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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.

Open the PDF at page 170 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…
157
Sec, et MOF'ORI\I
Chapter 3
May 1959, and used to fly weather missions on 7 and 8 May before
returning to Adana. Two more weather-sampling flights took place
over England on 5 and 6 October 1959.
THE U-2 PROJECT AT THE BEGINNING OF 1959
Early 1959 saw Detachment B aircraft active primarily over Middle
Eastern countries, with occasional overflights of Albania to check for
reported Soviet missile installations. Detachment C mainly collected
high-altitude weather data, although it also flew two missions over
Tibet and Southwest China (see chapter 5). The overflight program
against the Soviet Union seemed to be at a standstill, but pressures
within the government were building to resume deep-penetration
flights to resolve the growing "missile-gap" controversy.
Organizationally, the U-2 project underwent a major change after
Richard Bissell became CIA's Deputy Director for Plans on I January
1959. At first glance, Bissell's selection seems unusual because he
• liad spent most of his Agency career heading the U-2 project, but his
first major assignment had been coordinating support for the opera
tion that overthrew the leftist Government of Guatemala in 1954.
Furthermore, Bissell's U-2 project was the major covert collector 0f
intelligence against the CIA's primary target, the Soviet Union.
During his years as head of the Development Projects Staff
(DPS), Bissell had opposed proposals to bring all Agency air activi
ties together into a single office, fearing that he would lose control of
the U-2 project. Once he became Deputy Director for Plans, his view
point changed; he was now in a position to consolidate all air activi
ties under his own control. On 16 February 1959, the DPS became the
Development Projects Division (DPD) of the Directorate of Plans (at
the time known as the Deputy Directorate/Plans or DDP). Despite the
tremendous increase in the scope of his duties after assuming control
of the DDP, Bissell retained personal control of his previous
Development Projects Staff projects: the U-2 program, another pro
ject to develop a photosatellite, and a third project to design a fol
low-on aircraft for the U-2 (OXCART). Although the amalgamation
of all Agency air operations and the transfer of the U-2 project to the
DDP made sense, the question remained as to whether one individual
could effectively control all these different activities.
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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.