To speed up the process, the 67th Reconnaissance Technical Squadron (Recce Tech), at Yokota AB, Japan, were also provided with the necessary skills and equipment to undertake the work. So following an enormous amount of hard work and dedication, on August 18, 1967, the 67th RTS was recertified as Overseas Processing and Interpretation Center — Asia (OPIC-A). This action provided theater commanders with Black Shield imagery and an IPIR within 24 hours of a mission. Subsequently, from BX6722, flown by Jack Weeks in Article 129 on September 16, 1967, this became the standard operating procedure throughout the remaining period of Black Shield.
From September to the end of December 1967, the three Black Shield-operated A-12s completed 11 operational missions — the highest period of activity being reached in October, when seven sorties were flown. Frank Murray’s first operational mission, BX6727 (a so-called “double-looper”), was flown on October 6 in Article 131. His first photo-run at an altitude above 80,000ft on a track deep into North Vietnam went well. But as he was about to turn off his cameras before heading south toward Scope Pearl, the Oxcart air refueling track located over Thailand, his left engine started vibrating, followed shortly thereafter by a left inlet unstart. Frank recalled: “I had my hands full for a while. In fact, I ended up having to shut the engine down. I increased power on the good engine and flew it at maximum temperature for about an hour before I hooked up with the tanker. Because of the shut-down engine, I decided to divert into Takhli and the tanker crew relayed messages back to Kadena that I was diverting. Because I kept my radio calls to a minimum for security reasons, I didn’t identify myself to the Takhli air traffic controllers until I was on final approach for landing. I landed without incident, but inadvertently screwed up a complete F-105 strike mission launch when I jettisoned the big brake ’chute on the main runway. I turned off the runway and sat there with the engine running and asked that the base commander come out to the aircraft as there were certain things I had to tell him. My presence was causing a pandemonium of curiosity; there was this most unusual black aircraft with no markings, the like of which nobody on that base had ever seen before, that had dropped in completely unannounced, disrupting a major operation and its pilot insisting on the base commander coming out to see him! While this was going on guys on base with cameras were clicking away like mad. Eventually they sent out the Thai base commander which was no good because I wanted the US base commander. He eventually arrived and (despite all my disruptions to his war operations) was extremely helpful.”
After Frank’s aircraft had been safely tucked away in an “Agency” U-2 facility on the base, the Air Force Security Police had a “field day” confiscating the opportunists’ film. An inspection of the left engine revealed that most of its moving parts had been “shucked like corn from the cob” and were lying in the tail pipe and the afterburner. A recovery crew flew in with a spare engine, but Article 131 had also sustained notable damage to the nacelle and to some of its nearby electrical wiring. It was decided that the jet would have to be flown back to Kadena AB “low and slow” on October 9. Frank explained: “I got airborne and headed off south over the Gulf of Thailand, where I picked up an F-105 escort that led me out over South Vietnam. There the escort was changed and the F-4s that had covered me and my tanker broke off to return to their base. We then made our way via the Philippines, where I picked up another tanker which led me back to Kadena.”
Whilst Frank was dealing with the in-flight emergency over North Vietnam, his attention had been diverted away from switching off the photographic equipment to the more pressing priority of controlling the aircraft. As he turned south, his still-operating camera had taken a series of oblique shots into China. Close analysis of those photos revealed eight tarpaulin-covered objects among a mass of other material along the large main rail link between Hanoi and Nanking. Further photo interpretation ascertained that the “tarps” were flung over rail flatcars in an attempt to hide 152mm self-propelled heavy artillery pieces. A great mass of other war material in the rail yards had been assembled for onward movement to North Vietnam during the oncoming winter season when low clouds and poor visibility would hamper US bombing efforts to halt southbound supply lines. A timely and highly valuable piece of strategic intelligence, gained on the back of Frank’s troubled sortie, had given intelligence specialists a unique opportunity to track the further movement of those guns and supplies, obviously intended for use in future offensive actions.
During sortie number BX6732, flown in Article 131 by Denny Sullivan on October 28, 1967, the pilot received indications on his RHAW receiver display of almost continuous radar activity focused on his A-12, whilst both inbound and outbound over North Vietnam. This culminated in the launch of a single SA-2 — according to Parangosky, the first ever at an Oxcart. Two days later, during the course of sortie BX6734, Sullivan was flying Article 129 high over North Vietnam when on the first eastbound pass, between Haiphong and Hanoi, his RHAW receiver display indicated that two SA-2 sites were tracking him and preparing to engage the Oxcart; but neither launched. However, during the second pass, whilst heading west and in the same area as earlier, at least six missiles were fired from sites around the capital. Looking through his rear-view periscope, Sullivan reported seeing six vapour trails climb to an estimated 90,000ft behind the aircraft and then arc toward it. He reported observing four missiles, one as close as 100–200yds away (when flying at speeds of one mile every 1.8 seconds, that really is extremely close), and three detonations, all behind the aircraft — six missile contrails were captured on the Type I camera’s film. After recovering the aircraft back at Kadena without further incident, a post-flight inspection revealed that a tiny piece of shrapnel had penetrated the lower wing fillet of his aircraft and become lodged against the support structure of the wing tank — history would prove this to be the only enemy “damage” ever inflicted on a “Blackbird.”
The North’s missile activity caused DCI Richard Helms to order the temporary suspension of all Black Shield flights, during which time those involved were given the opportunity to review and re-evaluate procedures and routes. In fact, it was more than a month before operational flights resumed and their reintroduction saw a temporary switch of target areas — for the first time, the “collection area” was Cambodia. Black Shield missions BX6737 and 6738 both utilized Article 131 and were flown by Mele Vojvodich on December 8, 1967 and by Jack Layton two days later. However, during the first four-hour sortie, cloud cover obscured four of the seven special search areas for troop concentrations in the extreme northeast part of Cambodia, including both primary targets — although limited troop activity was detected where the Tonle San River crosses the Cambodia/Laos border, together with the regrading of the natural-surface runway at Ban Pania Airfield. In contrast, the virtually cloud-free conditions experienced by Jack Layton on December 10 enabled his Type I camera to gather valuable photography on all seven priority search areas — although this was secured not without issue. As Jack recalled, the INS caused the aircraft to overshoot the planned track during turns, causing him to “penetrate the bamboo curtain.” After turning south and getting back to an approximate course toward Scope Pearl, the air refueling track over Thailand, he had difficulty finding the tankers due to low cloud and poor visibility: “I got the aircraft up in a bank to search for the tankers but the visibility from an A-12 is very poor; you can look down and see the ground but you can’t look inside the turn because of the canopy roof. I’d just about reached the point where I was about to divert to Takhli due to the lack of fuel when I finally saw the tankers. We got together and I was able to complete the mission even though the INS wasn’t working.”