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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.

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“Nevers”34 pages

  • p. 13 …Without their help a good deal of this story could never have become known. The assistance…
  • p. 44 …the CL-282; in fact, there may never have been a formal decision as such. In…
  • p. 74 …Ry, Lockheed engineers had to solve problems never before encountered. Among these problems w21s the need…
  • p. 84 …Flight tests continued, with the U-2 ascending to alti tudes never before attained in sustained…
  • p. 102 …put aside for further thought (which it never received), and Bissell 's weather research cover re…
  • p. 147 …Peninsula, because of bad weather and, therefore, never entered Soviet airspace. A second attempt to photograph…
  • p. 157 …2 flight over the Black Sea that never violated Soviet airspace revealed 12 attempts at interception…
  • p. 159 …Six of the men on board were killed and the remaining 11 were never heard from…
  • p. 160 …Although this new Berlin crisis never became as threat,ening as the blockade of l 948…
  • p. 165 …The Air Force never equipped its orig inal U-2s with the 175 engines. 10" Detachment…
  • p. 189 …Powers never made it past Sverdlovsk. Four and a half hours into the mission, an SA…
  • p. 194 …program in I 974, but RAF pilots never again conducted an overt1ight in an Agency U…
  • p. 208 …very good reason, and such a situation never developed, in part because satellite photography gradually began…
  • p. 210 …Since this never happened, Francis Gary Powers' flight on l May 1960 proved to be the…
  • p. 223 …Responsibility for photo graphic coverage of Cuba remained with the Air Force; Agency pil,ots never…
  • p. 227 …Both were expe rienced with World War II aircraft, although Vito had never flown the rebels…
  • p. 248 …It was short of both pilots and planes and never had more than three U-2s…
  • p. 257 …This was an electronic intelligence mission that, in ac cordance with the new guidelines, never came…
  • p. 264 251 Seu et NOFOAN Chapter 5 There was never another Agency U-2 mission from an…
  • p. 290 …the OXCART aircraft for its own use. never adopted the laminated vertical stabii izers." THE OXCART…
  • p. 294 …Scott employed concepts never be fore used in camera systems. These included the use of a…
  • p. 298 …As it turned out, the 158 was never used in a Navy aircraft. "OSA History. chap…
  • p. 299 …This new delay was caused by leaking fuel tanks, a problem that would never be solved…
  • p. 303 …the J58 had to reach performance levels never before achieved by a jet engine. while operating…
  • p. 313 …even though the SKYLARK contingency plan was never put into effect. Since U-2s continued to…
  • p. 316 …Moreover, the Soviets never operated the radars in the tracking and lockon modes, a fact that…
  • p. 317 …strongly opposed it and the 303 Committee never forwarded the proposal to President Johnson. 5" The…
  • p. 318 …The OXCART, which had never operated in heavy rain, taxied to the runway and took off…
  • p. 326 …collector of strategic intelligence, the OXCART was never used for this purpose. Its brief deployment was…
  • p. 328 …the President never went so far as to eliminate the overflight program. As Commander in Chielf…
  • p. 333 …its speed and altitude have never been equaled. The development of this aircraft also led to…
  • p. 348 …a 16-kilogram VHF recorder for communications intelligence (COMINT), was never used and was transferred to…
  • p. 349 …a mission over the Soviet Union that never took place. Systems-XI through XV were ECM…
  • p. 356 …Project SANDY HOOK never advanced very far in develop ment; projected high costs and substantial technical…
282
Sec, et NOF0RN
Chapter 6
The Hycon entry. designed by James Baker and known as the
Type-IV camera, was a spotting camera with extremely-high-ground
resolution. In fact, it was an advanced version of the highly reliable
B camera developed for the original U-2 program. It used a 48-inch
Baker-designed f/5.6 lens to focus images onto 9.5-inch tilm. Like the
B camera it could provide seven frames of photography covering a
swath 41 miles wide with stereo overlap on 19 miles of the swath.
The Hycon camera carried the largest film supply of the three
cameras, 12,000 feet. It was able to resolve 100 lines per millimeter
and provide a ground resolution of 8 inches. A version of this 48-inch
Hycon camera. known as the H camera, later saw service in u-2R air
craft.
Each of the three camera systems had unique capabilities and
advantages, so all three were purchased for the OXCART. Before
they could be effectively employed in the aircraft, however, new
types of camera windows were needed. The OXCART's camera win
dows had to be completely free from optical distortion. Achieving
this goal was difficult in a window whose exterior would be sub
jected to temperatures of 550"F whik the interior surface would be
only IscrF. After three years and the expenditure of 52 million in re
search and development, the Corning Glass Works, which had joined
this effort as a Perkin-Elmer subcontractor, solved the problem of
producing a camera window that could withstand tremendous heat
differentials. Its quartz glass window was fused to the metal frame
by an unprecedented process involving high-frequency sound
~.waves.
Later in the program, the OXCART received yet another camera
system. In 1964 the Texas Instruments Corporation developed an in
frared camera for Project TACKLE U-2s that were being used to de
termine whether the People's Republic of China was producing
weapons-grade nuclear material. This stereo device, known as the
FFD-4. was adapted for use in OXCART. The camera had an effective
focal length of 50 inches and a 150-foot supply of 3.5-inch film. The
camera's resolution was 3°C thermally, I milliradian spatially. and 60
feet on the ground. It could be used for both day and night imagery
collection.
'' Baker intcrvicw (S); Minnich. "OXCART Stury." pp. 5-o ISl.
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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.