There is nobody more knowledgeable of the U-2 and Sr-71 programs then MG Pat Halloran. In a previous life I did speaker showcase presentations at the EAA annual conventions. The title was High Altitude Reconnaissance During the Cold War (U-2, SR-71 and RB-57D/F programs.) Pat, an avid EAA member and airplane builder, attended some of the presentations (as did "Huggy" ) and was instrumental in both correcting and adding to the program information. He was the 71st pilot to check out in the U-2. (See U-2 PILOTS BY DATE )

Many folks are not aware the original USAF 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing Turner AFB was comprised of the 4025th SR Squadron (RB-57D aircraft) and 4028th SR Squadron (U-2 aircraft) Pat knew "Red Dog" Campbell in the "D" models . Red Dog eventually became my ops officer in RB-57Fs. The U-2 missions have been fairly well publicized. Her is a synopsis (Wikipedia) of the "RB57D" model missions.

"The RB-57D remained in service for only about five years. The first deliveries were in April 1956 to the 4025th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, which was a part of Strategic Air Command (SAC). Initially, the planes were to be based at Lockbourne AFB, Ohio, but they were soon relocated to Turner AFB, Georgia.[2][3]

The squadron would become fully operational with its first six RB-57Ds only 120 days from the delivery of its first RB-57D. Those first six aircraft, all Group A RB-57Ds, deployed Yokota AB, Japan and to Eielson AFB, Alaska in late 1956 for reconnaissance missions over what is presumed to be China, North Korea and the Soviet Union. The detachment at Yokota was used to monitor fall-out from Soviet tests in Operation Sea Lion. Other sorties were flown over Communist China, the RB-57D's operational ceiling being well above that of Chinese MiG-15s. The Eielson based aircraft conducted ELINT around the Kamchatka Peninsula of the Soviet Union.

On 15 Dec 1956 three aircraft overflew Vladivostok.[2][3]


In early 1956, the 4080th SR Wing moved to Laughlin AFB, Texas. Midair-refuelling capable RB-57Ds (Group B and the sole Type C) were deployed in 1957 to Rhein-Main AB, West Germany to support USAFE operations. All RB-57D operations were under heavy security and very little information ever leaked out about their early operations. They presumably carried out ELINT/SIGINT missions along the East German border and over the Baltic Sea. Since the missions were carried out under an atmosphere of high secrecy, RB-57s returning from missions over the Baltic were often intercepted by RAF Hawker Hunter interceptors just to make sure that they were not Soviet aircraft.

These particular versions of the RB-57Ds had the guts ripped out of the fuselage. They were equipped with an camera with a 24-foot focal length from lense to aperature. They produced individual frames that were developed as large as 4'x6' for CIA analysts to go over in great detail when looking for missile silos throughout Eastern Europe. The pilot and navigator who flew these missions never even got to view the film they shot. Upon landing a CIA employee would take the film before they even left their seats in their planes.

When the 4025th SRS was inactivated in June 1959 the RB-57D aircraft were assigned to the 7407th Support Squadron at Rhein-Main AB, two additional aircraft added to complement including the unique RB-57D-1 equipped with SLR. Intelligence gathering sorties by the RB-57’s in West Germany continued until 1964 when wing fatigue problems caused type to be withdrawn from service.[2][3]

The RB-57Ds of the 4926th Test Squadron (later 1211th Test Squadron) at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, participated in support of atomic bomb tests at Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands and at the AEC testing range in Nevada during 1957-1963. The high flying capability of the RB-57Ds allowed them to get nuclear particle samples from high in the atmosphere as part of the post-detonation analysis.[2]"

Their missions (And other new ones) were eventually assumed by the RB-57Fs of the 58th Weather Recon Squadron based at Kirtland AFB, NM..