The Collectors: Us and British Cold War Aerial Intelligence Gathering

Using recently declassified materials and interviews this book reveals new details of highly classified US and British Cold War aerial intelligence collection flights. An examination of the sometimes fatal ‘cat and mouse’ activities of US and British intelligence collection aircraft and their crews during the Cold War. It looks at the origins and growth of flights over and around the Soviet Union, China and other areas of interest from 1945 to the 1980s. It describes some of the technological developments, the political control, coordination and authorisation of missions and the vital roles played by third party states including Scandinavia and Turkey. AUTHOR: Kevin Wright is a regular contributor to aviation magazines (including ‘Aviation News’ and ‘Aeroplane’) and is an accomplished air-to-air photographer. He has a lifelong special interest in Cold War intelligence collection and produced numerous articles on related topics. Other recent publications include co-authoring a book, with Peter Jefferies, on allied intelligence collection along the Berlin Corridors. He taught international security and politics for over 15 years at universities in the UK and overseas. His PhD was on the role of expert communities in arms control policy making which became the topic of his first book. He currently lives in the Republic of IE - Ireland. 48 images