David Axe's brilliant description is of a little-known but very effective and valuable intelligence gathering capability of the Vietnam War that I was intimately involved in. I was a pilot of a DC-130 during 1967-71 that launched over 100 drones into North Vietnam and South China gathering intelligence at very low (survivable ) altitudes that complemented very well the efforts of the SR-71. The two reconnaissance systems each had their advantages and drawbacks: the drones, because they were sent in at such a low altitude for survivability reasons, often missed their targets but took very high resolution photos when they were on target; whereas, the SR-71, due to their high altitude, captured a very wide swatch photo image but resolution was sometimes hampered by cloud cover and having to take photos through the shock wave resulting from flying three times to speed of sound. By the end of the Vietnam War, these were the only two survivable photo reconnaissance systems being targeted at the Hanoi-Haiphong area--due to the speed and altitude of the SR-71, and the extremely low altitudes of the drones.
Because of the threat of being shot down and captured on subsequent missions, DC-130 aircrews were only given Latitude - Longitude of targets to be covered and were never told whether drones they launched gathered valuable intelligence. Our only sense of accomplishment was being told what per cent of assigned targets had been covered by drones we launched, and, if we were lucky, and end-of-tour Distinguished Flying Cross. This is where David Axe's book comes in by providing the most complete end-to-end description of the drone program that we, the air crew members, have been longing for. He brings to life the missions we flew with outstanding photos and "war stories".
It is a must read for military book lovers, especially those fascinated by innovative intelligence gathering methods.
