly

lost

three of its

four engines

over

the Mediterranean

and

was forced

to ditch. Although

the

privateer

went

down

only a few

miles

off the Italian

coast,

eight of its 14-n-ran

crew were lost

atnd

presumed

drowned:

ET2

RussellAiken

AOC Andrew

A. Andrews

ADAN

Ernest E.

Craig

AOAN

Frank

J.

Dacunto

ENS

Elmer E.

Jackson

AL3

Donald

E.

fones

LT

Richard E.

Lampkin,

Ir.

ADC

Roy R.

Radcliff

Although

six

sailors were

rescued

(including

CTI Robert

Warner

of NSG),

the

Ioss

of the

majority

of the crew

due to engine

failure illustrated

the hazardous

nature

of every

SESP mission.

Only

a

year

later,

on 7 September

1952,

VQ-2

lost

a P4M-1Q

Mercator

on

an electronic

reconnaissance

mission

over

the

eastern Mediterranean

and Black

Sea due

to engine failure.

The

aircraft

ditched

in

the middle

of the night

just

off the Turkish

coast. Fourteen

crewmen

were

saved after

many hours

in the water,

but

the

pilot,

LT

Robert B.

Hager, gave

his

life

while saving

others.

Although

the twin-engined

Mercator

was

a more

modern

and reliable

aircraft

than the World

War II-vintage

Privateer,

mechanical

difficulties

continued

to

plague

the SESP

program

due to the

extreme stresses

the long-range

missions placed

on rnan

and machine.

P4M 1Q

oi VQ-2

compared in size with

an 18-wheel

oil transporl

truck

For VQ- 1

sailors in

the Pacific,

the risks

were no less.

Indeed,

they were possibly

greater

since

there was not

just

one

enemy, but

two. The People's

Republic

of

China took

unkindly

to American reconnaissance

aircraft

operating

off its

coast and, like

the Soviets,

the Communist

Chinese

regularly

challenged

the

flights and

sometimes

shot them down.