Originally Posted by
Heathrow Harry
excellent
but who were the Canberra crew that proved the concept by overflying Kasputin Yar in 1953?
"Sometime during the first half of 1953. the RAF employed a
high-altitude Canberra on a daring overflight of the Soviet Union to
photograph the missile test range at Kapustin Yar. Because of advanced
warning from either radar or agents inside British intelligence,
the overflight did not catch the Soviet Union by surprise.
Soviet fighters damaged and nearly shot down the Canberra!"
Rumors about this flight reached Washington during the summer of
1953, but official confirmation by the United Kingdom did not come
until February 1954."
Chris Pocock implies in his side note that was a myth, although the later 1957 flight was real.