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.

  • p. 11 …At great risk, US Air Force and Navy aircraft had been conducting peripheral reconnaissance and shallow…
  • p. 16 …As a result, in the late 1940s, the US Air Force and Navy began trying to…
  • p. 17 …Two months later, on 7 October 1952, Soviet fighter aircraft stalked and shot down a US…
  • p. 72 …The terminology used to describe U-2 aircraft and pilots also played a part in maintaining…
  • p. 94 …The committee issued its l ist of cargets for the use of the entire intelli gence…
  • p. 147 …The Agency then turned co the Navy, which granted permission for Detachmernt C to use the…
  • p. 180 …James Doolittle urged President Eisenhower to use overflights of the Soviet Union to the maximum degree…
  • p. 223 …by Air Force and Navy reconnais sance aircraft. President Kennedy used NPIC photographs to i llustrate…
  • p. 273 …Charyk, and his Navy counterpart, Garrison Norton. Designers from several air craft manufacturers also attended some…
  • p. 283 …This engine had originally been developed for the Navy's large, jet-powered flying boat, the…
  • p. 297 …The need for additional bui ldings on the base was met by the Navy. Three surplus…
  • p. 298 …After hearing Bissell and Holcomb's suggestion that the 158 might be used in future Navy…
  • p. 348 …Following modifications to make System-VII suitable for use by the Navy, the designation was changed…
  • p. 353 …In 1968 tests on an AQUILINE prototype at Randsburg Wash on the US Navy's Naval…
  • p. 401 …247, 328 US Marine Corps Reserve 14 US Military Academy at West Point 329 US Navy…
212
Seeret NOFOftN
Chapter 5
Long unhappy with President Achmed Sukarno's perceived sym
pathy to Communism and his institution of "guided democracy" in
Indonesia, the CIA, after consultation with the State Department, be
gan in early l 957 to supply financial assistance to a group of dissident
Indonesian Army officers on the island of Sumatra. By 25 September
1957, the National Security Council had become concerned with the
course of events in Indonesia and on its recommendation President
Eisenhower authorized the Agency to "employ all feasible covert
means" to support the dissidents. Planning for increased aid of all
types began immediately, and in January 1958 a US arms shipment
for the dissidents arrived in Sumatra. Then on 10 February, the situa
tion came to a head. While Sukarno was out of the country on a state
visit to Japan, the dissident army colonels, without consulting CIA,
organized a Revolutionary Council in Padang, West Sumatra, and de
manded the abolition of President Sukarno's "guided democracy."
Five days later, this council proclaimed itself the new "Revolutionary
Government" of Indonesia. President Sukarno's armed forces re
sponded swiftly to this threat. In late February the Indonesian Air
Force began bombing dissident strongholds, and by mid-March gov
ernment forces were conducting an all-out air-sea-land drive against
the rebel-held areas in central Sumatra. Although the Sumatran rebels
were falling back, additional unrest broke out over 1,800 miles away
in the islands of Celebes (Sulawesi), and CIA quickly began supply
ing weapons to these dissidents, too.11
Increasingly involved in Indonesia, the Agency urgently needed
accurate information on the situation there. As in previous crises,
U-2s flew reconnaissance missions. On 24 March 1958, the
Development Projects Staff moved the entire complement of
Detachment C's pilots and planes from Japan to a base more easily
accessible to Indonesia: Cubi Point Naval Air Station in the
Philippines. Cubi Point was far from any facility that could develop
and interpret the U-2 photographs, so two Photo-Intelligence Division
employees went to Clark Airfield, just 30 minutes by air from Cubi
Point, to establish a forward processing center. They arrived on 28
March and had the photo lab ready to go on the following day.:?J
"I Fovert Support to Indonesian Revolutionary Government. /957-1958.
2 vols., Clandestine Service Historical Series, CSHP-53 (CIA: History Staff, 1970) (S):
John Prados, Presidents' Secret Wars: CIA and Pentagon Covert Operations Since World
War I/ (New York. William Morrow: 1986). pp. 133-144.
0' OSA History, chap. 15, pp. 25-26 (TS Codeword).
Sec,et

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.