Chris Pocock will talk about the Black Cats AKA the 35th Reconnaissance Squadron (35RS) and their missions over China from Taiwan. The Black Cat Squadron was a joint venture between America’s CIA and Taiwan. It operated from 1962 to 1974. It flew the famous U-2 spy plane by day at very high altitude from Taiwan, taking pictures of mainland China’s growing military power, including its development of nuclear weapons. The U-2 was a difficult plane to fly; six Taiwan pilots were killed in training. Five more pilots were shot down over the mainland. Two of them survived and were eventually released. The Chinese Communists reacted to the intruders with ingenuity and determination. Urged on by the top leaders, Mao Tse-Tung and Chou En-Lai, commanders in the People’s Liberation Army, cleverly redeployed radars and anti-aircraft guns and modified their Soviet-supplied fighters and missiles. In response, the CIA added sophisticated electronic warfare gear to the nationalist planes. Taiwan’s nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek and his son Chiang Ching-Kuo personally directed the squadron, which was a potent symbol of their hope of one day going “Back to the Mainland”.