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Book Reviews EYEING the RED STORM Afterburner Book Reviews EYEING THE RED STORM Eisenhower and the First Attempt to Build a Spy Satellite By R M Dienesch University of Nebraska Press, 1111 Lincoln Mall, Lincoln NE 68588-0630, USA. 2016. Distributed by Combined Academic Publishers, Windsor House, Cornwall Road, Harrogate HG1 2PW, UK. 296pp. £25.99. [25% discount available to RAeS members via www.combinedacademic.co.uk using CS314FLIGHT promotion code]. ISBN 978-0- 8032-5572-2. Canadian historian Robert M Dienesch throws new and interesting light on the space programmes that helped to avert World War 3 – the military surveillance satellites of the 1960s and 1970s. He focuses on recently declassifi ed information about the American WS-117L satellite system that was initiated more than two years before the October policy. For example, Richard Rhodes, who Above: On 19 August 1960, 1957 launch of the fi rst satellite Sputnik. chronicled the development of nuclear weapons, a Fairchild C-119J Flying In explaining this surprisingly early start to Boxcar made the world’s fi rst saw it as the root cause of the US-Soviet nuclear America’s space programme, Dienesch points to midair recovery of a capsule escalation that made the Cold War so inherently the US paranoia about Soviet military capabilities returning from orbit when frightening. What Dienesch does is to show it ‘snagged’ the parachute and intentions brought about by the closed nature that Eisenhower understood that only accurate lowering the Discoverer XIV of the Communist superpower. The paranoia was intelligence on Soviet military deployments could satellite at 8,000ft altitude, 360 miles southwest of fuelled by the trauma of the unexpected Japanese undercut the arguments of the US services and this attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, strengthened by Honolulu, Hawaii. The aircraft led him to agree to the development of the recovered a CORONA the surprise invasion of South Korea by its northern WS-117L satellite long before such a system had capsule returning from space. neighbour in 1950 and brought to fever pitch by even been demonstrated. Below: Thor Agena B with Discoverer 37 on the launch the unexpectedly early Soviet development of Dienesch describes how the performance the atomic and hydrogen bombs. This is ground pad on 13 January 1962. required to address Eisenhower’s concerns was Both USAF. well-covered by previous space historians but soon shown to be beyond the capability of the where Dienesch differs is in emphasising inter- available technology. This led to many changes service rivalry between the US Air Force, Army of direction and of management before a viable and Navy as a second major reason for President surveillance satellite was developed. The WS-117L Eisenhower supporting the risky and expensive turned out to be something of a dead end, since space programme. the design that eventually proved successful was Throughout his two terms as President intrinsically different: WS-117L aimed to relay Eisenhower gave priority to defence against the imagery to Earth by radio whereas the eventually Soviet Union and a stable and growing US economy successful CORONA system returned undeveloped (which underpinned the ability to fund defence). fi lm in a capsule. However, he identifi es many Dienesch adds to those a third priority that emerged areas of technology developed for WS-117L that during the Presidency, namely the tendency of the helped make CORONA a success. He also points military to exaggerate the threat in order to increase to the emergence of the successful missile warning their funding. Eisenhower worried that unrestrained satellite, MIDAS, as a legacy of WS-117L. If escalation of military spending would damage the anything, he undersells the importance of whole US economy and even the American way WS-117L, failing for example to mention the link to of life (creating a garrison state, for example). He the technology in NASA’s interplanetary probes of confi ded to Treasury Secretary George Humphrey the 1960s. that he spent two thirds of his time in 1957 fi ghting The management issues that emerged in the pressure to increase spending by competing WS-117L project and how they were resolved services. have been described before but Dienesch throws Dienesch is not the fi rst to recognise the new light on them without drowning the reader in importance of inter-service rivalry in US military detail. I particularly liked his explanation of how the 44 AEROSPACE / JANUARY 2017 creation of the US Air Force in 1947 made that third buff. The analysis of how US inter-service rivalry For those who service especially aggressive in protecting its remit infl uenced management and policy decisions by have a ‘Space and funding. Persistent leaks by the USAF to its the Eisenhower Administration will be of interest to friends in Congress persuaded Eisenhower to move students of Cold War military history. Therefore, for and the Cold development of the CORONA system from the those who have a ‘Space and the Cold War’ shelf in War’ shelf in USAF to the CIA – another reason was the danger their library, this book deserves a place on it. their library, this of having the USAF in control of the intelligence system which underpinned its own funding requests. Pat Norris book deserves Many of the details of the WS-117L design FRAeS a place on it and development (before its 1961 cancellation) Author of Spies in the Sky: Surveillance Satellites in are new and will be of interest to the space history War and Peace [Springer. 2007] THE THREE MUSKETEERS OF THE ARMY AIR FORCES From Hitler’s Fortress Europa recognised his own professional qualities in Van Kirk Boeing B-29 Superfortress and Ferebee and the three remained together during Enola Gay which dropped the to Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb on Hiroshima their European operational tour. on display at the National Air By R O Harder As a frequent ferry pilot for General Eisenhower & Space Museum, Steven F and occasionally General Dolittle, it was perhaps not Udvar-Hazy Center. Naval Institute Press, 291 Wood Road, Annapolis, MD surprising that Tibbets was selected for a ‘special Elliott Wolf. 21402, USA. 2015. Distributed by Eurospan Group, task’ despite a brief and unhappy interregnum 3 Henrietta Street, London WC2E 8LU, UK. 288pp. as a staff offi cer. As the commander of 509th Illustrated. £32.50. ISBN 978-1-61251-902-9. Bombardment Group in Utah, Van Kirk and Ferebee were selected by Tibbets to be the Group navigator There have been many books written on the topic of and bombardier, respectively. This ‘special’ group was the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki with nuclear then joined by 393rd Bomb Squadron. weapons in August 1945 but this book puts those The author describes in fascinating detail how missions into the context of the relationship between the squadron trained for the nuclear missions over three of the men involved on the fi rst mission to Japan and how the three characters were central Hiroshima. In doing so, the author, a former B-52D to the success of the fi rst mission and how close navigator with 145 combat missions during the the second mission, captained by Major Charles Vietnam War, creates a fascinating narrative that opens Sweeney, came to disaster. The reader must decide many doors on the US Army Air Forces’ successes whether Tibbets could have done more to oversee the and failures associated with strategic bombing. planning for the ‘near catastrophic Nagasaki mission’, Paul Tibbets, the aircraft commander of the although by this stage the political and senior offi cer Hiroshima mission, had fi rst met Theodore ‘Ted’ involvement was almost overpowering. A well-written Van Kirk, the navigator and Thomas Ferebee, the A well-written and engaging book that comes and engaging bombardier, when all three were posted to 340th highly recommended. book that Bomb Squadron in Florida prior to deploying to RAF Polebrook, UK in July 1942. Tibbets, a focused Trevor Nash comes highly disciplinarian and frequently irascible character, MA MRAeS recommended Find us on Twitter i Find us on LinkedIn f Find us on Facebook www.aerosociety.com JANUARY 2017 45 Afterburner Book Reviews SONIC TO STAND OFF The Evolution of the British Nuclear Deterrent By A Morrison Distributed by A MacKay, 87 Knightscliffe Avenue, Netherton, Glasgow G13 2RX, UK (E charlese87@ btinternet.com). 2016. 207pp. Illustrated. £14.99. ISBN 978-0-9573443-4-1. The book’s subtitle is ‘The Evolution of the British Nuclear Deterrent’ and this is the main theme. The title and subtitle have some relevance but, for instance, the fi rst chapter is about the Treaty of Versailles and its efforts to prevent Germany acquiring an air force and how they evaded it. The story behind the book is that it is based on some notebooks with the title ‘Missile Work’. The next chapters are on rocket development, mainly in Germany, up to the V2 and the Me163. Junkers, working in an underground factory dug out Avro Vulcan B2 V-Bomber Its success began to soften the US refusal to by slave labour, made a supersonic rocket-powered armed with an Avro Blue co-operate and the fi rst drop from a Valiant at Steel ‘stand-off’ bomb. glider spyplane. This was to be taken to 36,000ft Maralinga in 1956 continued the improvement. RAeS (NAL). on the back of a Dornier 217 and, when released, Further work, with nuclear fusion components, it would go up to 76,000ft using its rocket and ‘Grapple’ tests, was done at Christmas Island in then glide 465 miles, down to 40,000ft, doing its the Pacifi c. These are described as ‘400 megaton reconnaissance. At the end of WW2 the factory was range’ which must be an error, probably for ‘400 cleared and the plane was brought to the UK and kiloton’.
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