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
143 Sewet NOFOHN Chapter 3 DECLINING OVERFLIGHT ACTIVITY ·operation SOFf TOUCH (4-27 August 1957) proved to be the high water mark of U-2 operations against the Soviet Union. Detachment B staged one more overflight on IO September 1957. when a U-2 pi loted by Wi lliam Hall flew from Adana to photograph the Kapustin Yar M i ssile Test Range for the first time since the RAF's overflight in 1953, obtaining photographs of a large medium-range ball istic missile (MRBM) on the launchpad. Six days later Detachment C conducted its successful overflight of the lCBM impact site at Kl yuchi, and October saw the final two overfl ights of Detachment A . After these missions, penetrat ion overflights became a rarity. There would be only six more during the next 32 months: one, in 1958; two. in 1959; and three, in 1960 (one of which was unsuccessful). During this period, President Eisenhower did authorize a number of fl ights along Soviet border areas that occasionally penetrated shon distances inside the border. but the Chief Executive had become extremely wary of authorizing ' 'deep penetration·• overflights. which invariably brought protests from Moscow. The border flights took place under tight controls. Begi nning in the fall of 1957, all messages from Washington to Adana giving coor dinates for flights along the Soviet border contained the statement: " This is not a penetration overflight'' and warned about flying too close to Soviet borders. The Soviets even attempted to shoot down U-2 at Bodo, Norway 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.