By Any Means Necessary: America's Heroes Flying Secret Missions in a Hostile World

By William E. Burrows

Book Overview

In a determined effort to collect intelligence and find targets for nuclear war, the United States flew continuous missions against the Communist bloc during the Cold War. Cloaked in the utmost secrecy, the only hint of these operations came when an aircraft was shot down. For the first time, award-winning historian William E. Burrows reveals that the Russians, Chinese, and North Koreans captured, tortured, imprisoned, and killed many of the airmen flying these clandestine missions, while the crews' loved ones grieved and the government looked away. Using presidential archives and other government records, in addition to interviews with the men who flew these "black missions" and the widows and children of those who never returned, Burrows tells the full story. From the Cold War era to the recent Sino-U.S. standoff, Burrows provides an incisive, comprehensive, and deeply human account of this secret air war over international skies.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0452283590
• ISBN13: 9780452283596
• Release Date: August 2002
• Publisher: Plume Books
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 1.12 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Must read book.

My father was one of the airmen that this book talks about. It was the hidden war we have always been fighting with unsung heroes who couldn't take credit for what they had done. Great read and its appreciated that this book was written.

The Cold War Sometimes Turned Hot

I recommend this book as a "must read" for anyone interested in Cold War military history and intelligence gathering as well as all former "spooks". Mr. Burrows has written a detailed account of United States Air Force, Navy and CIA airborne electronic and photographic reconnaissance efforts from the end of WWII through the US Navy's P3 incident on Hainan in 2001. The development of specialized aircraft (U-2, SR-71), electronics and camera equipment as well as modification of ordinary aircraft (B-29, B-47, C-130, etc) for reconnaissance missions is covered in sufficient detail to satisfy everyone expect hardcore technical buffs.Besides detailed descriptions of 16 Cold War shootdowns that involved US deaths - many of which did not become widely known until recently - Mr. Burrows presents evidence to support the premise that many crewmen initially survived shootdowns only to be murdered or die in Soviet prisons. There are also many tales of crews that returned with damaged aircraft, and sometimes wounded men, to their home base or after a period of Soviet incarceration. The efforts of families of lost crewmen to find out what happened to their relatives, despite stonewalling by both the US and foreign governments, add a deeply human touch to what would otherwise be a recitation of interesting facts and scary war stories.There are lots of footnotes supporting the events described and a number of photographs of lost aircrews and some of the aircraft they flew.

Very good book

Written very well. It brings out into the open for the first time the people, the missions, and the politics behind a dark chapter in our country's history. The crews were sent into very dangerous situations with limited or no support, and if they survived, they received very little recognition. The crews that did not come back were left to die, and their families were lied to in order to cover up the true circumstances that lead to their lose.