Documents / Official release
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…
130
Sec. et NOFetU~
Chapter 3
the aircraft, was a small-gauge wire with precisely spaced ferrite
beads. The wire and beads were supposed to capture incoming
70-MHz radar pulses and either trap them in the loop or weaken them
so much that they would not register as a valid radar return. This con
figuration was called the trapeze and was not very successful.
A second approach, tested in early 1958, involved the use of
plastic material containing a printed circuit designed to absorb radar
pulses in the 65- to 85-MHz range. Nicknamed "wallpaper," this ma
terial was glued to parts of the U-2's fuselage, nose, and tail.
Although the "trapeze" and "wallpaper" systems provided protection
against some Soviet radars, the systems proved ineffective against ra
dars operating below 65-MHz or above 85-MHz. Furthermore, both
of these additions degraded the U-2's performance. The weight and
drag of "trapeze" reduced the aircraft's operating ceiling by 1,500
feet, and "wallpaper" sometimes caused engines to overheat.74
SEI's research results were tested by another firm known as
Edgerton, Germeshausen & Grier (EG&G), which was also composed
of MIT faculty members. Under an Air Force contract to evaluate ra
dars, EG&G operated a small testing facility at Indian Springs,
Nevada, not far from Area 51. Although Kelly Johnson had been
closely involved with the radar deception project since its early days,
he cooperated reluctantly because he disliked adding attachments that
made his aircraft less airworthy. (Johnson's dislike of the antiradar at
tachments was reflected in the unofficial nickname for aircraft that
had been so modified-"dirty birds.") After Lockheed mechanics
had mounted the various RAINBOW devices on the prototype U-2, a
Lockheed test pilot would fly the plane over EG&G's Indian Springs
installation. This was little more than a series of radar sets and a
trailer containing instrumentation. EG&G technicians could thus re
cord and evaluate the U-2's radar returns as it traversed a specified
course over their facility. 75
This method of testing radar-deceptive modifications proved
both time consuming and dangerous. During a test flight on 2 April
1957, the "wallpaper" modification acted as insulation around the
" Records of the Scientific Engineering Institute (Project HTNAMABLE). OSA records
(TS Codeword).
" References to EG&G programs for the U-2 are contained in the later Convair contracts
for Projects FISH and KINGFISH. OSA records. job 67-B-415, box I (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.