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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. 6 …215 U-2 Support for DDP Operations in Tibet....................................... 216 U-2Cs for Detachment C....................... .................... ... ....................... 217…
  • p. 170 …Detachment C mainly collected high-altitude weather data, although it also flew two missions over Tibet…
  • p. 229 …U-2 Support for DDP Operations in Tibet The consolidation of all Agency air activities under…
  • p. 231 …it carried no film Lhasa, Tibet, November 1959 and did not have a full load of…
  • p. 232 …Flights by Detachment C U-2s over Tibet and western China contin ued during the first…
  • p. 245 …Khli when it staged four sorties over Tibet from 29 September to l O November 1963…
  • p. 398 …301-302, 304, 307 Thule, Greenland 172 Tibet 157, 216, 219, 232 99 TIME STEP 172…
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 above. 406 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.