The Black Bats: CIA Spy Flights over China from Taiwan 1951-1969

After Mao’s communists took control of mainland China in 1949, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency developed an uneasy partnership with the nationalist Chinese government on Taiwan for covert air operations over the mainland – dropping agents and propaganda, and collecting signals, imagery and nuclear intelligence. But Communist China’s air defences reacted with determination and ingenuity to the unwelcome intruders. Ten of the aircraft – B—17s, B—26s, and P—2s – were lost and over 100 air...