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Since America didn’t want to have its pilots shot down in a U-2 the way Gary Powers had been over the Soviet Union in 1960, which caused a major diplomatic incident, they turned to Taiwan, and Taiwan was all too willing to allow its pilots to be trained and to do a long series of overflights over mainland China,” Chris Pocock, author of “50 Years of the U-2,” explained in the 2018 documentary film “Lost Black Cats 35th Squadron.”

At the time, the newly created U-2, also known as the Dragon Lady, seemed the ideal aircraft to undertake the mission. Its high-altitude capabilities, which, allowed it to reach a stunning and unparalleled altitude of 70,000 feet, made it immune to antiaircraft missiles.

According to a narrative presented by Pocock at a lecture, eight aircraft were taken down, and six Taiwanese pilots died in training. Five more pilots were killed over the Chinese mainland during the mission.