Code name for a U.S. Navy project to parachute two intelligence officers onto an abandoned Soviet ice station in the Arctic to assess Soviet research in several scientific areas and possibly in anti-submarine warfare.
The officers, Air Force Maj. James F. Smith and Navy Lt.(jg) Leonard A. LeSchack parachuted onto the deteriorating drift station on May 28, 1962. (The location was too far to reach by helicopter.) The two men carefully examined the debris and equipment that remained on the ice. After three days they were "snatched" from the ice during flyovers by a CIA-owned B-17 bomber that had been modified with the Fulton skyhook recovery system.
(For the recovery the officers put on special harnesses that were attached to a recovery line that was carried aloft by balloons. The aircraft, fitted with a hook-on device in the nose, flew over, captured the line suspended beneath the balloon, and crewmen reeled them into the plane. The procedure was carried out perfectly for the recovery of both officers and their find.)
According to LeSchack's account Project Coldfeet (1996), coauthored with William M. Leary, the classified operation provided "first-hand observation of the nature, extent, and sophistication of the Soviet Arctic research program." The two officers brought back 83 Soviet documents and 21 pieces of equipment, plus extensive notes that they had made and photographs taken while on the ice.
