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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.

  • p. 5 …139 Cooperation With Norway ....................................................................... 142 Declining Overflight Activity.................................................................... 143 Concerns About Soviet Countermeasures Against the U…
  • p. 7 …320 Cooperation With the Air Force ............................................................. 321 Impact of the Overhead Reconnaissance Program o n the…
  • p. 91 …Early in the program Bissell and Ritland had foreseen such an emergency and, with the cooperation…
  • p. 95 …their awareness of the vital nature of their mission kept the level of cooperation high. The…
  • p. 143 …deception project since its early days, he cooperated reluctantly because he disliked adding attachments that made…
  • p. 155 …the beginning of cooperation between CIA and the Norwegian Intelligence Service on the U-2 program…
  • p. 167 …By 1957 cooperation be tween the United Kingdom and the United States had expanded to include…
  • p. 169 …a logical ex tension of the close cooperation that already existed between the two countries on…
  • p. 196 …as possible while giving the appearance of cooperating with his cap tors. To extract the maximum…
  • p. 287 …by Edgerton, Germeshausen & Grier (EG&G) in cooperation with the Scientific Engineering Institute at a small…
  • p. 302 …Halaby cooperated fully with the Agency and personally briefed all FAA regional chiefs on how to…
  • p. 334 …The cooperation between the Agency and the Air Force that began with the U-2 and…
242
Sec, el N6fiOFU'<J
Chapter 5
,--------------------------------------------~
I
:Ihe nw missi:r mounted by Project TACKU
ook place on 8 September 1967. The U-2C air
craft overflew centr; China and fell victim to a SAM in the vicinity
of Shanghai; the fate of the pilot was unknown. This loss reduced the
number of U-2s in the Agency's inventory to five.''
The entire U-2 overflight program was temporarily halted in
early November l 967 after an Air Force U-2 in Vietnam was discov
ered to have cracks in its wing. All Air Force and CIA U-2s were or
dered back to Lockheed for ultrasonic inspection of the wings and
other stress points to check on metal fatigue. Upon completion of this
inspection, both the Air Force and the Agency resumed their over
flight activity.(,.!
The End of U-2 Overflights of Mainland China
Project TACKLE mounted a mission over northeastern China on 13
December 1967 and an overflight of central China on 5 January 1968.
Later that month the Far East became very tense when North Korea
seized the US electronic intelligence ship Pueblo on 23 January. One
"' Ibid .. chap. 17. p. 72 (TS Codeword).
" Mission folder C297C (8 September 1967). OSA records (TS Codeword).
~ OSA Histor:,:. chap. 16. p.•q (TS Codeword).
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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.