Editing Lockheed U-2 (section)

===Taiwan===
{{main|Black Cat Squadron}}
[[File:Roundel of the Republic of China (1961–1974) – Black Cat Squadron.svg|thumb|upright=0.8|Official emblem of the [[Black Cat Squadron]]]]
[[File:U-2 cockpit view.jpg|thumb|U-2 pilot's view in the cockpit: The large circular monitor is vital for navigation, evading interceptors and surface-to-air missiles as early as possible. (2016)]]

Beginning in the 1950s, Taiwan's [[Republic of China Air Force]] (ROCAF) used the RB-57D aircraft for reconnaissance missions over the People's Republic of China (PRC), but suffered two losses when MiG-17s and [[S-75 Dvina|SA-2]] surface-to-air missiles intercepted and downed the aircraft.

Taiwanese and American authorities reached an agreement in 1958 to create the 35th Squadron, nicknamed the [[Black Cat Squadron]], composed of two U-2Cs in Taoyuan Air Base in northern Taiwan, at an isolated part of the air base. To create misdirection typical of the time, the unit was created under the cover of high altitude weather research missions for ROCAF. To the U.S. government, the 35th Squadron and any U.S. CIA/USAF personnel assigned to the unit were known as Detachment H on all documents. But instead of being under normal USAF control, the project was known as Project Razor,<ref>[http://taiwanairpower.org/blog/?p=135 "Project RAZOR."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008222047/http://taiwanairpower.org/blog/?p=135 |date=8 October 2011 }} ''Taiwan Air Blog'', updated 11 April 2007. Retrieved: 14 September 2009.</ref><ref>[http://taiwanairpower.org/blog/?p=136 "Project RAZOR."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008222124/http://taiwanairpower.org/blog/?p=136 |date=8 October 2011 }} ''Taiwan Air Blog'', updated 15 April 2007. Retrieved: 14 September 2009.</ref> and was run directly by the CIA with USAF assistance. Each of the 35th Squadron's operational missions had to be approved by both the U.S. and the ROC presidents beforehand. A further layer of security and secrecy was enforced by all U.S. military and CIA/government personnel stationed in Taoyuan assigned to Detachment H having been issued official documents and IDs with false names and cover titles as Lockheed employees/representatives in civilian clothes. The ROCAF personnel would never know their U.S. counterparts' real names and rank/titles, or which U.S. government agencies they were dealing with. A total of 26 of 28 ROC pilots sent to the U.S. completed training between 1959 and 1973, at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas.<ref>[http://www.taiwanairpower.org/u2/pilots.html "Taiwan Air Power, U-2 Page, pilots."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091002144725/http://www.taiwanairpower.org/u2/pilots.html |date=2 October 2009 }} ''taiwanairpower.org''. Retrieved: 24 February 2010.</ref> On 3 August 1959, a U-2 on a training mission out of Laughlin AFB, piloted by ROCAF Major Mike Hua, made a successful unassisted nighttime emergency landing at [[Cortez, Colorado]], that became known as the [[Cortez, Colorado#1959 U-2 emergency landing|Miracle at Cortez]]. Major Hua was awarded the USAF Distinguished Flying Cross for saving the aircraft.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20230405200706/http://cortezeaa1451.org/CortezU2.htm "U-2 Landing at Cortez (3 August 1959)."]}} ''cortezeaa1451.org''. Retrieved: 12 December 2011.</ref><ref>[http://www.hmhfp.info/SG_09E.html "50th Anniversary Night Forced Landing in Cortez, CO (Slideshow/video in both Chinese and English)."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091230140334/http://www.hmhfp.info/SG_09E.html |date=30 December 2009}} ''hmhfp.info''. Retrieved: 14 February 2010</ref><ref>Steves, Bob. [http://www.hmhfp.info/clp/AFM.pdf "There I was ..."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721205059/http://www.hmhfp.info/clp/AFM.pdf |date=21 July 2011}} ''Air Force'', February 1989. Retrieved: 14 February 2010.</ref><ref>Hua, Hsichun M. [http://www.hmhfp.info/pbl/miracle_cortez.html "A miracle at Cortez."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721205111/http://www.hmhfp.info/pbl/miracle_cortez.html |date=21 July 2011}} ''Air Force Magazine'', August 1989. Retrieved: 14 February 2010.</ref>

In January 1961, the CIA provided the ROC with its first two U-2Cs, and in April the squadron flew its first mission over mainland China. In the wake of the Gary Powers incident, the Taiwanese program of China overflights was redesignated TACKLE, a subset of the new IDEALIST program.<ref name="cia1969">[https://web.archive.org/web/20170123181403/https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP72R00410R000100070004-7.pdf Forecast of  NRP Aircraft and Satellite Activities for May  1969, Top Secret (S), National Reconnaissance Office, Approved For Release 2004/06/24: CIA-RDP72R00410R00010)W00A0-7]</ref> Other countries were occasionally overflown by the 35th Squadron, including North Korea,<ref>[http://taiwanairpower.org/blog/?p=302 "Target North Korea."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008222149/http://taiwanairpower.org/blog/?p=302 |date=8 October 2011 }} ''Taiwan Air Blog'', updated 23 April 2009. Retrieved: 15 September 2009.</ref> North Vietnam and Laos; however, the main objective of the 35th Squadron was to conduct reconnaissance missions assessing the [[People's Republic of China and weapons of mass destruction#Nuclear weapons|PRC's nuclear capabilities]]. For this purpose, the ROC pilots flew as far as [[Gansu]] and other remote regions in northwest China. Some missions, to satisfy mission requirements including range, and to add some element of surprise, had the 35th Squadron's U-2s flying from or recovered at other U.S. air bases in Southeast Asia and Eastern Asia, such as [[Kunsan Air Base]] in South Korea, or [[Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base|Takhli]] in Thailand. All U.S. airbases in the region were listed as emergency/alternate recovery airfields and could be used besides the 35th Squadron's home base at Taoyuan Air Base in Taiwan. Initially, all film taken by the Black Cat Squadron would be flown to Okinawa or Guam for processing and development, and the U.S. forces would not share any mission photos with ROC. In the late 1960s, the USAF agreed to share complete sets of mission photos and help set up a photo development and interpretation unit at Taoyuan.

In 1968, the ROC U-2C/F/G fleet was replaced with the newer U-2R. However, with the overwhelming threats from [[S-75 Dvina|SA-2]] missiles and [[MiG-21]] interceptors, along with the [[rapprochement]] between the U.S. and the PRC, the ROC U-2s stopped entering Chinese airspace, only conducting electronic intelligence-gathering and photo-reconnaissance missions using new Long Range Oblique Reconnaissance (LOROP) cameras on the U-2R from above international waters. The last U-2 mission over mainland China took place on 16 March 1968. After that, all missions had the U-2 fly outside a buffer zone at least {{convert|20|nmi|km|sigfig=2|sp=us}} around China.

During his visit to China in 1972, U.S. president [[Richard Nixon]] promised the Chinese to cease all reconnaissance missions near and over China, though this was also practical as by 1972 U.S. photo satellites could provide better overhead images without risking losing aircraft and pilots, or provoking international incidents. The last 35th Squadron mission was flown by Sungchou "Mike" Chiu on 24 May 1974.<ref name="taiwanairpower32">[http://taiwanairpower.org/blog/?p=32 "The End of an Era."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008222239/http://taiwanairpower.org/blog/?p=32 |date=8 October 2011 }} ''Taiwan Air Blog'', 7 April 2006. Retrieved: 14 September 2009.</ref>

By the end of the ROC's U-2 operations, a total of 19 U-2C/F/G/R aircraft had been operated by the 35th Squadron from 1959 to 1974.<ref name="Aircraft">[http://www.taiwanairpower.org/u2/aircraft.html "U-2 page: Aircraft."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091226210500/http://www.taiwanairpower.org/u2/aircraft.html |date=26 December 2009 }} ''Taiwan Air Power''. Retrieved: 26 December 2009</ref> The squadron flew some 220 missions,<ref>[http://www.taiwanairpower.org/u2/missions.html "U-2 page: Missions."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516225231/http://www.taiwanairpower.org/u2/missions.html |date=16 May 2011 }} ''Taiwan Air Power''. Retrieved: 26 December 2009.</ref> with about half over mainland China, resulting in five aircraft shot down, with three fatalities and two pilots captured; one aircraft lost while performing an operational mission off the Chinese coast, with the pilot killed; and another seven aircraft lost in training with six pilots killed.<ref name="TPLoss">[http://www.taiwanairpower.org/u2/losses.html "U2 Operations: Losses."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091002144641/http://www.taiwanairpower.org/u2/losses.html |date=2 October 2009 }} ''Taiwanpower.org'', 21 September 2014. Retrieved: 7 December 2015.</ref><ref name="Aircraft"/> On 29 July 1974, the two remaining U-2R aircraft in ROC possession were flown from Taoyuan Air Base in Taiwan to Edwards AFB, California, US, and turned over to the USAF.<ref name="taiwanairpower32"/><ref>[http://taiwanairpower.org/blog/?p=551 "Thou Shalt Not Fly ... Ever."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008222324/http://taiwanairpower.org/blog/?p=551 |date=8 October 2011 }} ''Taiwan Air Power'', 1 August 2009. Retrieved: 14 September 2009</ref><ref>"Brief History of U-2." ''Defence International Taiwan, ROC (全球防衛雜誌),'' Vol. 35, Issue 5, May 2002.</ref>