The United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 National Vigilance Park (NVP) is a memorial to the military servicemen who participated in aerial reconnaissance during the Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

. Dedicated on , NVP is located just one block from the NSA headquarters at Fort George G. Meade

Fort George G. Meade

Fort George G. Meade is a United States Army installation that includes the Defense Information School, the United States Army Field Band, and the headquarters of United States Cyber Command, the National Security Agency, and the Defense Courier Service...

, Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

. It is open 24 hours a day for viewing. Military events connected with the Intelligence Community and/or personnel stationed at Ft. Meade or working at NSA can be scheduled for NVP by contacting the National Cryptologic Museum

National Cryptologic Museum

The National Cryptologic Museum is an American museum of cryptologic history that is affiliated with the National Security Agency . The first public museum in the U.S. Intelligence Community, NCM is located in the former Colony Seven Motel, just two blocks from the NSA headquarters at Fort...

 (NCM), which is just one block west of the park.

NCM and NVP are open to the public and admission is free. Donations to the NCM Foundation are accepted. Photographing the planes and the memorial plaques, decor, and grounds is allowed; however, pictures of the adjacent NSA buildings are not permitted due to security concerns.

The memorial

Three reconnaissance aircraft are on display at the memorial, which are ringed by a semicircle of 18 trees representing the 18 aerial cryptologic missions lost during the program. A U.S. Army Seminole RU-8D

L-23 Seminole

The Beechcraft L-23 Seminole was the United States Armed Forces designation for the Beechcraft Twin Bonanza and Queen Air aircraft in its inventory.-Design and development:...

 Reconnaissance Plane represents the Army Airborne Signals Intelligence contribution in the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

. A Hercules C-130

C-130 Hercules

The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built originally by Lockheed, now Lockheed Martin. Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally designed as a troop, medical evacuation, and cargo transport...

 transport, modified to look like a reconnaissance-configuration C-130A, memorializes a U.S. Air Force aircraft shot down over Soviet Armenia

Armenia

Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

 during the Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

. Finally, the park contains a U.S. Navy Skywarrior EA-3B, commemorating a mission in the Mediterranean

Mediterranean Basin

In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin refers to the lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have a Mediterranean climate, with mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers, which supports characteristic Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub vegetation...

 on January 25, 1987 in which all seven crew members died.

See also

• National Cryptologic Museum
  National Cryptologic Museum
  The National Cryptologic Museum is an American museum of cryptologic history that is affiliated with the National Security Agency . The first public museum in the U.S. Intelligence Community, NCM is located in the former Colony Seven Motel, just two blocks from the NSA headquarters at Fort...
  
  
• Bletchley Park
  Bletchley Park
  Bletchley Park is an estate located in the town of Bletchley, in Buckinghamshire, England, which currently houses the National Museum of Computing...
  
  
• Arlington Hall
  Arlington Hall
  Arlington Hall was a former girl's school and the headquarters of the US Army's Signal Intelligence Service cryptography effort during World War II. The site presently houses the George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center, and the United States National Guard Readiness Center. It...
  
  
• International Spy Museum
  International Spy Museum
  The International Spy Museum is a privately owned museum dedicated to the field of espionage located within the 1875 Le Droit Building in the Penn Quarter neighborhood of Washington, D.C., across the street from the Old Patent Office Building and one block south of the Gallery Place Metro...
  
  
• Red telephone
• United States aerial reconnaissance of the Soviet Union

External links

• National Vigilance Park home page
• The National Cryptologic Museum Foundation
• A set of photos of the museum by Austin Mills
• A set of photos of NCM and NVP by Mike Newton