Documents / FOIA release
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.
“Canberra”10 pages
## Chapter 1 Searching for a System The Need for High-Altitude Reconnaissance... 1 Early Postwar Aerial Reconnaissance... 2 New Approaches to Photoreconnaissance... 4 The Air Force Search for a New Reconnaissance Aircraft... 8 Lockheed CL-282 Supporters and the CIA... 13 Scientists and Overhead Reconnaissance... 17 The BEACON HILL Report... 17 Concern About the Danger of a Soviet Surprise Attack... 19 The Air Force Intelligence Systems Panel... 21 British Overflight of Kapustin Yar... 23 The Intelligence Systems Panel and the CL-282... 24 The Technological Capabilities Panel... 26 Project Three Support for the Lockheed CL-282... 27 A Meeting With the President... 32 CIA and Air Force Agreement on the CL-282... 33 ## Chapter 2 Developing the U-2 The Establishment of the U-2 Project... 39 Funding Arrangements for Project AQUATONE... 43 Major Design Features of the U-2... 45 The Development of the Camera System... 48 Preparations for Testing the U-2... 56 Security for the U-2 Project... 59 The CIA – Air Force Partnership... 60 Technical Challenges to High-Altitude Flight... 61 Delivery of the First U-2... 66 Initial Testing of the U-2... 68 U-2s, UFOs, and Operation BLUE BOOK... 72
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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.