This is the untold story of the Cold War race for the ultimate spyplane. Using computer animation and rare archive footage our programme opens with the story of "Wild Cherry", the Lockheed Skunkworks project to use Neptune Aircraft flying at 150mph and a unique "SKYHOOK" to retrieve spies dropped inside the Soviet Union and China.

Next we recount the story of a British Canberra equipped with super long-range cameras that get photos of a missile-testing site deep inside the Soviet Union. In the battle of the next generation of high altitude spyplanes, the U-2 wins out over Bell's X-16. Meanwhile the Soviets use high-speed aircraft to photograph installations in Japan and commercial aircraft straying into unauthorised airspace over Europe to gather NATO intelligence, a Soviet intelligence. A Soviet attempt to design its own U-2, the Mandrake, encounters lift problems at high altitude and is abandoned. When a Soviet missile shoots down a U-2 the race is on between Convair and Lockheed to build a higher-flying replacement.

The Soviets, having collected every scrap of the downed U-2, reverse engineer their own version of the plane that shoots down overflying spy balloons. Lockheed's high-flying, radar-absorbing plastic composites SR-71 Blackbird is selected to replace the U-2. A drone version of the SR-71, the D-21, makes several highflying runs over China and the Soviet Union. When all its missions end in failure, the D-21 is cancelled. We end with a reminder of the SR-71's extraordinary accomplishments and note that despite its much-celebrated "retirement", the plane flies secret missions even today.