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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.
“The Advance”34 pages
- p. 6 …255
The Phaseout of the Office of Special Activities ........ ................... 257
0 ) Chapter 6
The U-2…
- p. 7 …319
Advances in Technology............................................... ........................... 320
Cooperation With the Air Force ............................................................. 321
Impact of the Overhead Reconnaissance…
- p. 22 …retired from the Air Force to become the assistant director
of Lockheed's Advanced Development Program…
- p. 24 11
/
Chapter 1
gravity (g's) instead of the military specification strengLh of 5.33 g…
- p. 32 …lithium deuteride, a tech
nology more advanced than the heavy water method used by US
'' BEACON…
- p. 33 …between the
developed and undeveloped nations. This aggressive Soviet foreign
policy. combined with advances in nuclear…
- p. 58 …secrecy in the new project, Kelly Johnson
placed it in Lockheed's Advanced Development facility at…
- p. 65 …His software algorithms made it possible to model
lens designs and determine in advance the effects…
- p. 76 …seen
on pilot Francis Gary Powers)
advanced gear for the U-2 pilots. David Clark expert…
- p. 111 …of Soviet
advances in long-range bombers and missiles. The initial sighting of
the new Soviet…
- p. 114 …Adenauer be informed in advance of US plans to
overfly the Soviet Union from bases in…
- p. 174 …concentrating on developing the
more advanced solid-fueled missiles rather than increasing the num
ber of…
- p. 183 …if the Soviet
SAMs received sufficient advanced warning, they posed a major
threat to the U…
- p. 191 …the cover story that had been prepared and distributed in advance of
the mission. The first…
- p. 206 …In
1965 the head of OSA received a new title, Director of Special
Activities. The Office…
- p. 235 …STPOLLY
added the more advanced Lockheed P3A in 1963. Between 1955 and
1967, when the CIA…
- p. 249 …The Defense Department feared that the loss of this device with
its highly advanced traveling-wave…
- p. 250 …Chapter 5
Advanced ECM Equipment for Detachment H
Demand for overhead photography of the PRC continued…
- p. 252 …In addition, the
Project TACKLE U-2s began receiving even more advanced ECM
• 60
equipment.
•• Mission…
- p. 265 …but some was the result of technological advances. The ini
tial order for eight of the…
- p. 266 …This camera
was actually a very advanced version of the original B camera with a
new…
- p. 282 …aircraft from
the small inventory of its most advanced bomber. Even had the B-588
program…
- p. 295 …In fact, it was an advanced version of the highly reliable
B camera developed for the…
- p. 296 …Prospective pilots had to be qualified in the most advanced fighters
and be emotionally stable and…
- p. 307 …advanced experimental
jet aircraft, the A-11. which has been tested in sustained flight at more…
- p. 310 …It was now time to find
work for the most advanced aircraft ever conceived and built…
- p. 321 …advanced aircraft ever .built was to be put out to pasture. The aban
donment of the…
- p. 325 …when the OXCART program
ended in the summer of 1968, no mcire advanced successor was wait…
- p. 326 …The most advanced aircraft
of the 20th century had become an anachronism before it was ever…
- p. 333 …ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY
One very important byproduct of the CIA's manned reconnaissance
program was the…
- p. 334 …the end of the usefulness of the world's most
advanced aircraft; its offspring, the SR…
- p. 335 …Thus,
the CIA sponsored the development of the world's most advanced
aircraft-the OXCART-and…
- p. 352 …They believed that recent advances in the minia
turization of electronic technology would make possible the…
- p. 356 343
Defense Research and Engineering, John Foster, liked the concept and
provided DOD funding for ORD…
124
Sec, et NOf6ftN
Chapter 3
surgery). JCS Chairman Adm. Arthur Radford. DCI Allen Dulles, and
Richard Bissell, Eisenhower explained why he refused to allow over
flights of the Soviet Union: "Everyone in the world says that, in the
last six weeks, the United States has gained a place it hasn't held
since World War fl. To make trips now would cost more than we
would gain in form of solid information." Hoover agreed and rnoted,
"If we lost a plane at this stage, it would be almost catastrophic."
Tom between his desire to maintain a "correct and moral" position
and his wish to know what the Soviet Union was up to. the Pres.idem
finally authorized several overflights of Eastern Europe and the
Soviet border, "but not the deep one," adding that the aircraft should
"stay as close to the border as possible." (>I
The first of these fl ights, mission 4016 on 20 November 1956,
was the first overflight of Soviet territory since IO July. This mission
left Adana and flew east over Iran, then reversed and flew west along
the Soviet-Iranian border to Soviet Armenia. where it crossed into the
Soviet Union and photographed Yerevan. An electrical malfunction
then forced the pilot, Francis Gary Powers, to return to Adana. Soviet
interceptor aircraft made sev.eral unsuccessful attempts to reach this
U-2, and the Soviet Government sent a secret protest note to
h. 6'
Was ington. -
On IO December. Bulgaria was the target of two U-2 missions.
one (40 I 8) from Detachment B at Adana and another (2029) from
Detachment A at Giebelstadt. Bulgarian fighter aircraft made lO dif
ferent attempts to intercept the first mission. but the flight proceeded
without difficulty.6 J
The second flight came close to crashing but not through the ef
forts of interceptors. The pilot of mission 2029 was Carmine Vito,
who had flown the first U-2 mission over Moscow on 5 July. He was
known co his colleagues as the Lemon-Drop Kid because he always
carried these hard candies in the knee pocket of his flight suit. Despite
•• Andrew J. Goodpaster. Memorandum of Conference with the President. ~ovember IS.
1956. WHOSS. Alpha. DDEL (TS): Ambrose. Eisenhower: The President. p. 374.
•' M ission folder 40 16. 20 November 1956. OSA records. job 67-8 -972. bo)( 7 (TS
Codeword).
• ·' Mission folders 1019 (IO December 1956) and 4018 (10 December 1956). OSA re
cords. job 67 -B-328. box 7 and job 67-B-972. box 7 (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.