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A spy from on high, a Lockheed U-2 taxis past South Vietnamese Douglas A-1 Skyraiders at Bien Hoa Air Base near Saigon in early 1965. Even though one U-2 was downed over the Soviet Union in 1960 and another over Cuba in 1962, the aircraft—capable of climbing more than 70,000 feet— was successful in its photoreconnaissance missions from bases in Vietnam and Thailand. The U-2R, introduced in 1967, was about 30 percent larger and had external fuel pods for an extended range. (U.S. Air Force)