The Black Bats 34th Squadron celebrated its 66th anniversary on Friday last week at the Hsinchu City Black Bat Squadron Memorial Hall, with veterans sharing details of once-classified missions to spy on China’s nuclear weapons program.
The Hsinchu Cultural Affairs Bureau is to publish an illustrated book on the history of Operation Chilung, the name of the squadron’s mission to spy on China’s atomic weapons program, it said at a media event at the museum.
Hsinchu Mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅) said that the squadron flew more than 800 missions over China during the Cold War, conducting aerial reconnaissance and dropping clandestine operatives by parachute into China.
More than 100 members were killed during the classified missions, the details of which were gradually made public after 2009, when the museum was established at the squadron’s former air base, Lin said.
From 1968 to 1969, Operation Chilung took operatives to the Gobi Desert where they deployed two sensor units near the Chinese nuclear weapons research facility, he said.
The mission was considered extremely difficult by the US government and its successful completion without loss of life was credit to the skill and courage of the pilots, Lin said.
Squadron veterans Lee Chin-yueh (李金鉞), Lee Chung-shan (李崇善) and Yang Li-shu (楊黎書) gave speeches about the unit, while expressing gratitude to the city government’s efforts to preserve its history.
The squadron’s legacy should be a source of national pride, they said.
Cultural Affairs Bureau official Wu Po-hsun (吳柏勳) said the squadron’s history is the main exhibition at the musuem this year and an illustrated book for readers of all age groups is to be published.
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