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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."

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“Nevers”24 pages

  • p. 13 …Without their help a good deal of this story could never have become known. The assistance…
  • p. 44 …the CL-282; in fact, there may never have been a formal decision as such. In…
  • p. 74 …fly, Lockheed engineers had to solve problems never before encountered. Among these problems was the need…
  • p. 84 …Flight tests continued, with the U-2 ascending to alti- tudes never before attained in sustained…
  • p. 102 …put aside for further thought (which it never received), and Bissell's weather research cover re…
  • p. 138 …Then in January 1960, the commander of Detachment B, raised an important question that had never…
  • p. 147 …Peninsula, because of bad weather and, therefore, never entered Soviet airspace. A second attempt to photograph…
  • p. 159 …Six of the men on board were killed and the remaining 11 were never heard from…
  • p. 160 …Although this new Berlin crisis never became as threatening as the blockade of 1948-49, President…
  • p. 165 …The Air Force never equipped its orig- inal U-2s with the J75 engines." Detachment C…
  • p. 189 …Powers never made it past Sverdlovsk. Four and a half hours into the mission, an SA…
  • p. 208 …very good reason, and such a situation never developed, in part because satellite photography gradually began…
  • p. 210 …Since this never happened, Francis Gary Powers' flight on I May 1960 proved to be the…
  • p. 223 …Responsibility for photo- graphic coverage of Cuba remained with the Air Force; Agency pilots never flew…
  • p. 264 Sratrt.11/Qt2.1....31■1 Chapter 5 251 005653421 UNCLASSIFIED There was never another Agency…
  • p. 290 …the OXCART aircraft for its own use. never adopted the laminated vertical stabilizers.'4 THE OXCART…
  • p. 294 …Scott employed concepts never be- fore used in camera systems. These included the use of a…
  • p. 298 …As it turned out, the J58 was never used in a Navy aircraft. OSA History. chap…
  • p. 299 …This new delay was caused by leaking fuel tanks, a problem that would never be solved…
  • p. 313 …even though the SKYLARK contingency plan was never put into effect. Since U-2s continued to…
  • p. 316 …Moreover, the Soviets never operated the radars in the tracking and locktin modes, a fact that…
  • p. 326 …collector of strategic intelligence, the OXCART was never used for this purpose. Its brief deployment was…
  • p. 328 …Yet, the President never went so far as to eliminate the overflight program. As Commander in…
  • p. 333 …its speed and altitude have never been equaled. The development of this aircraft also led to…
005653421 UNCLASSIFIED
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Hiring U-2 Pilots 73
Pilot Training 75
Final Tests of the U-2 76
Three Fatal Crashes in 1956 79
Coordination of Collection Requirements 80
Preparations To Handle the Product of U-2 Missions 82
The Impact of the Air Force Project GENETRIX Balloons 84
AQUATONE Briefings for Selected Members of Congress 88
The U-2 Cover Story 89
+ Chapter 3
U-2 Operations in the Soviet Bloc and Middle East, 1956-1958
The Deployment of Detachment A 94
The Move to Wiesbaden 95
President Eisenhower's Attitude Toward Overflights 96
First Overflights of Eastern Europe 100
First U-2 Flights Over the Soviet Union 104
ED 129581.61dli1l>1045Yrs Soviet Protest Note 109
ED 129581.61061>10<25Yrs The End of the Bomber Gap 111
(SI Tactical Intelligence From U-2s During the Suez Crisis 112
Renewed Overflights of the Soviet Union 122
Radar-Deceptive "Dirty Birds" 128
The New Detachment C 133
135Detachment B Flightstl
139The Decline of Detac mem kt
142
reclining Overflight Activity 143
Concerns About Soviet Countermeasures Against the U-2 147
More Powerful Engines for the U-2 149
Intervention in Lebanon, 1958 152
153
The U-2 Project at the Beginning ot 157
Ilk Chapter 4
The Final Overflights of the Soviet Union, 1959-1960
The U-2 and the "Missile-Gap" Debate 159
The Last Overflight: Operation GRAND SLAM 170
The Aftermath of the U-2 Downing 177
The Withdrawal of the Overseas Detachments 181
The Fate of Francis Gary Powers 183
Changes in Overflight Procedures After May 1960 187
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.