Customer Reviews

Little Toy Dog the Story of the Rb-47 Flyers, Capt

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I found this book very interesting as I was a member of 55th AEMS (armorment and electronics maintenance squadron) during the shootdown of our RB-47H. I was dicharged from service 28 AUG.,1960.There were things omitted in this document/story having to do with (sadly) political correctness. I remember Palm, Posa and McKone.

I first read this book in 1968. How I came to read it will be explained later. This is the story of an RB-47 which was shot down in June 1960. Our side - recon mission outside Soviet airspace. Their side - we violated their airspace and refused to land. What follows is the story of the co-pilot and navigator who, as the only 2 of 6 crewmen to survive, spent the next 7 months in Lubyanka prison. This book is a profile in courage, especially the navigator, whose job it would have been to keep track of the aircraft's position. Their forgotten plight will keep the reader engrossed until finished. As I said before, I read this book the first time in 1968 after actually meeting the navigator, Major John McKone. He worked with my father while we were stationed in Germany. Where did the title come from? Read the book, if you can find a copy

I read my father's copy of this book. My father was an Rb-47 pilot with the 55th SRW in the early 60's. His name: Jim Gilbreath. He is now deceased. I'm trying to learn more about the missions he flew. I suspect he flew in the same areas as the pilots of the doomed flight that is the subject of this book. The book is definitely worth reading if you have any interest in the Air Force's recon missions during the cold war.

The title "Little Toy Dog" is from the RB-47's nose art, a depiction of Charlie Brown's dog Snoopy. I was involved with the RB-47 flight from Brize Norton on July 1, 1960 as the 55th AEMS radar & nav computer tech assigned to TDY at Brize. We waited for hours on the ramp for Snoopy's return. The crew chief cried when we finally realized it was missing and presumed down off Novaya Zemlya where the Soviets detonated 20 megaton H-bombs in a series of tests. I had worked with navigator Capt. John McKone the day before trying to decrease the radar cross-section of the plane by retuning the transmitter frequency and stowing the radar antenna aft against the radome's bulkhead when not in use. I thought the plane had gotten lost and my system had something to do with that, but later learned Snoopy's last flight was constantly monitored from ground radar at Bodo, Norway. The book is pretty factual, and illustrated with relevant photos & charts, but the writing is not great prose.

I read this book because Maj. Mckone's daughter was my roommate and best friend at Tex A&M-Galveston in '76-77. Am looking for the Mckone family to try and locate her.

The book was great reading about a situation that is little known today, like many other incidents of the Cold War; and should be recommended to all with an interest in this era.