Black Cat Squadron

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The Black Cat Squadron (Chinese: 黑貓中隊; pinyin: Hēimāo Zhōngduì), formally the 35th Squadron, was a squadron of the Republic of China Air Force that flew the U-2 surveillance plane out of Taoyuan Air Base in northern Taiwan, from 1961 to 1974. 26 ROCAF pilots successfully completed U-2 training in the US and flew 220 operational missions, with about half over the People's Republic of China. When the squadron was formed in 1961, Colonel Lu Xiliang (盧錫良) became its first commander and would become its longest-serving squadron commander. Lu was born in Shanghai on December 27, 1923, and completed his training in the US. During the squadron's 14 years of existence, five U-2s were shot down by PRC air defenses (using S-75 Dvina missiles), with three pilots killed and two captured. Another pilot was killed while performing an operational mission off the Chinese coast, while seven U-2s were lost during training missions, killing six pilots. A total of 19 U-2s were assigned to the Black Cat Squadron, over fourteen years, although the squadron usually had only two U-2s assigned to it at any one time; sometimes there was just one aircraft. The intelligence gathered by the Black Cat Squadron, which included evidence of a military build-up on the Sino-Soviet border, may have contributed to the U.S. opening to China during the Nixon administration by revealing the escalating tensions between the two communist nations. Shortly after Nixon's visit to Beijing, all reconnaissance flights over the People's Republic ceased, and the Black Cat Squadron was officially disbanded in the spring of 1974.