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.
“Headquarters”18 pages
ret 005653421 UNCLASSIFIED 3LICret44Q0aall.... Chapter 1 30 briefly mention a Lockheed design for a high-flying aircraft at the 24-25 May meeting of Baker's Intelli gence Systems Panel, he did not realize that that plane and the one in Strong's drawing were the same. As soon as Land saw Strong's copy of the CL-282 drawing, however, he telephoned Baker to say, -Jim, I think I have the plane you are after." A few days later, when Land showed Kelly Johnson's conceptual drawing to Baker and the other Project Three members, they all be- came enthusiastic about the aircraft's possibilities. Although Baker had heard Allen Donovan's brief mention of the Lockheed design in May, he had not yet seen a drawing of the aircraft because Donovan did not report to the ISP on his early-August trip to Lockheed until 24 September. After seeing the CL-282 drawing, Baker began designing a camera and lens system that would fit in the Lockheed craft." At the end of August, Land discussed the CL-282 with Allen Dulles's Special Assistant for Planning and Coordination. Richard Bissell, who came away from the meeting without any definite ideas as to what Land wanted to do with the aircraft. Overhead reconnais- sance was not uppermost in Bissell's mind at the time, and it was un- clear to him why he had even been contacted. Bissell's outstanding academic credentials, his acquaintanceship with James Killian through his previous teaching experience at MIT, and his direct access to DC1 Dulles may have led the Technological Capabilities Panel members to consider him the best CIA point of contact. EO 129581.6191111>1015Yrs Although surprised that he had become involved in the CL-282 project, Bissell's interest was piqued, and he set out to learn what he could about reconnaissance systems. In early September 1954, Bissell had a young Air Force officer on his staff, put togetner a general SLlLU report on air reconnaissance pro- grams. Bissell forwarded the 16-page study to the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence (DDCI), Lt. Gen. Charles Pearre Cabell, USAF, on 24 September. In a covering memorandum, Bissell called Cabell's Baker interview (S). " Ibid. Bisell interview (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.