• Aerial black and white images from the Vietnam war. On the left, a North Vietnamese surface-to-air missile (SAM) site with arrows in the closeup point to six launchers. Right: U.S. pilots likened the 35-foot-long SAM missiles to flying telephone poles.
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    A photograph taken over North Vietnam (left) reveals the difficulty of spotting a surface-to-air missile (SAM) site from the air. Red arrows in the closeup point to six launchers. Right: U.S. pilots likened the 35-foot-long missiles to flying telephone poles. “The key to evading a SAM is that you had to see them,” says La Chat. “If you saw them, you had a pretty good chance of dodging them.”

  • Aerial black and white images from the Vietnam war. On the left, a North Vietnamese surface-to-air missile (SAM) site with arrows in the closeup point to six launchers. Right: U.S. pilots likened the 35-foot-long SAM missiles to flying telephone poles.

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