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."
“Mission Control”17 pages
- p. 9 …The struggle between the
CIA and the US Air Force to control the U-2 and…
- p. 72 …2 missions. Access to the photographs taken by the
U-2 would be strictly controlled, which…
- p. 73 …This pact gave the Air Force responsibility for pilot selection
and training, weather information, mission plotting…
- p. 81 …Before the start of a mission, the ground crew set
the counters to indicate the total…
- p. 96 …All of
the products from this project would be placed in the new control sys-
tem…
- p. 100 …This was an S-band radar used
by Soviet forces for early warning and ground-controlled…
- p. 113 …The President
nevertheless maintained tight control over the program and authorized
only 10 days of overflights…
- p. 128 …the following day, whithi next U-2 mission
returned from the Middle East. After quickly developing…
- p. 140 …Welzenbach (S);
Mission folder 4020 (18 Marcn n, CJJA rerar9 ITS Codeword).
OSA History. chap. 4…
- p. 142 …of the first series of U-2 missions
as condu
this research under a project codenamed…
- p. 147 …not an easy task in crowded
Japan.`)
Detachment C began conducting missions in June 1957 after…
- p. 191 …This revised cover story, along with a mission flight plan consistent
with it, was sent to…
- p. 196 …with Abel's "wife" (probably his Soviet control) in East
Germany. In November 1961, Acting DCI…
- p. 204 …in-the DDP in order to maintain control of his overhead reconnais-
sance projects (the U…
- p. 220 …Strongly favoring Air Force control of the
U-2 missions over Cuba. the DOD representatives called…
- p. 335 …The flood of information that the U-2
missions gathered led to a major expansion of…
- p. 340 …In 1959 Bissell became Deputy Director for Plans but
kept the reconnaissance projects under his control…
Skunk Works Design Staff
005653421 UNCLASSIFIED
—9eepe4.111QECIaLL
Chapter 2
46
speed of Mach 0.8 or 460 knots at altitude. Its initial maximum alti-
tude would be 70,600 feet and the ultimate maximum altitude would
be 73,100 feet. According to these early December 1954 specifica-
tions, the new plane would take off at 90 knots, land at 76 knots, and
be able to glide 244 nautical miles from an altitude of 70,000 feet.
After discussing the reconnaissance bay with James Baker, Johnson
had worked out various equipment combinations that would not ex-
ceed the weight limit of 450 pounds. Johnson ended his report by
promising the first test flight by 2 August 1955 and the completion of
four aircraft by 1 December 1955.'"
Kelly Johnson, -A High-Altitude Reconnaissance Aircraft, - 9 December 1954,
Lockheed Contract Files, OSA Records (S).
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.