Documents / FOIA release

/specialCollection/MissileGap/1992/1992-04-01.pdf

Central Intelligence Agency · 406 pages · text from the file's own layer

This is a CIA History Staff monograph by Gregory W. Pedlow and Donald E. Welzenbach, published in Washington in 1992 and approved for release in 2011. It covers the CIA's manned overhead reconnaissance program from 1954 to 1974, which developed and flew the U-2 and the A-12 OXCART. It traces the U-2's development, the overflights of the Soviet Union, the downing of Francis Gary Powers on 1 May 1960, and later operations. One section is titled U-2s, UFOs, and Operation BLUE BOOK.

  • p. 24 …Instead of a conventional landing gear, Johnson proposed using two skis and a reinforced belly rib…
  • p. 25 …a perceived shortcoming of the Lockheed design."' Another factor in the rejection of Kelly Johnson's…
  • p. 26 …interview by Donald E. Welzenbach, Corona del Mar. California. 20 May 1985 (S). Johnson, "Log for…
  • p. 27 …Gardner described Kelly Johnson's proposal and showed the drawings to Strong. After this meeting. Strong…
  • p. 30 …To make Kelly Johnson's revolutionary design a reality, one additional source of support was necessary…
  • p. 42 …When James Killian asked Land to head Project Three, Land had to make a major decision…
  • p. 48 …do the job in Johnson's airplane. And further, 1 overlaid a curve showing that with…
  • p. 57 …demanding, and Kelly Johnson agreed that such a move would save a lot of money. Lockheed…
  • p. 58 …a week after he had been authorized to begin the project, Kelly Johnson wrote a 23…
  • p. 69 …project staff) flew LIZ with Kelly Johnson in a small Beechcraft plane piloted by eed's…
  • p. 72 …This responsibility has placed a heavy burden on the Office of Security for establishing procedures to…
  • p. 79 …Batlin suggested the method used by Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering, a thin glass ampule containing…
  • p. 81 …Kelly Johnson used a "wet-wing" design for the U-2, which meant that fuel was…
  • p. 89 …Airspeed was such a critical factor that Kelly Johnson added a vernier adjustment to the throttle…
  • p. 162 …By late 1957, Johnson agreed that something had to be done. After a series of tests…
  • p. 276 RN Chapter 6 263 Johnson, "Archangel log," 17-24 CO5653421 UNCLASSIFIED Lockheed design for a hydrogen…
  • p. 324 …OXCART did win a temporary reprieve in late November 1967. The Johnson administration decided to keep…
Chapter 5
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CO5653421 UNCLASSIFIED
other means. Although by late 1962 photographic satellites had be-
come an integral part of the overhead collection program, only U-2s
could provide the highly detailed photography that photointerpreters
needed to spot the early stages of work on missile sites. Attempts had
been made to photograph Cuba with satellites, but to no avail because
the satellites' normal orbits placed them over Cuba at the wrong time
of day, after clouds had formed.
U-2s Over
Agency U-2s again conducted operations in the Western Hemisphere
in December 1963. The Directorate of Plans had requestedphoto-
graphic coverage of and neighboring e-
cause of guerrilla activities conducted by a pro-Castro movement
Supplies far this movement appeared to be coming
across we Dowel from On 30 November 1963, the
NSC Special Group approvea overnights of the
order to determine the scope and rate o Du naup ot guci-
riila rorces. The Special Group stipulated that the entire effort was to
be conducted without the knowledge of either the
Within three days, several Detachment G aircraft and pilots de-
ployed to Ramey AFB, Puerto Rico, from which they made six
flights over the border areas between 3 and 19 December 1963 in an
operation known as SEAFOAM. The results of the effort were in-
conclusive, and the task force returned to Edwards AFB on 22
December."'
U-2 OPERATIONS IN ASIA
OSA History, chap. 16. pp. 35-36 (TS Codeword).
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UNCLASSIFIED

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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 406 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.