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Piercing the Fog - Air Force Historical Studies Office

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Tools of <strong>Air</strong> Intelligence<br />

Lt. Gen. Elwood R. Quesada Brig. Gen. Orvil A. Anderson<br />

Maj. Gen. Frederick L. Anderson Lt. Gen. 0. P. Weyland<br />

A problem of particular significance to air headquarters was <strong>the</strong> strict<br />

prohibition laid down against placing indoctrinated officers in positions that<br />

might result in <strong>the</strong>ir capture. Since for airmen this meant no combat missions,<br />

it was certainly a reason to limit access among operations staffs. Even so, this<br />

rigid rule was violated on several occasions, including once by an AAF general<br />

who bailed out of a crippled aircraft and became a prisoner of <strong>the</strong> Lujiwuftie in<br />

June 1944. Fortunately, <strong>the</strong> Germans never interrogated him to <strong>the</strong> point of his<br />

revealing <strong>the</strong> unique information.6h<br />

Maintaining <strong>the</strong> absolute secrecy of this unique source was not <strong>the</strong> only<br />

problem SSOs and <strong>the</strong>ir superiors faced. Determining <strong>the</strong> significance of any<br />

given message required ingenuity and <strong>the</strong> ability to extrapolate from often<br />

incomplete clues. For one thing, ULTRA was only as good as <strong>the</strong> information <strong>the</strong><br />

71

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