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.

Open the PDF at page 147 Original source ↗

“Sea”42 pages

p. 16 …An RB-29 lost in the Sea of Japan on 13 June 1952 was probably also…
p. 38 …off to about 6 percent of its sea-level thrust. Finally, low structural load factors, like…
p. 62 …U-2 landing gear and pogos .Sea,et-
p. 69 …chap. 8, pp. 1-2 (TS Codeword); Miller, Lockheed U-2. pp. 19-20. Sea,at
p. 75 …a boiling point of 300°F at sea level. Manufacturing this special fuel required petroleum byproducts…
p. 80 …pounds heavier and delivered only 10.200 pounds of thrust at sea level; the resulting Secret
p. 89 …that they could not be flown at sea level faster than 190 knots in smooth air…
p. 98 …Sec.el NOfOftN Chapter 2 Sea,et
p. 102 …working on a cover story for over seas operations. It was important to have a plausible…
p. 115 North Sea First Overflights, 20 June - 5 July 1956 ) f\ Sweden .__,_,_"-.. ) ~ STOCICHOUil -~ ✓ vf!.Sea \f Finland…
p. 116 r/ o/ North Sea 1/'. AMSTERDAM ;, 0 0 Baltic S<la --- Mission 2013 4 July - - - Mission…
p. 120 …Black SEia ~ q, TurkE~Y ~ ~111~ 13~ • ? ~ ...• o<) Mediterranean Sea () .. •• •,,, Malta (U.K.) Sec, et NOFORN ...... . . .. ·:. ·.•
p. 131 Mission 1316, 1 November 1956 Turkey Cyprus ', (U.K .) '· Mediterranean Sea lncirlik Airbase _/\ o/ t. </ \ f…
p. 139 …Soviet border from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea and on to Afghanistan. The System…
p. 146 …On 31 July, the same aircraft made a run over the Black Sea. There were a…
p. 148 …was the first to photograph the major Soviet space launch facility east of the Aral Sea…
p. 153 …of Soviet naval maneuvers in the Barents Sea. The final overflight of Detachment A , mission 2040…
p. 154 …K~ome<e,, tOO 200Miles Norwegian Sea Barents Sea Kola Peninsula '1'v Sweden f / Finlaind…
p. 155 …Norwegian radars tracked the overflights of the Barents Sea and Murmansk in October 1957, and Col…
p. 157 …well within international airspace above the Black Sea, as was the case on 27 October I957…
p. 158 …it turned abruptly upward over the Bering Sea just west of Alaska, climbed to 110,000…
p. 166 …the Soviet border and over the Black Sea without entering Soviet airspace. In late August, as…
p. 179 Baltic ~a Finland Black Sea Tu • ' -···1~- ..... ;.. :~.: ~~~~ •' :~·f.:~<,,· ·ir.fa 0 First British Overflight, 6 December…
p. 185 …Because the Bodo airfield was involved in NATO maneuvers taking place in the Barents Sea area…
p. 215 …Caribbean Sea W- Caymanlsl"""5 I_U."-i ~,...~ _''-),.,, .";!:-, - Mission 3086 5 August Mission 3088 29 August…
p. 216 …Caribbean Sea lOOKiloml.it•~ 100 200 Mff.-s Guvtof Mex~co \\\ I \ Caribbean Sea Multiple missions…
p. 225 …forces were conducting an all-out air-sea-land drive against the rebel-held areas in…
p. 226 f. 0 0 IND/AN OCEAN 300 -- 300 IIOOMlloo .·' Philippine Sea
p. 240 …Philippine Sea South China Sea Philippines • SeGFet NOFOAl<J 72<1~ (IU)0428J 4o92
p. 248 …6eeret NOFORN Chapter 5 Sea,et
p. 257 …The use of peripheral missions prevented any further losses, although one aircraft crashed into the sea…
p. 288 275 Settee NOPORN Chapter 6 Radar testing of A-72 mockup Sea,et
p. 316 …Shortly before Leningrad, the A-12 would head west-southwest down the Baltic Sea, skirting the…
p. 317 …2 would be flying farther out to sea, safely beyond the range of all Soviet SAMs…
p. 350 …B B Afghanistan, Tashkent, Tyuratam, Kazalinsk, Aral Sea 11 August 1957 4039 McMurray Lahore B B…
p. 351 …A-2 Dushanbe, Tashkent, Tyuratam, Kazalinsk, Aral Sea 10 September 1957 4059 Hall Adana B A…
p. 369 …AQUILINE 304, 339-343 Arabs 256 Aral Sea 135 Arbenz, Jacobo 16 "Archangel-I" 262 "Archangel…
p. 371 358 &ee,et NQFQRN Index Baltic Sea 3, 303 Baltic states 104 Baltimore; Maryland 6, 9…
p. 373 …186, 201, 205, 208-209, 299, 327 Caspian Sea 126 catheterized 64 cathode-ray tube 267…
p. 382 …23-24, 109, 139, 143, 164 Kara Sea 142 Kazakh language 135 Kazakhstan 135 Kazan', Soviet…
p. 385 …301 mechanical fuel totalizer/counters 68 Mediterranean Sea 114, 116. 121, 140, 142, 153 medium-range…
p. 393 …Pennsylvania 222 Sea of Japan 3 Seaberg, John 8-9. 12. 35-36. 333 SEAFOAM 211…

134
Gee. et NOl'OFUQ
Chapter 3
The search for a new home for Detachment C led the Agency to
ask the Air Force in the autumn of 1956 for permission to locate the
detachment at Yokota AFB, Japan. Because Yokota was already the
base for one covert project (the very secret Air Force Project BLACK
KNIGHT using RB-57s), Air Force Chief of Staff Twining did not
wish to locate another one there and denied the reques t. The Agency
then turned co the Navy, which granted permission for Detachmernt C
to use the Naval Air Station at Atsugi, Japan. The Japan.ese
Government received no notification of the proposed deployment be
cause at that time it had no control over activities involving US mili
tary bases in Japan. Deployment of Detachment C began in early
1957 but was complicated by a recent decision to permit the families
of Project AQUATONE employees to accompany them on overseas
tours. As a result, program managers had to find housing facilities on
the base or in nearby communities, not an easy task in crowded
Japan.""
Detach ment C began conducting m1ss1ons in June 1957 alfter
several aircraft and pilots flew to Eie lson Air Force Base near
Fairbanks, Alaska. Air Force rndar order-of-battle reports and NSA
studies had revealed that the radar network in the Soviet Far East,
wi th antiquated radar sets and personnel of a lower caliber than those
in the western Soviet Union, was relati vely ineffective. To take ad
vantage of these weaknesses, Detachment C staged three missions
from Alaska into the Soviet Far East. The first. on 7/8 June (the air
craft crossed the international date line during the flight), was unable
to photograph its target, the ICBM impact area near Klyuchi on the
Kamchatka Peninsula, because of bad weather and, therefore, never
entered Soviet airspace. A second attempt to photograph Klyuchi on
19/20 June was marred by a camera malfunction that ruined ev;ery
third frame of photography. This flight was tracked by Soviet radars.
but there was no attempt at interception. After a pause of almost three
months during which Detachment C received a dirty-bird U-2, the de
tachment's third mission over Klyuchi on 15/ 16 September 1957
achieved exce llent results. The radar-deception devices proved in1ef
fective, however. as the U-2 was tracked by Soviet radar and trailed
by five fighters.s'
. , OSA History. ch.ip. l5, pp. 2. 16-19: chap. 16. p. I (TS Co<lcword).
" Mission folders 6002 (8 June 1957). 6005 C!0 June 1957). and 6008 (16 September
l 957). OSA records. job 67-8-3'.!8. bo.~ 7 (TS Codeword).

Not linked to a story yet.

About this file

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.