reconnaissance, similar to that of the CIA U-2 overflights, had been replaced by the much simpler low-altitude mission.
In January 1969, the 147SC was introduced. The SC drones had a cross-correlation doppler radar and a digital programmer to improve navigation accuracy. Of the total of 437 launches made in 1969, 307 were SC drones, known as 'Buffalo Hunters.' They provided photos with a three-to-five-inch resolution and were used to provide technical intelligence. In contrast to the huge numbers of SC drones, there were only twenty-one high-altitude 147H missions during 1969. These were conducted between January and June; it would be seven months before another was flown.[275]
The drone program did suffer losses, but throughout the war the North Vietnamese grossly inflated the American losses. On April 19, 1969, they reported shooting down a drone, which they claimed was the 3,278th U.S. aircraft downed over the north.[276] In fact this total was more than twice the true number. The actual drone loss rate in 1969 was 24 percent. Even if hit, the drones often survived. During H-58's seven flights during 1969, it was damaged twice. SC-75, dubbed 'Myassis Dragon,' was hit seven times by shell fragments during its eighth mission. After recovery, SC-75 was 'awarded' a Purple Heart. (SC-75 was finally 'killed in action' on its tenth mission.)[277]
Up to this point, the drones had been solely an air force operation. The navy had access to the information, but thought it was not timely enough.
Now the navy wanted to test the idea of drones being launched from ships.
This would give the task force commander the ability to cover targets immediately. A contract was issued to modify several SC drones for surface launch. These were the 147SKs; they used the SC's 29-foot fuselage, but with 15-foot wings (two feet longer than the SC's).
Test launches were done from Point Mugu and from the U.S.S.
For the operational missions, three 147SK drones were loaded aboard the U.S.S.
A second mission was flown on November 27, which followed the planned route. The third Belfry Express mission was made on November 30. This time, a midair recovery was made by an air force helicopter. After landing on the
By February 10, 1970, fifteen Belfry Express missions had been flown.
SK-5 was launched on mission sixteen and ran into problems. The tracking beacon could not be picked up, and the drone was lost. When the drone ran out of fuel, a radio signal to deploy the parachute was transmitted. A helicopter was sent to its estimated position, but nothing was found.
Several days later, the Chinese announced they had 'shot down' SK-5 over Hainan Island. This was the 20th drone to be lost over China. A newspaper report said, 'A broadcast from Canton describing the downing of the plane said that the craft 'cunningly' changed altitude as it veered over Hainan but 'could never escape the eyes of our radar operators.' Chinese Navy men were said to have 'shot down' this U.S. pirate plane at once 'while cherishing infinite loyalty to our great leader Chairman Mao and harboring bitter hatred for the U.S. aggressors.''
A total of fifteen more Belfry Express missions were flown after SK-5's capture. The three missions of April 18, 22, and 27, 1970, were particularly effective, providing photos of SAM and antiaircraft gun sites at Vinh and Than Hoa, as well as railroads, bridges, pipelines, truck parks, storage yards, and anchorage areas. The only disappointment was the loss of SK-3 on April 24. The mission was successfully flown, but the drag and main parachutes failed to deploy.
The final flight, by SK-10, was made on May 10, 1970. After a near perfect mission, the main parachute failed to open, and the drone was destroyed. The problem was later traced to salt water contamination of the parachute actuation circuit cable. On this note, Belfry Express, and the navy experience with drone reconnaissance, ended.[278]
Although the 147S family made up the bulk of flights in 1969, the year also saw introduction of the final high-altitude drone — the 147T. It had been ordered in early 1967 as successor to the 147H. It used the basic 147H airframe and camera but had a new engine that increased the maximum altitude to 75,000 feet. The 147T also carried the Rivet Bouncer SA-2 jammer and the radar-absorbing inlet coating.
The first 147T missions were flown in April and May 1969, followed by a second series in October and November 1969. One of the new drones, T-17, was shot down over China on October 28. Further 147T missions were flown during February-May 1970, then again in September 1970.
With this, the program ended after only twenty-eight missions over two years. The same pattern was true for the 147Gs. There were only nineteen 147G flights in 1970, and a mere nine in 1971. In both years, the 147Gs were flown between March and June. This brought the era of high-altitude drone photo reconnaissance to a close. The 147T would find success in another mission.
On April 18, 1969, a navy EC-121 ELINT aircraft was shot down by North Korean MiGs over international waters. All thirty-one crewmen were killed.
Lieutenant Colonel Andy Corra, head of unmanned reconnaissance systems, learned of the incident as he left his hotel for a meeting at Ryan Aeronautical to review the 147T program. When he arrived at the plant, he suggested using the 147T as an ELINT drone. It would carry receivers that would pick up radar and radio transmissions. The data would then be relayed from the drone to a ground station. Operators on the ground would control its operations.
The first briefing was ready a week after the EC-121 was lost. Four 147T drones were modified into a TE configuration. The first test flight was made on November 25, 1969. They were then sent to Osan, South Korea, for operational testing. It was a schedule that many in the National Security Agency had said was physically impossible to meet.
The first 147TE mission was flown on February 15, 1970, beginning a two-month operational test program. The drone was equipped with ten receivers for radio traffic. A ball-shaped radome on the drone's tail relayed the transmissions. Each receiver was individually controlled from a ground station. The 147TE could fly a preprogrammed mission or be controlled by the DC-130 launch aircraft. In some cases, it would have to fly a very tight 'race track' pattern to remain within the signal beam. Following the initial 147TE missions, a contract was issued for fifteen production 147TE drones, in a program code-named 'Combat Dawn.' The first flight of the production TEs was made on October 10, 1970.
Unlike the other drones, the 147TEs remained at least fifty nautical miles offshore. The ELINT drones flew two types of missions — over the Yellow Sea between North Korea and China, and along the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea. Several times, MiGs were sent out after the drones. When MiGs were detected, the drone was maneuvered to avoid the fighters. None were lost to enemy action. Late in the TE program, external tanks were added to the drone, which increased the flight time from five hours to nearly eight. The 147TEs provided about ten thousand hours of intelligence data per year. A total of 268 147TE missions were flown up until the replacement of the drone in June 1973.
The replacement was an improved version, the 147TF. They were fitted with the external tanks and ELINT equipment that could pick up either radio or radar transmissions. The 147TF was introduced in February 1973 and would make 216 flights over the next two years, until the end of the drone program.[279]
The most significant of the 276 147SC missions flown in 1970, out of a total of 365 drone flights, was a 'package' of seven. Their target was a small, isolated, walled compound twenty-three miles west of Hanoi. It stood
