Black Bat Squadron

34th Squadron
(Chinese: 黑蝙蝠中隊; pinyin: hēi biānfú zhōngduì)
Black Bat Squadron official emblem
Country	Republic of China
Role	Reconnaissance
Nickname(s)	Black Bat Squadron
Disbanded	1964

Black Bats (Chinese: 黑蝙蝠中隊; pinyin: hēi biānfú zhōngduì) 34th Squadron was the name of a corps of CIA reconnaissance plane pilots and crew based in Taiwan during the Cold War. Citizens of the Republic of China, they flew missions over mainland China controlled by the People's Republic of China (PRC), to drop agents and gathered military signal intelligences around military sites. The 34th Squadron was formed in 1953 and flew its last operational mission in 1967. The squadron's emblem was a bat and seven stars and its formal name was the 34th Squadron of the ROC Air Force. Unit's aircraft included the Boeing B-17G, Douglas A-26C/B-26C Invader, 7 Lockheed RB-69A, Douglas C-54, 11 Fairchild C-123B/K Provider, Lockheed C-130E Hercules, and 3 "black" Lockheed P-3A Orion (149669, 149673, 149678). The P-3As and RB-69As were armed with AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles for self-defense. 34th Squadron specialized in very low level air space penetration (100–200 meters altitude) to hug the ground in order to evade enemy radars and fighter interceptions. Later when operating P-3A, its main mission was flying in international water, 40 miles outside of Mainland China, to collect signal intelligences.

Overall, from 1953 to 1967, 34th Squadron flew 838 missions, 148 Black Bat crew members went down with 15 aircraft. A few were captured after being shot down and later released in Hong Kong.