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 …Instead of a conventional landing gear, Johnson proposed using two skis and a reinforced belly rib…
  • p. 25 …a perceived shortcoming of the Lockheed design."' Another factor in the rejection of Kelly Johnson's…
  • p. 26 …interview by Donald E. Welzenbach, Corona del Mar. California. 20 May 1985 (S). Johnson, "Log for…
  • p. 27 …Gardner described Kelly Johnson's proposal and showed the drawings to Strong. After this meeting. Strong…
  • p. 30 …To make Kelly Johnson's revolutionary design a reality, one additional source of support was necessary…
  • p. 42 …When James Killian asked Land to head Project Three, Land had to make a major decision…
  • p. 48 …do the job in Johnson's airplane. And further, 1 overlaid a curve showing that with…
  • p. 57 …demanding, and Kelly Johnson agreed that such a move would save a lot of money. Lockheed…
  • p. 58 …a week after he had been authorized to begin the project, Kelly Johnson wrote a 23…
  • p. 69 …project staff) flew LIZ with Kelly Johnson in a small Beechcraft plane piloted by eed's…
  • p. 72 …This responsibility has placed a heavy burden on the Office of Security for establishing procedures to…
  • p. 79 …Batlin suggested the method used by Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering, a thin glass ampule containing…
  • p. 81 …Kelly Johnson used a "wet-wing" design for the U-2, which meant that fuel was…
  • p. 89 …Airspeed was such a critical factor that Kelly Johnson added a vernier adjustment to the throttle…
  • p. 162 …By late 1957, Johnson agreed that something had to be done. After a series of tests…
  • p. 276 RN Chapter 6 263 Johnson, "Archangel log," 17-24 CO5653421 UNCLASSIFIED Lockheed design for a hydrogen…
  • p. 324 …OXCART did win a temporary reprieve in late November 1967. The Johnson administration decided to keep…
CO5653421 UNCLASSIFIED
Appendix B
333
SCHLESINGER, James R.
DCI from February to July 1973, Schlesinger supported the Nixon ad-
ministration's proposal to terminate the Agency's U-2 program.
SCOTT, Roderic M.
An engineer with Perkin-Elmer who worked with James Baker in de-
signing the first cameras for use in the U-2. Scott helped design the
30001 camera for the OXCART.
SCOVILLE, Herbert, Jr.
In February 1962 Scoville became the first Deputy Director for
Research, which took over control of the Agency's reconnaissance
programs from the Deputy Director for Plans. Frustrated by the lack
of support from the DCI and the other directorates, he resigned in
June 1963.
SEABERG, John
An aeronautical engineer who was recalled to active duty with the Air
Force during the Korean war, Seaberg drafted the first specifications
fora high-flying jet reconnaissance aircraft in 1953.
STEVER, H. Guyford
A professor of aeronautical engineering at MIT, Stever served on nu-
merous Air Force advisory panels and later became the Air Force's
chief scientist.
STRONG, Philip G.
Chief of collection in the Office of Scientific Intelligence, Strong kept
himself well informed on developments in overhead reconnaissance
and attended many Air Force advisory panel meetings as an observer.
In 1954 he learned about the Lockheed CL-282 design and passed the
information on to Edwin Land's study group investigating US intelli-
gence-gathering capabilities.
WHEELON, Albert ("Bud") D.
Wheelon became the Deputy Director for Science and Technology in
August 1963 following the reorganization and renaming of the
Deputy Director for Research. He held this position until September
1966.
?Vt.■.
UNCLASSIFIED

Not linked to a story yet.

About this file

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.