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[FONT=&quot]April 30, 1960 – Peshawar Air Station – Pakistan[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]Shinn and Powers sat outside the hanger in cheap aluminum chairs and looked North towards Peshawar. Ericson stubbed out a cigarette and turned to Powers. “Jesus Gary, there ain’t shit to do in this god-forsaken hole except throw small rocks at bigger rocks.” Powers nodded but kept quiet. The weather was looking better for tomorrow and he had to agree that getting out of Camp ‘Bad Bear’ as his ground crew called this place would not be a hardship. Shinn continued, “Now it looks like some more weather is moving in.” He gestured towards a line of dark clouds which were moving towards the base. Powers nodded and stared at the clouds, they certainly looked ominous. He stood up to stretch and felt the breeze picking up. An uneasy feeling began to creep into his mind and he looked down at Shinn. The other pilot also stood and stared at the cloud, which were growing every closer to the base.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Power turned to Shinn. “John, I think we better check on the Black Lady. “ Shinn replied “She’s locked up tight in the hanger Gary. I was over there this morning.” Powers was already moving towards the hanger as Shinn spoke. He half walked and ran over towards the large hanger about 300 yards away. As he was getting close he could see Colonel Spooner driving up in a jeep, accompanied by enlisted men and another officer Powers didn’t know. Power came up short and gave the colonel a curt nod of respect. Spooner nodded back, and spoke “Gary, John, it looks like some bad weather is coming through. Meteorology says heavy thunderstorms and maybe something worse.“ Each pilot glanced at the other, then quickly scanned the area. The sky was dark now and ominous clouds were rolling over the base. They all could hear rain hitting building towards the far gate, and could see it moving towards the hanger.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Moving quickly the four men ran into the building just in time to hear the hand start to hit the metal roof. To Spooner a veteran of the last war it reminded him of machine-gun fire. The wind also began to buffet the large building. Shinn looked at the walls and listened to them creaking. “I sure hope the bastards who built this didn’t cut any corners.” Powers shot John a look and was about to speak when the men heard a new sound, a low dull roar building in intensity. The officer that Powers didn’t know spoke, “Jesus H. Christ that sounds like a tornado. I was in one down in Texas once and damn if that isn’t the sound.” The men looked nervously at the large doors at the front of the hanger. They were visible moving now. Powers moved his hands up to his earns and felt them pop. “The pressure is changing, I think….” Powers started to say, but just then the door gave out an enormous bang and began to peel back from its’ track. The men all scrambled back as with a loud scream of metal the door flew off and the weather outside forced its way in.*[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]May 1, 1960 – Matomic building, Headquarters operation Aquatone[/FONT]​



[FONT=&quot] “God damn it!” shouted Richard Bissell as he threw down the report from Pakistan. “Who the hell ever heard of a tornado in Pakistan?” General Cabell shook his head. “You know this is going to piss off Ike? He wasn’t all that hot on any more flights over the Soviet Union anyway. He is playing footsie with Khrushchev and doesn’t want to blow this conference he is setting up. He only gave us till today to conduct the overflight.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Bissell paced his office, while Cabell sat watching him. “I swear I don’t know why Ike is worried about the project. It is not like the Soviets can touch a U-2.” He paused and looked out the 5th story window. “And we need the information on those ICBM sites. LeMay thinks that the Russians are hiding dozens of missles.” Cabell snorted and then lowered his voice. “The Russians don’t have more than a dozen, maybe less. LeMay and his boy Alsop are crazy. Hell, I think LeMay is feeding Alsop half the shit he prints.** “ Bissell interrupted him “But until we get the Coronas*** up and running we have got to keep the U-2 flights going. I think I will have to go see Dulles to get him to convince Ike to approve more flights.” Bissell looked out the window and adopted a resigned tone, “But, I don’t think he can sell it to the President. Ike is pretty focused on the four power conference. He may well take this as a sign that we have curtail the over flights. Unless the SAC boys and Alsop turn up the heat a little more on the missile gap.“[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Cabell weighed his words carefully. “Richard, I know you and Alsop go back a ways and I know he has some unofficial contacts with the agency but you are playing with fire here. Ike can’t stand the man. If he starts shouting about Russian missiles and any of it gets traced back to the company…” he let his voice trail off then continued. “I understand that Aquatone was your baby. Hell we’ve down a great job here, but Ike won’t take much more from us. I think you better just salute and say yes sir, then get moving on Corona.” Bissell looked hard at the General and then sat down at this desk. “Maybe your right Charles, maybe it’s time to refocus. I call Dulles later today and sound him out. If he thinks Ike is going to fight more flights, maybe we can trade for more assets somewhere else.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]*Tornadoes are very rare in Pakistan, however on April 30, 2015 one did hit Peshawar which is the nearest large city to the old RAF base. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]**Alsop was a journalist and a real thorn in the side of the Eisenhower administration. In Evan Thomas’ latest book “Ike’s Bluff” the author highlight the real hatred Ike had for Alsop and his fantasies of Russian superiority[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]***Coronas were the first US spy satellites and were just coming online in 1960 after a series of spectacular failures in the late 50s. [/FONT]
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