HIGH-ALTITUDE U.S. FLIGHTS OVER RED CHINA REPORTED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP74-00297R001600100001-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 21, 2014
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: March 10, 1964
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2014/03/21 : CIA-RDP74-00297R001600100001-6
:NEW, YORK
R 1 0 1964
! The latest version of the plane
n
7:7 -g?ait 7 Lts.Vi rcr 0
ne U.3 t.e.1, a
cz)
is reported to have a range
l more than 5,000 miles, cora-
=
cr-v ti_47f ylpa.red with about 4,000 miles
Over eporitea;, for tie U-2.
It also can carry p. larger ?
load of photographic .and .elec-
By.RICHARD
High?altitude Rt-57 reconnaissance planes with sev- tropic equipment. ?
But. perhaps most important,
over. Communist China for some time. The are the two main engines, if'
Department of Defense
one flames out the plane will.
denies
the report. However, informed not drop rapidly toward alti-
t I .1
des where enemy fighters or
sources .say various models: of antiaircraft can bring it down.
the R3-57 have bc?,T. collect-; The T.1-2 has only one engine.,
lag data on Communist There have been reports that.
nese military and industrial it was the flaming cut of the
capabilities for several years. engine on the 13-2 flown by
It is believed that the latestFrancis Gary Powers that
:model, the RE-57F, is among the forced him to an altitude where
:planes that have performed theSoviot defense forces.wore able
!reconnaissance. The Defense Be-,to shoot him down. ,
!partMent says the earlier mod- . However, the 13-2 apparently
.el, the 'D version, is so old it!has one advantage over the RB-
has been grounded. .57. Its maximum altitude is
' The initials RE stand for!reported to be co:la:tic-a ao.y
. -
'?reconnaissance bomber. The RB- higher.
'57's have better over-all per- Neither plane is in the same!
?forma_nce than the 15-2's2 13utJleag-te as the A-11, which was
i
designed for high-
they are far inferior to tizeorih-lally
a
A-11, the Z,000miloanhourttit1de reconnaissance work.;
!craft disclosed by Precidcnt5at Johnson said its alti-
Johnson Feb. 29. :tude was more than 70,000 feet,
'
It is reported that R which is !also the imprecise E-57i
of-
missions. ! have been flown byficial word on the 15-2.!
However, it has been reliably
!',coth Nationalist ? Chinese and
?l
American pilots. ? ireported that the. A-11 was de-
! sig,ned. for flight at about, 120,-
Complaints by, Peldng?
000 feet, whereas the 15-2's *ol,)
A-11 Far Superior
eral advantages
flying missions
over the U-2 a.e,-; reported to have been
!, The Peking Government corn-
ple.ined about RE-57 "incur-
sions" over . the Chinese main-
land as long ago as the fall of
1962.
c!!. It specifically mentioned the
iA and D models.
The latest and! most exotic
looking! of the reconnaissance
;craft is the F model. It not
only has wings almost twice
as large as those on the ? orig-
inal B-57, but !also! two small
'engines outboard of the, two
main engines. ?
The RE-57F became publicly
known last fall when it 'was
'seen at Edwards Air ! Force
Base, Calif. !
! The Air Force released .some
'details on the plane's .dimero.
.sions and engines, but it has
:ref used. to .relea.se
CY
altitude !has been variously re-1
ported at between 90,000 and!
100,000 feet.
The basic B-57 aircraft origi-
nally was designed and built
in Britain and was called the
-Canberrii.
Drastic chanes have been
made to give it the performance
for efiedtive reconnaissance
work.
The wing span- has been in-
creased several times from the
? original 68 feet to the F model's
122 feet. Extra span is needed
to support a plane in the rare-
fied air of extreme altitudes.
The thrust of each of the two
main engines has been increased r
from the .10,000 pounds of the
original jets to well over 17,000
pounds for the main Pratt S.:
Whitney TF-33 turbo-fan units
in the RB-57F: The Pratt and
Whitney J-60's that have been
added for the F version haye a
a thrust of more than
3,000 pounds each.
A turbo-fan is basically a jet,
but it has several .extra large
conipressors. The blades of these
whirling compressors not only
thrust air ? to the rear into the
regular ? combustion Chamber,
but also send large amounts of
extra air around the outside of
the combustion chamber.
In this latter job, they con-
tribute propulsive force much
as a conventional airplane pro-
peller does.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2014/03/21 : CIA-RDP74-00297R001600100001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2014/03/21 : CIA-RDP74-00297R001600100001-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2014/03/21 : CIA-RDP74-00297R001600100001-6
STAT