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
313 ~asret PJOFORPd Chapter 6 SUMMARY OF THE OXCART PROGRAM fntended to replace the U-2 as a collector of strategic intelligence, the OXCART was never used for this purpose. Its brief deployment was strictly for obtaining tactical intelligence and its photographic product contributed very little to the Agency's strategic intelligence mission. By the time OXCART became operational, photosatellite systems had filled the role originally conceived for it. The most advanced aircraft of the 20th century had become an anachronism before it was ever • 11 70 used operatwna y. The OXCART did not even outlast the U-2. the aircraft it was supposed to replace. The OXCART lacked the quick-response capa bility of the smaller craft: a U-2 unit could be activated overnight. and within a week it could deploy abroad. fly sorties. and return to home base. The OXCART planes required precise logistic planning for fuel and emergency landing fields, and their inertial guidance systems needed several days for programming and stabilization. Aerial tankers had to be deployed in advance along an OXCART's flight route and b_e _p.rovisioned with the highly specialized fuel used by the J58 en gines. All of this required a great deal of time and the effort ·or several hundred people. A U-2 mission could be planned and flown with a third fewer personnel. Although the OXCART program created a strategic reconnais sance aircraft with unprecedented speed, range. and altitude. the pro gram's most important contributions lay in other areas: aerodynamic design, high-impact plastics, engine performance, cameras, electronic countermeasures, pilot life-support systems, antiradar devices. use of nonmetallic materials for major aircraft assemblies. and improve ments in milling, machining. and shaping titanium. In all of these ar eas, the OXCART pushed back the frontiers of aerospace technology and helped lay the foundation for future "stealth" research. "'On 26 January 1967 Kelly Johnson noted in his "Archangel log": I think buck to /959, beji,re we sturred this airplu11e, to disc11ssio11.1· with Dick !Jis.\'ell where we seriously considered the problem of 11'/zerlzer there would he one more mum! of aircraji be}<Jrl! the sute/lites took over. We jointly agreed there would be just one round. and nor rwo. That seems ro huve heerz a 1·ery accurate evaluariim, as it seems rlrcll JO SR-71 '.I· !(ive us erwugh overflight recormais.1·a11t·e capahi/iry and we dort 't need tlze adcfi tional IV Oxcart aircraft. '-ee1el
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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.