The Purpose of Tactical Reconnaissance is to gather intelligence about the enemy's disposition, strength and technology within the confines of the battlefield and its environs. Initially this mainly involved photographic intelligence; but later came to include the gathering of Electronic and Communications Intelligence. In this book, Doug Gordon reveals how the United States Air Force's tactical reconnaissance units operated from the end of the Second World War through until the 1970s. This was an immensely active period that included the major conflicts in Korea and Vietnam, as well as a time that saw rapid technological developments in both aircraft design and reconnaissance systems. Among the many subjects explored by the author are the highly secret missions flown over China and the Soviet Far East in the early to mid-1950s by Sabre RF-86s. The latter met a demand for a high-speed reconnaissance aircraft that could take pictures over enemy territory and be fast enough to escape attack by the MiGs, so a small number of Sabres were modified in the Field by removing the guns and replacing them with cameras. The author also details the RB-57A Canberra missions over the Soviet Union, by aircraft flying clandestinely out of Bitburg and Yokota, the RF-100A missions that were flown over the Soviet Union from bases in Turkey, as well as Rhein-Main and Yokota, and of the role of the RF-101 Voodoos and RB-66s in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Highly illustrated throughout, and packed full of first-hand accounts, this book is one of the most comprehensive works ever published on the subject. Book jacket.