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.
“RAF”18 pages
297 ~eeret NOFOPU''l Chapter 6 decided to go to Nevada and take charge of the OXCART's develop ment himself. His presence made a big difference, as can be seen in his notes in the project log: I uncovered many items of a managerial, materiel and design na- ture.... I had meetings with vendors to improve their opera- tion.... Changed supervision and had daily talks with them, going over in detail all problems on the aircraft .... Increased the supervision in the electrical group by 500% .... We tightened up the inspection procedures a great deal and made inspection stick. It appears that the problems are one-third due to bum engineer ing.... The addition of so many systems to the A-12 has greatly complicated the problems, but we did solve the overall problem."'' These improvements in on-site management got the project back on schedule. By 20 November 1965, the final validation flights for OXCART deployment were finished. During these tests. the OXCART achieved a maximum speed of Mach 3.29. an altitude of 90,000 feet. and sus tained flight time above Mach 3.2 of 74 minutes. The maximum - errdurance test lasted six hours and 20 minutes. On 22 November. Kelly Johnson wrote to Brig. Gen. Jack C. Ledford. head of the Office of Special Activities, stating. "'The time has come when the bird should leave its nest. .. "" Three years and seven months after its first flight in April 1962. the OXCART was ready for operational use. It was now time to find work for the most advanced aircraft ever conceived and built. DISCUSSIONS ON THE OXCART'S FUTURE EMPLOYMENT Although the OXCART had been designed to replace the U-2 as a strategic reconnaissance aircraft to fly over the Soviet Union, this use had become doubtful long before the OXCART was ready for operational use. The U-2 Affair of 1960 made Presidents very reluc tant to consider overflights of the Soviet Union. Indeed. Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy had both stated publicly that the United States would not conduct such overflights. In July 1962. Secretary of "Johnson, .. Archangel log," 5 August-30 April 1965. ''' Minnich, "'OXCART Story... p. 23 (S). Secret
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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.