Operation ‘Robin’ and the British overflight of Kapustin Yar: a historiographical note

It is now nearly 40 years since the story of the British reconnaissance mission to overfly and photograph the Soviet missile test base at Kapustin Yar in 1953 or 1954 first surfaced in public. Yet, despite declassification and research, the full story is still elusive. This is a small but significant episode of Cold War history, which historians could reasonably expect to have been clarified by now. This research note seeks to review the evidence.