For some reason, I started to read about the Aleutians this weekend, and it expanded into a posting on my "other" blog here.
One of the items that I ended up reading about was the operation of secret reconnaissance aircraft out of the island of Shemya in the 1960's. The two aircraft that were operated out of the base were highly modified one-off RC135 aircraft, Rivet Amber and Rivet Ball.
Operating in a challenging environment that was both meteorologically and geopolitically turbulent, both aircraft met untimely ends. Rivet Amber disappeared while on a ferry flight from Shemya to Fairbanks AK for routine maintenance in 1969; no trace of the aircraft has ever been found. Rivet Ball slid off of the runway after landing at Shemya due to hydroplaning; the aircraft ended up in pieces at the foot of a 40 foot cliff, with a broken fuselage. Fortunately there were no casualties, although the aircraft was a write-off, and was broken up on the spot.
Shemya continued to be used as a US Air Force base (supplemented by its use as a refuelling stopover point for some commercial flights) into the 1990's, before the US military withdrew. Operations out of Shemya are hazardous even for large aircraft; Cobra Ball II, a replacement aircraft for Rivet Ball, crash-landed at Shemya in 1981, destroying the aircraft and some crewmembers lost their lives. I have already decided that I shall never operate a canard pusher out of that airport...