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/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. 18 …This search soon led him to a British twin-engine medium bomber— the Canberra—built by…
  • p. 19 CO5653421 UNCLASSIFIED ."-ge""011-141 Chapter 1 6 '• Q.., ./ • „„, a • • ..a■ ...A • - at -... .441 RAF Canberra…
  • p. 22 …al- titude performance of the B-57 Canberra. By January 1954 all three firms had submitted…
  • p. 36 …The RAF equipped the new Canberra PR7 with Rolls- Royce Avon-109 engines and gave it…
  • p. 37 …altitude flight being made to the US Canberra, the B-57.3' The Intelligence Systems Panel…
  • p. 80 …production was needed to power specially configured Canberra RB-57Ds for the Air Force. The first…
  • p. 122 …a reconnaissance version of the twin-engine Canberra bomber, similar to the RAF overflight of Kapustin…
  • p. 175 …2 and an Air Force RB-57D Canberra. The two air- craft cruised along the Soviet…
the detachment also provided aircraft tor use by Amencan pi-
lots fling missions in other parts of Asia. Indochina was an area of
particular interest as American involvement there began growing dur-
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Between 1962 and 1964, Agency U-2s staged a total of 36 pho-
tographic missions over North and South Vietnam. By April 1964,
however, photographic requirements were changing from strategic re-
connaissance to tactical support as the Viet Cong became more active,
taking advantage of the weakness of the South Vietnamese central
government following the coup that overthrew President Ngo Dinh
Diem in 1963 and subsequent coups by disgruntled army officers.
During this period the South Vietnamese "strategic hamlet" concept
began breaking down, and the Viet Cong forces stepped up the pace
of their attacks. As a result of the increasing level of combat in
Indochina, the USIB gave responsibility for aerial reconnaissance of
the areas where fighting was taking place to the SAC. Henceforth,
SAC U-2s would be used over South Vietnam, parts of Cambodia
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.