The Black Bats: CIA Spy Flights Over China From Taiwan 1951-1969
Chris Pocock, Author; Mark Stout, Former Wilson Center Public Policy Scholar
Overview
The history of CIA-sponsored intelligence flights flown over China by Taiwanese pilots is one of the last unexplored frontiers in the history of Cold War aerial intelligence. Drawing upon US and Taiwanese archival documents and oral history interviews with participants, Chris Pocock will discuss the heretofore untold story of the Black Bat Squadron. Intelligence historian and former Wilson Center Public Policy Scholar Mark Stout will provide commentary.
Chris Pocock is a British writer and consultant specializing in aerospace, defense, intelligence and air logistics. He is currently the defense editor of Aviation International News and the European editor of Cargo Facts. He is the author of a number of books on aerial intelligence including the definitive 50 Years of the U-2 and most recently, with Clarence Fu, The Black Bats: CIA Spy Flights over China from Taiwan 1951-1969.
Mark Stout teaches at Johns Hopkins University's Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and is a former Wilson Center public policy scholar. A veteran of several U.S. intelligence organizations, He is currently writing a book on the creation of the modern US intelligence community. He is the author of numerous articles and books dealing with intelligence, terrorism, and foreign policy.
Hosted By
Cold War International History Project
The Cold War International History Project supports the full and prompt release of historical materials by governments on all sides of the Cold War. Through an award winning Digital Archive, the Project allows scholars, journalists, students, and the interested public to reassess the Cold War and its many contemporary legacies. It is part of the Wilson Center's History and Public Policy Program. Read more
History and Public Policy Program
The History and Public Policy Program makes public the primary source record of 20th and 21st century international history from repositories around the world, facilitates scholarship based on those records, and uses these materials to provide context for classroom, public, and policy debates on global affairs. Read more
Indo-Pacific Program
The Indo-Pacific Program promotes policy debate and intellectual discussions on US interests in the Asia-Pacific as well as political, economic, security, and social issues relating to the world’s most populous and economically dynamic region. Read more
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