The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance; The U-2 and OXCART Programs, 1954-1974

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135
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Chapter 3
DETACHMENT B FLIGHTS FROM PAKISTAN
The most important series of overflights in the summer of l 957 were
those that Detachment B staged to gather intelligence on the Soviet
Union's guided missile and nuclear programs. President Eisenhower
had approved these overflights at the meeting on 6 May 1957, pro­
vided that Pakistan allowed the U-2s to operate from its territory (the
•
taroets were too far away from the U-2 base in Turkey).
Richard Bissell 's
ersonal assistant, and
met with President
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Anny Commander Gen. Ayub Khan between 3 and 7 June 1957 and
received permission to operate from Lahore. The airfield at Peshawar,
a more desirable location, was not available because of repair work.
Detachment B at Ankara ferried four of its U-2s, two of which were
dirty birds, to Lahore. A C-124 brought in eight pilots and ground
crews to prepare for missions over the Soviet Union and the People·s
Republic of China (PRC) beginning on 4 August {Operation SOFf
TOUCH). During a 23-day period, these aircraft made nine flights:
seven over the USSR and two over the PRC. Although one of the
seven flights over the USSR was a failure because the camera
. malfunctioned after taking only 125 exposures, the remaining mis­
sions over Central Asia were a complete success. producing a bo­
nanza of information that kept scores of photointerpreters busy for
more than a year.•~
The 5 August flight, a dirty bird piloted by Buster Edens. was
the first to photograph the major Soviet space launch facility east of
the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan. None of the mission planners was certain
just where the range was located, so the U-2 pilot followed the rail
lines in the area. As a result, the plane did not pass directly over the
rangehead and obtained only oblique photography.
Although known in the West today as Tyuratam, this missile in­
stallation had no name when it was first photographed in August
1957. In preparation for a briefing to President Eisenhower on the
SOFf TOUCH photography, Dino Brugioni, an assistant to PIO chief
Arthur Lundahl, examined all the existing maps of the area to see if
he could find a place name for the missile base. Only one map. made
by the Gennans during World War 11, showed a community in the vi­
cinity of the missile facility. The settlement's name was Tyuratam.
which means "arrow burial ground" in the Kazakh language, and this
'' OSA History. chap. 12, pp. 19-20 (TS Codeword): NP/C Hiswry. vol. 1. pp. 159-161
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