Documents / FOIA release
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.
005653421 UNCLASSIFIED —semmieszLiaeam- Chapter 1 22 lenses. Since the university did not wish to continue manufacturing cameras and lenses after the end of the war, the optical laboratory moved to Boston University, which agreed to sponsor the effort as long as the Air Force would fund it. Baker decided to remain at Harvard, so his assistant, Dr. Duncan E. Macdonald, became the new head of what was now called the Boston University Optical Research Laboratory (BUORL). Baker's association with the Air Force did not end with the transfer of the optical laboratory to Boston University. because he continued to design lenses to be used in photoreconnais- sance. 37 The [SP first met at Boston University on 3 August 1953. To provide background on the poor state of US knowledge of the Soviet Union, Philip Strong informed the other panel members that the best intelligence then available on the Soviet Union's interior was photog- raphy taken by the German Luftwaffe during World War II. Since the German photography covered only the Soviet Union west of the Urals, primarily west of the Volga River, many vital regions were not included. The [SP would, therefore, have to look for ways to provide up-to-date photography of all of the Soviet Union. Several Air Force agencies then briefed the panel members on the latest developments and proposed future projects in the area of aerial reconnaissance. in- cluding new cameras, reconnaissance balloons, and even satellites. Among the Air Force reconnaissance projects discussed were multi- ple sensors for use in existing aircraft such as the RB-47. RB-52, and RB-58; Project FICON—an acronym for "fighter conversion"—for adapting a giant, 10-engine B-36 bomber to enable it to launch and retrieve a Republic RF-84F Thunderflash reconnaissance aircraft; re- connaissance versions of the Navajo and Snark missiles; the high-alti- tude balloon program, which would be ready to go into operation by the summer of 1955; and the search for a new hi g h-altitude reconnais- sance aircraft." EO 129581.6191111>10<25Yrs (Si " Baker interview (S). In 1957. after the Air Force decided to cut back its funding of BUORL. Duncan Macdonald and Richard Leghorn (by then retired from the Air Force) formed their own corporation—lick--and purchased the laboratory from Boston University (Leghorn interview [Sp. Memorandum for Robert Amory, Jr. Deputy Director. Intelligence, from Edward L. Allen, Chief, Economic Research, ORR, and Philip G. Strong. Chief, Operations Staff, OSI. "Meeting of the Intelligence Systems Panel of the Scientific Advisory Board. USAF," 26 August 1953: Memorandum for H. Marshall Chadwell, Assistant Director/Scientific Intelligence, from Chief, Support Staff. OSI. **Review of OSA Activities Concerned with Scientific and Technical Collection Techniques," 13 May 1955. p. 6, OSI (OSWR) records. S): Donovan interview. 22 May 1985 (S). UNCLASSIFIED
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 406 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.