262. Editorial Note
Stephen Green alleges in Taking Sides: America’s Relations with a Militant Israel (New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1984), pages 204–209, that U.S. Air Force RF–4C photo reconnaissance planes and pilots from the Thirty-eighth Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron (TRS), stationed in Germany, and photo reconnaissance technicians and equipment from the Seventeenth TRS, stationed in England, were sent to Israel on June 4, 1967, and that they flew and provided support for photo reconnaissance missions in support of Israeli forces throughout the war. Green’s source for the story claimed to have been a participant in the operation.
No documentation supporting Green’s allegations was found in the course of the research for this volume. An investigation in 1996–1997 by two historians of the Office of Air Force History uncovered no evidence supporting Green’s account and no evidence that U.S. Air Force members of the Thirty-eighth TRS, Seventeenth TRS, or other units were in Israel during the 1967 war. (Research and Findings on Statements in the Book Taking Sides; Office of Air Force History) Richard B. Parker concludes in “USAF in the Sinai in the 1967 War: Fact or Fiction?” Journal of Palestine Studies, XXVII, No. 1 (Autumn 1997), pages 67–75, that the story was fabricated by Green’s source.