[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 147 (Thursday, November 14, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2030]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


 TRIBUTE TO RETIRED COLONEL GROVER F. HEIMAN, JR., RETIRED LIEUTENANT 
  COLONEL ROY E. KADEN, RETIRED MAJOR EARL L. SCHUREMAN, AND RETIRED 
                SENIOR MASTER SERGEANT JOHN D. GOOLSBEE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ELTON GALLEGLY

                             of california

                            HON. JIM GIBBONS

                               of nevada

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 14, 2002

  Mr. GALLEGLY. Mr. Speaker, it gives us great pleasure to pay tribute 
to retired Colonel Grover F. Heiman, Jr., retired Lieutenant Colonel 
Roy E. Kaden, retired Major Earl L. Schureman, and retired Senior 
Master Sergeant John D. Goolsbee for their brave dedication to their 
country.
  On September 17, 1952, these four American heroes and the rest of 
their RB-50 crew, took off from an airbase in Greenland on a Top Secret 
reconnaissance mission over the ``Ice Islands'' of the Soviet Franz 
Josef Land Archipelago.
  This crew was personally selected and highly trained to fly this 
mission. They were told if they were shot down or captured, there would 
be no rescue operation. Despite this, the crew risked their own lives 
to gather information on a possible new Soviet air base being built in 
Franz Joseph archipelago.
  If there was a base being built, Soviet TU-4 bombers would be capable 
of attacking the East Coast of the United States with nuclear weapons.
  The crew departed in the early morning for their 15-hour mission. The 
fog on the field was so thick that they had to follow a vehicle to the 
runway.
  After doing a thorough check of all aircraft systems, the RB-50 
lifted off for the Soviet Union. Since this mission was Top Secret, 
there was complete radio silence for the entire 15-hour flight; the 
crew did not talk to anyone on the radios.
  This mission was at such a northern latitude that the crew had to 
navigate using a system known as ``Grid Navigation.'' This system is 
used to solve problems with direction posed by flying so close to the 
North Pole.
  To simplify the navigation problems, the crew took two navigators. 
One navigator maintained a dead reckoning plot of position, computing 
air speed, wind direction, velocity and ground speed; the other 
navigator provided frequent astro compass readings of the azimuth of 
the sun.
  Once the flight entered the area they were to reconnaissance, they 
planned to fly at 20,000 feet and use the onboard photography systems 
to survey the area.
  Unfortunately, at 20,000 feet, the RB-50 was above a solid cloud 
layer, rendering the onboard photography system useless. The aircraft 
descended to 12,000 feet hoping to get below the weather, but there was 
still another layer of clouds below them. In an attempt to salvage what 
they could from this mission, the crew descended through several cloud 
layers until leveling off below the clouds, 2,500 feet above the 
ground.
  The aircraft passed over numerous small, ice covered, barren islands 
looking for any signs of a Soviet military presence.
  Due to the altitude they were flying at, the aircraft used the 
onboard tri-met and oblique cameras as well as visual observation to 
search for any Soviet airbases.
  After flying in that area for a considerable amount of time, the crew 
saw no sign of any Soviet military presence and departed.
  The crew maintained radio silence for the entire flight back until 
they were directly over their base in Greenland. Once over the airbase, 
they broke radio silence, and since the weather had gotten slightly 
better, they were able to land and complete their mission.
  They spent several days after this flight debriefing United States 
Intelligence members on what they saw.
  The selfless sacrifice of these American heroes has made our nation a 
safer place.

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