Documents / FOIA release
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."
oRN Chapter 1 15 Philip Strong 005653421 UNCLASSIFIED mainly with XF-104 jigs and designs. . . . The prototype of thi) plane can be produced within a year from the date of order. Five planes could be delivered for operations within two years. The Bell proposal is a more conventional aircraft having nor- mal landing gear As a result, its maximum altitude over target is 69,500 feet and the speed and range are not as good as the Lockheed CL-282. Gardner's enthusiasm for the CL-282 had given Strong the false impression that most Air Force officials supported the Lockheed de- sign. In reality, the Air Force's uniformed hierarchy was in the pro- cess of choosing the modified version of the Martin B-57 and the new Bell X-16 to meet future reconnaissance needs. During their meeting with Strong, Trevor Gardner, Frederick Ayer, and Garrison Norton explained that they favored the CL-282 because it gave promise of flyin g, higher than the other designs and because at maximum altitude its smaller radar cross section might make it invisible to existing Soviet radars. The three officials asked Strong if the CIA would be interested in such an aircraft. Strong promised to talk to the Director of Central Intelligence's newly hired Special Assistant for Planning and Coordination, Richard M. Bissell, Jr., about possible Agency interest in the CL-282.4 Richard Bissell had already had an active and varied career be- fore he joined the CIA. A graduate of Groton and Yale, Bissell stud- ied at the London School of Economics for a year and then completed a doctorate at Yale in 1939. He taught economics, first at Yale and then from 1942 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he became a full professor in 1948. During World War II, Bissell had managed American shipping as executive officer of the Combined Shipping Adjustment Board. After the war, he served as deputy director of the Marshall Plan from 1948 until the end of 1951, when he became a staff member of the Ford Foundation. His first association with the Agency came in late 1953, when he undertook a contract study of possible responses the United E0129581.6(dlill>10<25Yrs IS) Philip G. Strong. Memorandum for the Record. "Special Aircraft for Penetration Photo Reconnaissance," 12 May 1954, OSI records (now in OSWR) S). Karl H. Weber, The Office of Scientific Intelligence. 1949-68, Directorate of Science and Technology Historical Series OS1-1 (CIA: DS&T. 1972), vol. I. tab A. pp. 16-17 (TS Codeword). 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.