Documents / Official release
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.
“Donald A. Johnson”17 pages
- p. 24 …Instead of a conventional landing gear, Johnson proposed using two
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- p. 25 …a perceived shortcoming of the Lockheed design."
Another factor in the rejection of Kelly Johnson's…
- p. 26 …19
On 7 June 1954, Kelly Johnson received a letter from the Air
Force rejecting the…
- p. 27 …Gardner described Kelly
Johnson's proposal and showed the drawings to Strong. After this
meeting. Strong…
- p. 30 …To
make Kelly Johnson' s revolutionary design a reality, one addit ional
source of support was…
- p. 42 …it. A lthough Land had heard Allen Donovan
'' James R. Killian. Jr.. interview by Donald E…
- p. 48 …do the job in Johnson's airplane. And further, I
overlaid a curve showing that with…
- p. 57 …demanding, and Kelly Johnson agreed
that such a move would save a lot of money. Lockheed…
- p. 58 …Ben A. Rich (current head of the "Skunk Works"). interview by Donald E. Welzenbach
and Gregory…
- p. 69 …staff) flew over Nevada with
Kelly Johnson in a small Beechcraft plane piloted by Lockheed's…
- p. 72 …This responsibility has placed a
heavy burden on the Office of Security for establishing procedures to…
- p. 79 …Battin suggested the method
used by Nazi war criminal Hermarnn Goering, a thin glass ampule
containing…
- p. 81 …Kelly Johnson used a
'·wet-wing" design for the U-2, which meant that fuel was…
- p. 89 …Airspeed was such a critical factor that Kelly Johnson
added a vernier adjustment to the throttle…
- p. 162 …By late 1957, Johnson agreed that something had to be done.
After a series of tests…
- p. 276 …The
committee examined two other Kelly Johnson designs at this
meeting-a tailless subsonic aircraft with…
- p. 324 …OXCART did win a temporary reprieve in late
November 1967. The Johnson administration decided to keep…
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The Central Intelligence Agency
and Overhead Reconnaissance:
The U-2 and OXCART Programs, 1954-1974
Gregory W . Pedlow
and
Donald E. Welzenbach
History Staff
Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, D .C.
1992
Sec,et
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About this file
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.