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 399 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

Index

386

Tyuratam, Soviet Union 135,137-138,160,163-165,167-168, 171-172,176

## U

66

U-2

accomplishments

316

assembly

45, 47, 66, 75, 164, 280, 284, 291

bailout experiments

64

bases

93

bicycle-type landing gear

47

blue-black color

149

brakes

69

canopy

80, 149, 177

cockpit

11, 63-64, 79, 125, 283, 292, 296

cost

34, 124, 149, 250-252, 263, 269, 273,

280, 285-286, 309, 322, 341-342

cover story

60, 85, 89-90, 94, 99, 132, 156, 178-180,

182, 207-208, 216, 224, 295

coverage

316

deadstick landing

79

deployment

2, 74, 76, 78, 88-89, 93-94, 134, 161,

165, 167, 247, 250, 255-257, 297,

301-302, 304, 307, 313, 317, 332

design

47

destruction device

177

detachable pogos

47

ejection seat

64, 177, 302

emergency landing

78, 188, 222, 313

film exploitation

115

flameout

71, 78-79, 131, 198, 229

flight plans

82, 177

flights approval process

187-188, 226, 301

foreign pilots

73-74, 321

fuel

5, 23, 47, 61-62, 68, 76, 133, 161, 175, 199, 218-219, 231, 235, 241, 247-248, 271, 274, 277-278, 283-284, 286, 288, 302, 313, 340

fuel consumption

68, 219

fuel gauge

68, 219, 302

fuselage

10, 24, 47, 130, 248, 251, 270, 277, 286

inspection procedures

297

landing gear

10-12, 15, 47-48, 69, 89, 248

low-speed stall

76

maiden flight

66, 288

mission 1104

114

mission 1105

114

mission 1314

117

mission 2003

100

mission 2009

101

mission 2010

101

mission 2013

104-105

mission 2014

105

mission 2020

106

mission 2021

106

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.