HOMERUN was a secretUSaerial reconnaissance operation against theUSSR in 1956.
Project HOMERUN was conducted between March and May 1956. During that timeRB-47E andRB-47H reconnaissance aircraft flew almost daily flights over theNorth Pole to photograph and gather electronic intelligence over the entire northern section of the Soviet Union.[1]
Project Homerun used 16 RB-47Es from the 10th SRS and five RB-47Hs from the 343rd SRS. 156 sorties were performed.
On a typical RB-47H reconnaissance mission covering 5,984 mi (9,360 km), the aircraft would fly fromThule Air Base,Greenland, to theKara Sea toMurmansk and then return only to find Thule weathered-in, forcing the flight from the air-refueling/decision point near the northeast shore of Greenland to one of three equidistant alternates:Goose Bay, Labrador,London, orFairbanks, Alaska. FiveKC-97s at Thule were required to support this scenario. Two ground spares and one air spare ensured two 20,000 lb (9,090 kg) fuel transfers at a distance of over 600 mi (965 km) from Thule. Tankers returned to Thule to refuel and again repeat the flight to intercept the returning RB-47H six hours later for another air refueling.
When the Soviet government filed an angry complaint with the US government, the US government attributed the overflights to "navigational difficulties".
