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.

Open the PDF at page 365 Original source ↗

“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

Bibliography

Witze, Claude. "Russians Outpacing US in Air Quality, Twining Warns Congress," Aviation Week, 27 February 1956, pp. 26-28.

"Yakovlev Yak-25RM Mandrake," Jane's Defence Weekly, vol. 3, no. 7, 16 February 85.

## Interviews and Speeches

Interview with Robert Amory, Jr., by Donald E. Welzenbach and Gregory W. Pedlow, Washington, DC, 22 April 1987 (Secret).

Interview with James G. Baker by Donald E. Welzenbach, Washington, DC, 24 April 1985 (Secret).

Speech given by Richard Bissell at CIA Headquarters, 12 October 1965 (Top Secret Codeword).

Interview with Joseph V. Charyk by Donald E. Welzenbach, Washington, DC, 5 December 1984 (Top Secret Codeword).

Interview with former U-2 pilots James Cherbonneaux, Carmine Vito, and Hervey Stockman, by Donald E. Welzenbach, Washington, DC, May 1986 (Secret).

Interview with James A. Cunningham, Jr., by Donald E. Welzenbach, Washington, DC, 4 October 1983 (Top Secret Codeword).

Interview with Allen F. Donovan by Donald E. Welzenbach, Corona del Mar, California, 20 May 1985 (Secret).

Interview with Brig. Gen. Leo A. Geary, USAF (Ret.), by Donald E. Welzenbach, 3 April 1986 (Secret).

Interview with Gen. Andrew J. Goodpaster by Donald E. Welzenbach and Gregory W. Pedlow, Washington, DC, 8 July 1987 (Secret).

Speech by Maj. Gen. Patrick J. Halloran (former Air Force U-2 pilot) at the National Air & Space Museum, 24 April 1986 (Unclassified).

Interview with James R. Killian, Jr. by Donald E. Welzenbach, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2 November 1984 (Secret).

Interview with Edwin H. Land by Donald E. Welzenbach, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 17 and 20 September 1984 (Top Secret Codeword).

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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.