Documents / Official release
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.
“Headquarters”22 pages
117 Sec. et N6fOFU~ Chapter 3 .9f British Canberra bombers at Akrotiri, Cyprus: The Anglo-French military buildup greatly irritated President Eisenhower, who consid ered these activities a violation of the 1950 Tripartite Declaration, in which the United States, the United Kingdom, and France had agreed to m~ntain the status quo in armaments and borders in the Middle EastXfo Arthur Lundahl he remarked, "It's a hell of a note when you c have to G-2 your friends." s( U-2 photography continued to keep the President and other key officials well informed about the progress of the crisis. }lights over Israel and Rhodes on 21 October and Cyprus on 25 October revealed heavy military concentrations and an increase in the number of troop transports and air forces. On the basis of this information,: Secretary of State John Foster Dulles told the President on 28 October that he believed an Israeli attack on Jordan was imminent, adding that he thought the British and French would take advantage of such an at tack to occupy the Suez Canal.51 The 10-day Middle East war began on the afternoon of 29 October 1956 with Israeli paratroop drops in the Sinai peninsula, fol lowed by mobile columns striking deep into Egyptian territory. tfhe next day, 30 October, Francis Gary Powers conducted mission 1314. He overflew Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and finally the Sinai.Jwhere he photographed black puffs of smoke from the fighting between Israel and Egypt. Adana-based U-2s were in the air for the next two days filming the Suez Canal area@fld neighboring countrie£f3 The United Kingdom and France entered the fray on the evening of 31 October with bombing raids against major Egyptian airfields. The Anglo-French bombing campaign continued for the next 48 hours. Ear)Y on the morning of 1 November, an Adana-based U-2, pi loted by LWilliam Hall, took off to gather intelligence on the Anglo-French military activity. After photographing Cyprus, Hal] flew south to the Sinai Desert, where he made several passes to obtain complete coverage of the Israeli-Egyptian fighting there. [He then headed west to Cairi passing directly over the main Egyptian airbase " Lundahl and Brugioni interview (TS Codeword). " Telephone calls, 28 October 1956, DOE Diary, DDEL. '' Powers, Operation Overflight, pp. 308-309; Mission folder 1314 (30 October 1956), OSA records, job 67-B-972, box I (TS Codeword). -Secret
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Official release, from the pursue 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.