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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.

Open the PDF at page 326 Original source ↗

“Sea”42 pages

p. 16 …An RB-29 lost in the Sea of Japan on 13 June 1952 was probably also…
p. 38 …off to about 6 percent of its sea-level thrust. Finally, low structural load factors, like…
p. 62 …U-2 landing gear and pogos .Sea,et-
p. 69 …chap. 8, pp. 1-2 (TS Codeword); Miller, Lockheed U-2. pp. 19-20. Sea,at
p. 75 …a boiling point of 300°F at sea level. Manufacturing this special fuel required petroleum byproducts…
p. 80 …pounds heavier and delivered only 10.200 pounds of thrust at sea level; the resulting Secret
p. 89 …that they could not be flown at sea level faster than 190 knots in smooth air…
p. 98 …Sec.el NOfOftN Chapter 2 Sea,et
p. 102 …working on a cover story for over seas operations. It was important to have a plausible…
p. 115 North Sea First Overflights, 20 June - 5 July 1956 ) f\ Sweden .__,_,_"-.. ) ~ STOCICHOUil -~ ✓ vf!.Sea \f Finland…
p. 116 r/ o/ North Sea 1/'. AMSTERDAM ;, 0 0 Baltic S<la --- Mission 2013 4 July - - - Mission…
p. 120 …Black SEia ~ q, TurkE~Y ~ ~111~ 13~ • ? ~ ...• o<) Mediterranean Sea () .. •• •,,, Malta (U.K.) Sec, et NOFORN ...... . . .. ·:. ·.•
p. 131 Mission 1316, 1 November 1956 Turkey Cyprus ', (U.K .) '· Mediterranean Sea lncirlik Airbase _/\ o/ t. </ \ f…
p. 139 …Soviet border from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea and on to Afghanistan. The System…
p. 146 …On 31 July, the same aircraft made a run over the Black Sea. There were a…
p. 148 …was the first to photograph the major Soviet space launch facility east of the Aral Sea…
p. 153 …of Soviet naval maneuvers in the Barents Sea. The final overflight of Detachment A , mission 2040…
p. 154 …K~ome<e,, tOO 200Miles Norwegian Sea Barents Sea Kola Peninsula '1'v Sweden f / Finlaind…
p. 155 …Norwegian radars tracked the overflights of the Barents Sea and Murmansk in October 1957, and Col…
p. 157 …well within international airspace above the Black Sea, as was the case on 27 October I957…
p. 158 …it turned abruptly upward over the Bering Sea just west of Alaska, climbed to 110,000…
p. 166 …the Soviet border and over the Black Sea without entering Soviet airspace. In late August, as…
p. 179 Baltic ~a Finland Black Sea Tu • ' -···1~- ..... ;.. :~.: ~~~~ •' :~·f.:~<,,· ·ir.fa 0 First British Overflight, 6 December…
p. 185 …Because the Bodo airfield was involved in NATO maneuvers taking place in the Barents Sea area…
p. 215 …Caribbean Sea W- Caymanlsl"""5 I_U."-i ~,...~ _''-),.,, .";!:-, - Mission 3086 5 August Mission 3088 29 August…
p. 216 …Caribbean Sea lOOKiloml.it•~ 100 200 Mff.-s Guvtof Mex~co \\\ I \ Caribbean Sea Multiple missions…
p. 225 …forces were conducting an all-out air-sea-land drive against the rebel-held areas in…
p. 226 f. 0 0 IND/AN OCEAN 300 -- 300 IIOOMlloo .·' Philippine Sea
p. 240 …Philippine Sea South China Sea Philippines • SeGFet NOFOAl<J 72<1~ (IU)0428J 4o92
p. 248 …6eeret NOFORN Chapter 5 Sea,et
p. 257 …The use of peripheral missions prevented any further losses, although one aircraft crashed into the sea…
p. 288 275 Settee NOPORN Chapter 6 Radar testing of A-72 mockup Sea,et
p. 316 …Shortly before Leningrad, the A-12 would head west-southwest down the Baltic Sea, skirting the…
p. 317 …2 would be flying farther out to sea, safely beyond the range of all Soviet SAMs…
p. 350 …B B Afghanistan, Tashkent, Tyuratam, Kazalinsk, Aral Sea 11 August 1957 4039 McMurray Lahore B B…
p. 351 …A-2 Dushanbe, Tashkent, Tyuratam, Kazalinsk, Aral Sea 10 September 1957 4059 Hall Adana B A…
p. 369 …AQUILINE 304, 339-343 Arabs 256 Aral Sea 135 Arbenz, Jacobo 16 "Archangel-I" 262 "Archangel…
p. 371 358 &ee,et NQFQRN Index Baltic Sea 3, 303 Baltic states 104 Baltimore; Maryland 6, 9…
p. 373 …186, 201, 205, 208-209, 299, 327 Caspian Sea 126 catheterized 64 cathode-ray tube 267…
p. 382 …23-24, 109, 139, 143, 164 Kara Sea 142 Kazakh language 135 Kazakhstan 135 Kazan', Soviet…
p. 385 …301 mechanical fuel totalizer/counters 68 Mediterranean Sea 114, 116. 121, 140, 142, 153 medium-range…
p. 393 …Pennsylvania 222 Sea of Japan 3 Seaberg, John 8-9. 12. 35-36. 333 SEAFOAM 211…

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.