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
Secret i<JOFOHl'iJ Chapter 6 278 to achieve the desired target altitude of 91,000 feet. Afterward. he noted in the project log: ··we have no performance margins left; so this project. instead of being 10 times as hard as anything we have done, is 12 times as hard. This matches the design number and is ob viously right." ,,, These changes satisfied Bissell, who notified Johnson on 26 January that the CIA was authorizing the construction of 12 of the new aircraft. The actual contract was signed on 11 February l 960. Lockheed's original quotation for the project was $96.6 million for l 2 aircraft, but technological difficulties eventually made this price im possible to meet. Recognizing that fabricating an aircraft from tita nium might involve unforeseen difficulties, the CIA included a clause in the contract that allowed costs to be reevaluated. During the next five years. this clause had to be invoked on a number of occasions as the A-12's costs soared to more than double the original estimate."' NEW TECHNOLOGIES NECESSITATED BY OXCART'S HIGH SPEED According to the specifications. the OXCART aircraft was to achieve a speed of Mach 3.2 (2.064 knots or 0.57 miles per second. which would make it as fast as a rifle bullet). have a range of 4.120 nautical miles. and reach altitudes of 84.500 to 97,600 feet. The new aircraft would thus be more than five times as fast as the U-2 and would go almost 3 miles higher. One major disadvantage of the OXCART's great speed was high temperatures. Flying through the earth's atmosphere at Mach 3.2 heated portions of the aircraft's skin to almost 900°F. An aircraft op erating at these high speeds and high temperatures required fuels. lu bricants, and hydraulic fluids that had not yet been invented. The OXCART's fuel requirement called for a low-vapor-pressure fuel with a low volume at operating temperatures; the fuel would also be used as a heat sink to cool various parts of the aircraft. The 158 en gines required lubricants that did not break down at the very high op erating temperatures of Mach 3.2 speeds. This requirement led to the ,., Johnson... Archangc I log," 2 I January I960. '" OSA Hiswry. chap. 20. pp. 27-29. 33-34, 36 (TS Colkword). 6ee1et
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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.