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
305 raised the issue at President Johnson's "Tuesday lunch .. on 16 ~lay. Helms got the President's approval, and the CIA put the BLACK SHIELD plan to deploy the OXCART to the Far East into effect later that same day.''0 The airlift of personnel and equipment to Kadena began on 17 May 1967, and on 22 May the first A-12 flew nonstop from Area 51 to Kadena in six hours and six minutes. A second aircraft arrived on 24 May. The third A-12 left on 26 May, but the pilot had trouble with the inertial navigation system and communications near Wake Island. He made a precautionary landing at Wake. where a pre-positioned emergency recovery team was located. The problem was corrected and the aircraft continued its flight to Kadena on the following day. Before the start of the operation, the CIA briefed a number of key US and Allied officials on the operation. Included were the US Ambassadors and Chiefs of Station in the Phillippines. Formosa. Thailand, South Vietna~ !he High C[:·:·::inner::_an_d_ Chief of Station on Okinawa: the Pnme Ministe 7 Thailand; the President and Defense Minister of t e _epu 1c~ China: and the Air Force chiefs of Thailand and the Republic of China. All of these officials favored the operation. By 29 May 1967, 13 days after President Johnson's approval, BLACK SHIELD was ready to fly an operational mission. On 30 May, the detachment was alerted for a mission on the following day. As the takeoff time approached, Kadena was being deluged by rain. but, since weather over the target area was clear, flight preparations continued. The OXCART, which had never operated in heavy rain, taxied to the runway and took off. This first BLACK SHIELD mission flew one flight path over North Vietnam and another over the demilitarized zone (DMZ). The mission was flown at Mach 3.1 and 80.000 feet and lasted three hours and 39 minutes. While over North Vietnam. the A-12 photographed 70 of the 190 known surface-to-air missile sites and nine other prior ity targets. The A- I2's ECM equipment did not detect any radar sig nals during the mission, which indicated that the flight had gone completely unnoticed by both the Chinese and North Vietnamese. "Minnich. "OXCART Story." p. 25 (Sl. Sec, et NOFOAN Chapter 6 ~eeret
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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.