Documents / FOIA release

CIA/CSI/ History Staff Monograph, The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance: The U-2 and Oxcart Programs, 16 July 2002.

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, written in 1992 and approved for release in 2011. It covers the CIA's manned overhead reconnaissance program from 1954 to 1974 and its two aircraft, the U-2 and the A-12 OXCART. It follows their development, the overflights of the Soviet Union, the downing of Francis Gary Powers in 1960, and later operations. One section is titled "U-2s, UFOs, and Operation BLUE BOOK."

  • p. 24 …Advanced Development Projects Division, Burbank. California. ED 129581.131011>10<25Yrs IS1 UNCLASSIFIED
  • p. 58 …Pedlow, Burbank, California, 26 August 1988. Sbc.et UNCLASSIFIED
  • p. 85 …how to transfer Lockheed employees from Burbank to Iwithout arousing a great deal of curiosity. The…
  • p. 273 …SP-1362, "History of the OXCART Program," Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, Burbank, CA. 1 July 1968, p…
  • p. 287 …designed trailer truck that carried it from Burbank By 18 November 1959, the mockup was in…
  • p. 297 …Construction began in September 1960; a C-47 shuttle service ferried work crews from Burbank to…
  • p. 299 …The plane left Burbank on 26 February 1962 and arrived at two days later. After the…
  • p. 304 …into the engine nacelles during assembly at Burbank were sucked into the power plant during initial…
005653421 UNCLASSIFIED
Seererlder-Olifel--
Chapter 3
140
in the Far East were less risky than those conducted by Detachment
A. Finally, the main target of U-2 photography after the bomber issue
receded was Soviet missile and nuclear progress. The testing areas for
these weapons were located in the vast open spaces of the south-cen-
tral and eastern portions of the Soviet Union, which lay beyond the
range of Detachment A's aircraft.
(0129581.6Uffi1l>10101010<25Yrs
181
Although the final missions of Detachment A achieved excellent
results, project headquarters had already decided that Western Europe
was not a satisfactory location for overflights of the Soviet Union and
had notified Detachment A on 20 September 1957 that its operations
would cease in November. By 15 November 1957, all of the detach-
ment's personnel and aircraft had returned to the United States.
During Detachment A's 17-month period of operations, seven pilots
" OSA History, chap. 1 I. pp. 41-42 (TS Cocieword).
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.