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.
“Hill”15 pages
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). -Seeret
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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.