U.S. SEEKS RETURN OF SPY CREWS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 7, 1993                   TAG: 9303070101
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short
U.S. SEEKS RETURN OF SPY CREWS
The United States probed the coastal defenses of the Soviet Union with thousands of "ferret" spy flights during the Cold War and at least 31 flights were shot down, according to a published report.
At least 138 American pilots and crewmen who flew the highly secret espionage flights in the 1950s and 1960s remain unaccounted for, according to data developed by U.S. News and World Report and the ABC news program, "Primetime Live."
Citing U.S. declassified government records, the two news organizations said that at least 252 American airmen were shot down while flying espionage or support missions from 1950 to 1970.
According to the U.S. News report, 24 are known to have been killed while 90 are known to have survived.
Next month, a U.S. task force will be in Russia to ask authorities about the whereabouts of the missing airmen, the report said.
The U.S. government publicly has admitted to one violation of Soviet air space: the 1960 U-2 flight of Francis Gary Powers, in which the airman was shot down, an incident that strained ties between the two superpowers.
- Associated Press

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB