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
165 Sec. et NOFORl'J Chapter 4 - J . •. ~ ·~-:.. -?.,- .._.,.,,..__,_~ - - . -~1}').'~F '< ....; Staff Nathan Twining each gave different figures for the number of deployed Soviet missiles. Although the CIA figures were based on evidence gained from overflights, Dulles could not reveal this fact to the Senate and, therefore, faced very sharp questioning. 14 As a result of these Senate hearings, Dulles was determinced to obtain permission for more overflights in order to settle the mis sile-gap question once and for all and end the debate within the intelli gence community. To accomplish this, Dulles proposed photographing the most likely areas for the deployment of Soviet missiles. Alt this time there was still no evidence of SS-6 ICBM deployment outside the Tyuratam missile test range. Because the SS-6 was e:<tremely large and liquid fueled, analysts believed these missiles could only bie de ployed near railroads. Existing U-2 photography showed rai!lroad tracks going right to the launching pad at the test site. Dulles. tlhere fore argued that SS-6 installations could easily be located by flying along railroad lines. Dulles was supported by members of the " Licklider. " Missile Gap Controversy." pp. 608-609. . • -r.- -· ~ · Saratov Engels Airfield, 6 December 1959
Not linked to a story yet.
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.