During Cold War deployments, U.S. Navy carrier air wings routinely intercepted and photographed Soviet military aircraft operating near the fleet. These images, taken from within an escorting U.S. aircraft, show the tail and fuselage of a Soviet long-range turboprop bomber marked with the red star, along with a naval aviator documenting the encounter from his cockpit — a common ritual of shadowing missions during the Vietnam War era. Project: 218230