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CIA-UAP-003, The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance; The U-2 and OXCART Programs, 1954-1974

Central Intelligence Agency · 1954 · 406 pages · text from the file's own layer

This is a Secret History Staff monograph by Gregory W. Pedlow and Donald E. Welzenbach of the Central Intelligence Agency, published in 1992. It gives a history of the CIA's manned overhead reconnaissance program from 1954 to 1974, covering the development and operation of the U-2 and the A-12 OXCART aircraft. It covers overflights of the Soviet Union, the 1960 downing of Francis Gary Powers, and later operations. One section is titled "U-2s, UFOs, and Operation BLUE BOOK."

From the source:Release of 2026-06-12 This CIA History Staff document chronicles the complete history of the U-2 and OXCART (A-12) high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft programs from 1954 to 1974, detailing their development, operations over the Soviet Union and other targets worldwide, the famous downing of Francis Gary Powers in 1960, organizational reforms following that incident, and the eventual transfer of operations from CIA to Air Force control. A more redacted version of this document has been available on CIA's public website.

Open the PDF at page 117 Original source ↗

“Nevers”34 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 …Ry, Lockheed engineers had to solve problems never before encountered. Among these problems w21s 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. 147 …Peninsula, because of bad weather and, therefore, never entered Soviet airspace. A second attempt to photograph…
  • p. 157 …2 flight over the Black Sea that never violated Soviet airspace revealed 12 attempts at interception…
  • 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 threat,ening as the blockade of l 948…
  • p. 165 …The Air Force never equipped its orig inal U-2s with the 175 engines. 10" Detachment…
  • p. 189 …Powers never made it past Sverdlovsk. Four and a half hours into the mission, an SA…
  • p. 194 …program in I 974, but RAF pilots never again conducted an overt1ight in an Agency U…
  • 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 l May 1960 proved to be the…
  • p. 223 …Responsibility for photo graphic coverage of Cuba remained with the Air Force; Agency pil,ots never…
  • p. 227 …Both were expe rienced with World War II aircraft, although Vito had never flown the rebels…
  • p. 248 …It was short of both pilots and planes and never had more than three U-2s…
  • p. 257 …This was an electronic intelligence mission that, in ac cordance with the new guidelines, never came…
  • p. 264 251 Seu et NOFOAN Chapter 5 There was never another Agency U-2 mission from an…
  • p. 290 …the OXCART aircraft for its own use. never adopted the laminated vertical stabii izers." 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 158 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. 303 …the J58 had to reach performance levels never before achieved by a jet engine. while operating…
  • 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 lockon modes, a fact that…
  • p. 317 …strongly opposed it and the 303 Committee never forwarded the proposal to President Johnson. 5" The…
  • p. 318 …The OXCART, which had never operated in heavy rain, taxied to the runway and took off…
  • p. 326 …collector of strategic intelligence, the OXCART was never used for this purpose. Its brief deployment was…
  • p. 328 …the President never went so far as to eliminate the overflight program. As Commander in Chielf…
  • p. 333 …its speed and altitude have never been equaled. The development of this aircraft also led to…
  • p. 348 …a 16-kilogram VHF recorder for communications intelligence (COMINT), was never used and was transferred to…
  • p. 349 …a mission over the Soviet Union that never took place. Systems-XI through XV were ECM…
  • p. 356 …Project SANDY HOOK never advanced very far in develop ment; projected high costs and substantial technical…
104
Sec, et NOFORN
Chapter 3
detachment had four aircraft working and could average up to two
flights per day, Bissell told the President that the crews were "ready
and eager to go in beyond the satellites" and overfly the center of the
Soviet Union.23
Eisenhower replied that he thought it "urgent" to know whether
the recent flights had been tracked by hostile radars. The President
was obviously concerned that CIA estimates that the U-2 could fly
virtually undetected were proving false. One of the reasons why he
had approved the overflight program was the CIA's assurance that the
Soviet Union would remain unaware of the flights or-at the very
worst-receive only occasional, vague indications.
FIRST U-2 FLIGHTS OVER THE SOVIET UNION
The question of how well the Soviets could track U-2 flights had not
yet been settled when the first overflights of the Soviet Union took
place. On Wednesday, 4 July 1956, the U-2 known as Article 347 be
gan the first flight over the Soviet Union. Final authorization for mis
sion 2013 had come shortly before takeoff. Late on the evening of 3
July, Bissell went to project headquarters in the Matomic Building to
give the "Go" or "No go" decision. Although the President had ap
proved the overflight, the final decision to start a mission depended
on a number of factors, especially the weather over the target area and
at the takeoff and landing sites. Bissell made the decision just before
midnight Washington time, which was six o'clock in the morning in
Wiesbaden. This pattern of last-minute approvals continued for the
duration of the U-2 overflight program.2•
When Wiesbaden received the "Go" signal, a U-2 equipped with
an A-2 camera and flown by pilot Hervey Stockman took off on a
course that took it over Poznan, Poland, where riots had occurred on
28-30 June. After Poznan, Stockman headed for Belorussia, where he
turned north to Leningrad. The last leg of the mission took the U-2
over the Soviet Baltic states before returning to Wiesbaden. The main
target of this mission was the naval shipyards in Leningrad, center of
" Andrew J. Goodpaster·s handwritten notes on 2 July 1956 meeting, WHOSS. Alpha.
DDEL (TS).
,. Bissell interview by Welzenbach (S); Cunningham interview (TS Codeword).
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Official release, from the pursue 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.