The classified estimates led, however, to American politicians warning of a "bomber gap".
This led to what would later be called a strategy of deterrence and a "bomber gap", as nations measured air force power by number of bombers.
Surveillance flights utilizing the Lockheed U-2 aircraft indicated that the bomber gap did not exist.
After several "study breaks" in which they make out, the two disagree over the "bomber gap."
During the 1950s a Soviet hoax had led to American fears of a bomber gap.
While most of Congress is looking for ways to shrink the budget deficit, some members have uncovered a bomber gap and prefer to close that instead.
The first, and most costly, example of this behavior was the mythical "bomber gap".
Analysis of U-2 photography dispelled the "bomber gap" in 1956 and the "missile gap" in 1961.
It showed that the supposed missile gap was no more real than the supposed bomber gap.
The Americans suffered from a lack of confidence, and in the 1950s they believed in a non-existing bomber gap.