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.
“Mission Control”27 pages
274 Sec1 et NOFOAN Chapter 6 to proceed with antiradar studies, aerodynamic structural tests, and en gineering designs. This research and all later work on the A-12 took place under a new codename. Project OXCART. established at the end of August 1959 to replace its more widely known predecessor, Project GUSTO.'" The CfA's project manager for OXCART was John Parangosky, who had long been associated with the U-2 program. EFFORTS TO REDUCE THE A-12'S RADAR CROSS SECTION During the spring of 1959, Kelly Johnson's Skunk Works crew which then numbered only 50-had begun building a full-scale mockup of the proposed aircraft. The mockup was to be tested for its radar cross section by Edgerton, Germeshausen & Grier (EG&G) in cooperation with the Scientific Engineering Institute at a small testing facility at Indian Springs. Nevada. Lockheed objected to this site be cause its pylon would not support the full-scale mockup and because the facilities were in full view of a nearby highway. On IO September 1959, EG&G agreed to move its radar test facility to the former U-2 testing site at Area 51 of the Atomic Energy Commission's Nevada Proving Grounds. 11 When the new radar test facility with its larger pylon was ready. Johnson put the A-12 mockup on a specially designed trailer truck that carried it from Burbank to Area 5 I. By 18 November 1959, the mockup was in place atop the pylon. and radar testing could begin. These tests soon proved that Lockheed's concept of shape. fuel addi tive, and nonmetallic parts was workable, but it would take more than 18 months of testing and adjustment before the OXCART achieved a satisfactory radar cross section. It was in the course of this radar testing that the OXCART received its characteristic cobra-like appearance. Edward Purcell and Franklin Rodgers had come up with a theory that a continuously curving airframe would be difficult to track with a radar pulse be cause it would present few corner reflectors or sharp angles from which pulses could bounce in the direction of the radar. To achieve the continuously curving airframe, Kelly Johnson added thin. curved extensions to the engine housings and leading edges of the wings and '"Parangosky interview (S): OSA History. chap. 20. pp. 19-21 (TS Codeword). ,· OSA History, chap. 20. p. 22 (TS Codeword). -SesreL
Not linked to a story yet.
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.