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.
“Edwards Air Force Base”7 pages
255 Set, et PdOFORPI Chapt er 5 .. ~- . .,- .., ,., .\ .......=.. ' . . . .. -: ·--:-:::---- . ,, , ~-. ·;,,.- . ~ --3 If': • -~ -~ . ~</ ' •, ~ #' T ~ ~ ~,,- ,:", I • ...... . • -. .. i ,e:· h'•-:.; # ,.(_·., -· r,;· f :; t1= .. ·It·:., \ -~ ' .-:, -~ •.- .,_ J,~:·-t, \ i • .· ~ . • ·v- . Subsequent missions in support of Federal agencies included Earthquake damage, San COMPASS TRIP in fiscal year 1973, when Agency U-2s photo Fernando Valley, 1971 graphed poppy fields that had been planted by the Bureau of Narcotics in order to provide a standard for comparison with sate:llite imagery. In the following year, U-2s assisted the Corps of Engirneers in conducting a geological survey. Overseas Deployment Exercises and Missions With the exception of the Chinese Nationalist-piloted U-2!; of Detachment H, all of the Agency's U-2 assets were concentrated in Detachment G in California. To test the ability of Detachment G to respond to a crisis in Europe or the Middle East, the Agency staged an overseas deployment exercise known as SCOPE SAINT each year (unless there was an actual operational deployment, as was the -case i n 1970, 1973, and 1974). The first of these exercises, SCOPE SAINT-I, took place o e 19 when Detachment G de- loved a ~ G to the ~ he - con ucted several training flights and then returned to California. SCOPE SAINT-II followed in April 1969 and dennon strated the feasibility of employing a C-14 I aircraft to accompainy a Secaet
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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.