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HomeShop at BookSurgeHistoryAfricaSouthFlying The RB47 |
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2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Great Information & Stories, Flawed Presentation Apr 26, 2007
By P. E. O'Neil
This book looks to be self-published and sufferers the same problems so many other self-published books do. The book design is lack luster and it is really only a collection of disconnected short bits ranging from several sentences to several pages. Even worse, they are in no discernable order. The bits jump around in topic, time and location. This book needs a good editor and a serious rewrite.
There are many great photos, but no captions often leaving us to guess if the picture has any connection with the story.
Probably the worse thing is the mistitling of the book. It is "Flying the RB47" indicating is written from a pilot's perspective. It is not.
From what I have written above, you might think I don't recommend it. I gave it five stars and that was because the material included was so strong that the bothers just mentioned pale in comparison to what Bailey gives us.
His is the story of the "Ravens" or "Crows" who inhabited the dark inner recesses of this most secret aeroplane at the very heart of a vast effort to learn what the Soviets and others were up to, how they would react and what they considered important enough to try to hide.
The RB47s were the bait, and planes, ships & submarines closely watched the trouble stirred up by RB47 probing. Our heroes worked in a small dark compartment and never saw anything at all except by interpreting electronic displays of various sorts. If you would think this viewpoint would not be very interesting, you would be wrong.
The crews knew full well the results of bear baiting could be deadly but that just made the game all the more fascinating. These "Gorillas" (the Crows name for the pilots) and Crows were one special breed of cat.
While many of these missions were quiet and routine, others were action packed and often life threatening. The Soviets sometimes tried to capture or even kill these crews and, all too often they succeeded. The "Cold War" was often hot for the people on the front lines.
Certain specifics are fudged with generalities, very common when talking with crews from the Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) areas. Even after 60 years, many of these details are still considered sensitive.
While some of the stories are hair rising, others are very, very funny. As you might guess when young men, selected for intelligence, aggressiveness & spirit are off duty, they get up to some very serious hell-raising. I often found myself laughing out loud at some prank these fellows pulled. The unexpected consequences made the stories ring all the more true.
If you are interested in the Cold War, intelligence gathering, military aviation or "sea" stories, this book has something for you. If you are interested in the RB47 ELINT mission I know of no better volume.
Paul O'Neil
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