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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 192 Original source ↗

“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…
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gee1 et NOFORl'ii
Chapter 4
This statement had been prepared for a "best case·· scenario, that
is to say, one in which neither the pilot nor the plane and film sur
vived. However, pilots had bailed out from extremely high altitudes
and survived, and there was even evidence from previous U-2 crashes
that much of the aircraft itself could be salvaged. The small destruc
tive charge aboard the U-2 was not sufficient to destroy much more
than the camera. The tightly rolled film, which could reveal the exact
purpose of the mission even if the pilot and aircraft did not survive,
was very hard to destroy. Kelly Johnson later conducted an experi
ment that revealed film taken out of a completely burned-out aircraft
could still provide usable imagery.33 After almost four years of suc
cessful U-2 missions, Richard Bissell and the rest of the Development
Projects Division had become overconfident and were not prepared
for the ··worst case" scenario that actually occurred in May I 960.
This failure played directly into the hands of Soviet Premier Nikita
Khrushchev, who shrewdly decided to release information about the
downed U-2 a little at a time, thereby encouraging the United States
to stick with its vulnerable cover story too long. As he later wrote,
"Our intention here was to confuse the government circles of the
United States. As long as the Americans thought the pilot was dead,
they would keep putting out the story that perhaps the plane had acci
dentally strayed off course and been shot down in the mountains on
the Soviet side of the border."'" The first word from the Soviet Union
came on Thursday, 5 May, when Premier Khrushchev announced to a
meeting of the Supreme Soviet that a US "spyplane" had been
downed near Sverdlovsk. He made no mention of the fate of its pilot.
Khrushchev's announcement aroused considerable interest in the
media in the United States, and that same day the State Department
and NASA issued another statement that continued the "weather
plane" cover story, adding that the pilot became lost during a routine
mission near the Caucasus Mountains. Soon afterward. the US
Ambassador to Moscow cabled a report to the State Department indi
cating that the pilot might be alive after all. Two days later, on 7 May
1960. Khrushchev confirmed this report by revealing that the U-2 pi
lot was alive and had admitted his mission of spying on the Soviet
Union.
" Geary intt!rview.
'" Khrushcht!v. Khrushchev Remembers: The Lase Teswmem. p. 507.
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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.