Documents / FOIA release
The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance; the U-2 and Oxcart Programs, 1954-1974
Central Intelligence Agency · 1900-01-01 · 406 pages · text by OCR
This is a 1992 CIA History Staff monograph by Gregory W. Pedlow and Donald E. Welzenbach, originally classified Secret NOFORN and approved for release in 2013. It covers the CIA's manned overhead reconnaissance program from 1954 to 1974 and the two aircraft it developed, the U-2 and the A-12 OXCART. The history covers the U-2 overflights of the Soviet Union, the 1960 downing of Francis Gary Powers and later operations in Asia and Latin America. It also includes a section on U-2s, UFOs and Operation BLUE BOOK.
“RAF”18 pages
- p. 19 Secret NOFORN
Chapter 1
6
RAF Canberra Mark-PR3
division in Baltimore, headed by Lt. Col…
- p. 36 …In 1952 the Royal Air Force (RAF) began Project ROBIN, which was designed to modify the…
- p. 106 …The U-2s were to use Lakenheath AFB, an RAF base also used by the USAF…
- p. 107 …inadvertently penetrated the British radar network, causing RAF fighters to scramble. Afterward the Air Ministry made…
- p. 122 …twin-engine Canberra bomber, similar to the RAF overflight of Kapustin Yar in 1953. The US…
- p. 156 …Range for the first time since the RAF's overflight in 1953, obtaining photographs of a…
- p. 166 …In November 1958, four RAF officers arrived at Detachment B at Adana, thus beginning the United…
- p. 167 …On 7 February 1958, Bissell instructed the to ask Air Vice Marshal MacDonald if the RAF…
- p. 168 …MacDonald agreed to Bissell's proposal and began recruiting RAF pilots to fly the U-2…
- p. 169 …Most flights by the RAF pilots in Detachment B, however, took place in the Middle East…
- p. 177 …For almost a year, the RAF pilots of Detachment B had been ready to fly over…
- p. 194 …A four-man unit of RAF U-2 pilots was stationed at Detachment G, Edwards AFB…
- p. 200 …approval authority for missions conducted by the RAF pilots in Detachment B.
The loss of Powers…
- p. 316 …Project IDEALIST U-2 flying from an RAF facility in Great Britain. The OXCART would fly…
- p. 332 …1960, the need for British participation lessened. RAF pilots henceforth flew only training or ferry missions…
- p. 339 …Division
PSAC President's Science Advisory Committee
RAF Royal Air Force
RFP Request for proposal
SAB…
- p. 351 …May 1960 4154 Powers Peshawar B B Tyuratam, Kyshtym, Sverdlovsk; downed by SAM
$ ^{a} $ RAF pilot
- p. 402 …Louis 29
Watertown Strip 57
Watton RAF Base. England 156
"weather plane" cover story 179
weather…
Secret NOFORN
Chapter 3
116
October 1956. This unit's timely and accurate information enabled the PARAMOUNT Committee to predict the joint Israeli-British-French attack on Egypt three days before it took place.
During the rest of the month, Detachment A pilots flew another eight missions over the Middle East. By this time, the new Detachment B in Turkey was ready for operations, and it was better positioned to provide coverage of the Middle East. Detachment B began flying missions in September and soon became the primary detachment for Middle East overflights, conducting nine out of the 10 such missions flown in October. $ ^{48} $
Detachment B's first U-2 flight, on 11 September 1956, made passes over The next flight, more than two weeks later, covered much the same ground but flew as far west as Both were "special" missions aimed at
Other U-2 photographs revealed the presence Not linked to a story yet.
About this file
FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. The text was read from the page images by an OCR model; expect the odd misread word. 406 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.