European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 8, 1968, Darmstadt, Hesse Fling above 8owf and More than 2,000 . Sr71 can cover Quad. Mile in hour. Of a launched from c130, this pilotless reconnaissance Jet Here being readied at Vietnam air base is guided electronically.0 photo expert circled mig17 tucked any in North vietnamese Village. Air eyes spotted camouflaged truck Convoy heading South. Curtailed american bombing in a North Vietnam has put a far higher Burden on . Reconnaissance air Craft to bring As much grief As possible to enemy troop and Supply columns once they get on the to Chi Minh Trail. The Start of the convoys from Hanoi and Haiphong to 135 Miles South where the bombing begins May be attack free but it is not unobserved. Reliable sources say american air Craft Are ranging far North of the 20th sophisticated peeping Toms Are reported to be the sr71 and the drone missiles launched from specially rigged c130 transports with radar guidance idea is that the reconnaissance Craft Are to spot convoys and troop movements As they Start in the North by John t. Wheeler a staff writer follow them South and then give the bombers a Good target fix once the columns break into the zone where presi Dent Johnson s orders permit bombing. The tactic is less effective than Ham Mering away at the columns As one air Force general once said from the outskirts of Hanoi and Haiphong every mile of the Way but an indication of its Worth come from the enemy Side. Hanoi in laying Down its demands at the preliminary peace talks in Paris has made Clear that it wants reconnaissance flights Aswell As bombing stopped. The sr71 is full of camera and electronic gear. Low flying Jet caught these guns unmanned note Man running upper left. Recce Pilot caught these surface to air missile containers out in open on sweep Over North Vietnam. A the stars and stripes communists try Many patterns of camouflage to hide rolling Stock Here caught on siding in North. A 8, 1968 the stars and stripes the strike reconnaissance or Model flies up to 2,000 Miles an hour at 80,000feet and can Survey up to 60,000 Square Miles of terrain in a single hour. Thesr71 is not stationed in Vietnam but reportedly flies from bases elsewhere in Southeast Asia. The Speed Altitude and antimissile electronic gear of the sr71 make i highly impervious to North vietnamese ground defences. The reconnaissance drone missile has been in use for years by the . Air Force for missions that included flights Over Mainland China and North Viet Nam. A number have been shot Down and Bolh Hanoi and peking have re leased photos of the wreckage. They carry no pilots. Work a Day reconnaissance flights Over Laos and South Vietnam Are also extremely important. Several million feet of film Are exposed by the air Force and Navy Ever month. A Good part of this is done at night by Low flying jets dropping photo Flash cartridges for Light. Each Cartridge puts out a Peak Light of 365million candlepower for one 35,000th of a second. A Small camera Flash bulb by comparison puts out about 4,000 candlepower. _ he North vietnamese do their Best to confuse recon men and bomb ers trying to throw them off the scent with elaborate subterfuges and Camou senior air Force reconnaissance expert said i be been looking at Aeria photos for 26 years and the Way they hide those Sams and 100 Millimetres is As Good As anything i be Ever the Sams Are surface to air missiles an the 100mm Are artillery. Another device used by the North vietnamese is to float a Section of Bridge downstream during the Day to give the impression the Bridge has been Cut the Section is hauled Back at night and the trucks Roll again. Trains Are hidden during the Day on camouflage sidings. Sections of track Are sometimes pulled up during the Day again to Simu late a Cut and then replaced at night. The fantastic amount of labor Avail Able to Hanoi makes impossible any permanent cutting of the North s communications system air Force officers have Best we can do is slow it Down one observed. Page 13 Page 12
