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.
“The Pentagon”12 pages
284 Geeret NOFORN Chapter 6 storage capacity, and runway lelllgth were insufficient for the OXCART program. the site 's remot,e location would greatly ease the task of maintaining the program's security, and a moderate construc tion program could provide adequate facilities. Construction began in September 1960; a C-47 shuttle s,ervice ferried work crews from Burbank to Las Vegas and from Las Vegas to the site. The new 8,500-foot runway was completed by 15 November 1960. Kelly Johnson had been reluctant to have a standard Air Force runway with expansion joints every 25 feet because he feared the joints wou ld set up undesirable vibirations in the speedy aircraft At his suggestion a 150-foot wide runway was therefore constructed of six 25-foot-wide longitudinal sections, each 150 feet long but stag gered. This layout put most of the expansion joints parallel to the di rection of airer-aft roll and reduced the frequency of the joints. Additional improvements included the resurfacing of 18 miles of highway leading to the base so that heavy fuel trucks could bring in the necessary fuel. The need for additional bui ldings on the base was met by the Navy. Three surplus Navy hangars were dismantled. mo\'ed, and reassembled on the north side of the:: base. and more than 100 surplus Navy housing buildings were also transported to Area 51. All essential facilities were ready in time for the forecast delivery date of the first A- I 2 on I August 1961.~" Unfortunately. this delivery date began to slip further and further into the future. Delays in obtaining the titanium, and lacer the J58 en gines. caused the postponement of the final assembly of the first plane. Eventually, Kelly Johnson and Agency project offic ials decided to be gin testing without waiting for the J58 engines by using Pratt & Whitney J75/l 9W engines. designed for the Convair F- 1.06. to test the A-12 at altitudes up to 50,000 feet and at speeds up to Mach 1.6. Such a change, however, meant that the engine compartment of the first air craft had to be reconfigured to accommodate the J75 engine. Lockheed hoped that this substitution would petrmit the delivery of the first A-12 by 22 December l 961 and its initial test flight by 27 February 1962. L ockheed ran into so many technological problems with the OXCART effort that by October 196 I its costs had swollen to $ 136 million and were still climbing. Something obviously had to be done "· OSA History. chap. :!O. pp. 39-10. 4 ). 51 1TS CoJcword): Minnich. ··oxCART Story:· pp. ,.9 (SJ. Seeret
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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.