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.
“Hill”15 pages
308 Sectet NOF6RN Chapter 6 USS Pueblo in Wonsan Harbor advanced aircraft ever .built was to be put out to pasture. The aban donment of the OXCART did not result from any shortcomings of the aircraft; the causes lay in fi scal pn:ssures and competition between the reconnaissance programs of the CIA and the A ir Force. Throughout the OXCART program. the Air Force had been ex ceedingly helpful; it gave financial support, conducted the refueling program. provided operational facilities at Kadena, and airl i fted OXCART personnel and supplies to Okinawa for the Vietnam and Korean operations. Air Force orders for variants of the CIA's A-12- the YF- I 2A interceptor and the SR -71 reconnaissance aircraft-had helped lower development and procurement costs for the OXCART. Nevertheless, once the Air Force had built up its own fleet of recon naissance aircraft, budgetary expert:s began to criticize the existence of two expensive fleets of similar aiircraft. In November 1965, the very month that the A- 12 had been de clared operational, the Bureau of thte Budget circulated a memoran dum that expressed concern about 1:he coses of the A-12 and SR-71 programs. It questioned both the total number of planes required for the combined fleets, and the necessity for a separate CIA fleet. The memorandum recommended phasiing out the A-12 program by September 1966 and stopping any further procurement of the SR-71 Seere+-
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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.