Documents / Official release
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.
“Lockheed”60+ pages
- p. 4 …8
Lockheed CL-282 Supporters and the CIA. ........................................ 13
Scientists and Overhead Reconnaissance ............................................... 17
The BEACON…
- p. 6 …260
Competition Between Lockheed and Convair ...................................... 267
The Selection of the Lockheed Design .............. ... ................ ................ 270
Efforts To…
- p. 12 …excellent technical study of the U-2: Lockheed U-2
(l 983).
There has also been…
- p. 22 …Immediately after returning to California, Carter proposed to
Lockheed Vice President L. Eugene Root (previously the…
- p. 23 10
Secret ld0F8RN
Chapter 1
Lockheed also submit a design. Carter noted that the proposed aircraft…
- p. 24 …who then asked Lockheed to Kelly Johnson
. sμbmit a specific proposal. In early April, Kelly Johnson…
- p. 25 .
12
Sec,et NOFORN
Chapter 1
The Lockheed CL-282 Development Planning. According to Wienberg, General…
- p. 26 …Despite the Air Force's selection
of the X-16, Lockheed continued to work on the…
- p. 27 …Proposals for special reconnaissance aircraft have been re
ceived in the Air Staff from Lockheed. Fairchild…
- p. 28 …range are not as good as the
Lockheed CL-282. :;
Gardner's enthusiasm for the CL…
- p. 29 …Few detaiils about Dulles's precise attitude
toward the proposed Lockheed reconnaissance aircraft are available,
but…
- p. 37 …for Philip Strong of the CIA had told him that the
Lockheed Aircraft Corporation had designed…
- p. 39 …Thus, even though
the Lockheed CL-282 had several important sources of support by
September I954…
- p. 40 …Council.'A
Project Three Support for the Lockheed CL-282
Chapter 1
James R. Killian, Jr…
- p. 42 …Agency.~·1
Land learned the details of Lockheed's proposed CL-282 aircraft
soon after he…
- p. 43 30
Sec, et NOFORM
Chapter 1
briefly mention a Lockheed design for a high-flying aircraft…
- p. 44 …During September and October the Project Three study group
met frequently to discuss the Lockheed design…
- p. 47 …The Lockheed super glider will fly at 70,000 feet, well out of the
reach of…
- p. 48 …Putt, to oppose the adoption of the Lockheed design. The officials ar
gued that the Bell…
- p. 49 …He used Gardner's
statement to convince Lockheed's senior management to approve the
project, which…
- p. 50 …small group of prominent scientists that the
Lockheed design represented the best possible overhead reconnais-
sance…
- p. 52 …afternoon of 3 Decembeli, they
' Although the Lockheed CL-282 was not designated as the U…
- p. 53 …r the airframes to be built by Lockheed. His query was
greeted with silence. Everyone present…
- p. 55 …This category in
cluded maintenance and support personnel from Lockheed (five per
aircraft), the pilots, and…
- p. 56 …to be
settled, including the contract with Lockheed. Nevertheless. work on
the U-2 began as…
- p. 57 …A general contractor such as Lockheed
can purchase much, if not all, of the supplies needed…
- p. 58 …During the final contract negotiations in the spring
of 1958, Lockheed and the US Government agreed…
- p. 59 …Aircraft," 9 Dc:cc:mbc:r 195-i.
Lockheed Contract Filc:s. OSA Records (S ).
SeeFet
- p. 61 …F. Boc:hrne. Summary Report:
Reconnaissance Aircraft. Lockheed Aircraft Corpor.ition Report I04'.!0. 28 January…
- p. 63 …1954, even before the CIA adopted
the Lockheed proposal. Baker quickly recognized, however, that he
would…
- p. 69 …1-2 (TS Codeword); Miller, Lockheed U-2. pp. 19-20.
Sea,at
- p. 70 …By July 1955 the base
was ready, and Agency, Air Force, and Lockheed personnel began
moving…
- p. 74 61
project-the construction and testing of the aircraft-remained the ex
clusive province of Lockheed…
- p. 77 …The first model of the
pressure suit, used by Lockheed test pilots, made no provision for…
- p. 79 …Geary told Culbertson that the Lockheed
CL-282 was going to be known officially as the…
- p. 81 …former director of Lockheed's Skunk Works.
10 Donald E. Welzenbach, 14 March 1986 (U): Miller…
- p. 84 …7 (TS Codeword); Miller, Lockheed U-2, p. 22.
"' OSA Hiswry, chap. 8, pp. 12-14…
- p. 85 …how to transfer Lockheed employees
from Burbank to Area 5 l without arousing a great deal…
- p. 88 …Colonel Yancey was in charge of six SAC pilots who were to be
trained by Lockheed…
- p. 90 …CIA, which then placed an order with
Lockheed for 29 U-2s in configurations to be…
- p. 107 …U-2
cover story stating that a Lockheed-developed aircraft would be flown
by the USAF…
- p. 143 …Lockheed mechanics
had mounted the various RAINBOW devices on the prototype U-2, a
Lockheed test…
- p. 144 …Unable to restart the power plant, Lockheed tesi: pilot
Robert Sieker bailed out but was struck…
- p. 145 …The loss of one of Lockheed's best test pilots. as well as the pro
totype…
- p. 157 …As a substitute,
Lockheed began working to develop a paint with radar-suppressant
qualities, but this…
- p. 162 …After a series of tests over Edwards AFB, Lockheed began coating
the U-2s with a…
- p. 188 …Although it had been refurbished by
Lockheed and now had the more powerful 175 engine that…
- p. 199 …In the meantime Pow1ers began working for Lockheed
as a U-2 pilot. In March 1963…
- p. 200 …Beschloss claims that Powers was tired by Lockheed
for criticizing the Agency in his memoirs (which…
- p. 209 …2
One week later Colonel Geary called to order Lockheed to up
grade six older U…
- p. 211 …In May 1961, Lockheed began modifying Agency U-2s so that
they could be refueled in…
- p. 220 …story, which
was that its pilots were Lockheed employees on a ferry flight to
Puerto Rico…
- p. 230 …for Detachment C
Late in l 958, Lockheed began refitting the Agency's 13 remaining
U…
- p. 235 …STPOLLY
added the more advanced Lockheed P3A in 1963. Between 1955 and
1967, when the CIA…
- p. 236 …U-2 missions, and the Air Force, which had
Lockheed P-2V7 and P3A
reconnaissance aircraft
- p. 238 …The planes were maintained by Lockheed mechanics under con
tract to the CIA. The Agency attempted…
- p. 255 …All Air Force and CIA U-2s were or
dered back to Lockheed for ultrasonic inspection…
- p. 260 …The Agency dispatched several pilots to Taiwan under the cover
of Lockheed employees working on a…
- p. 264 …G in California-with three more at Lockheed undergo
ing repair. The Agency had originally ordered…
- p. 265 …Francis Gary Powers was one of the Lockheed test pilots who
checked out this new aircraft…
329
program when he saw how much intelligence it could gather on the
Soviet Union. Because his own interests lay more in the area of hu
man intelligence, he left the management of the reconnaissance pro
gram in the hands of DDCI Cabell and project director Richard
Bissell.
GARDNER, Trevor
During World War II, Gardner worked on the Manhattan Project, and
later he headed the General Tire and Rubber Company before starting
his own research and development firm, the Hycon Company, which
built aerial cameras. Gardner served as the Secretary of the Air
Force's Special Assistant for Research and Development and then as
the Assistant Secretary for Research and Development during
Eisenhower's first term of office. Gardner's concern about the danger
of a surprise attack helped lead to the establishment of the
Technological Capabilities Panel. Gardner also urged the building of
Lockheed's CL-282 aircraft.
GEARY, Leo P.
Air Force colonel (later brigadier general) who was James
Cunningham's Air Force counterpart in the U-2 program. He was in
strumental in diverting engines from other Air Force projects for use
in the U-2, and his 10 years with the U-2 project provided a high de
gree of continuity.
GOODPASTER, Andrew J.
An Army colonel who served as President Eisenhower's Staff
Secretary from 1954 to 196 l. During this period, he was the CIA's
point of contact in the White House for arranging meetings with the
President on the subject of overhead reconnaissance. Goodpaster's
later career included service as the supreme commander of NATO and
then commandant of the US Military Academy at West Point.
HELMS, Richard M.
DCI from 1966 to 1973. During his tenure as DCI, the CIA's manned
reconnaissance program came under heavy pressure because of com
petition from the Air Force's reconnaissance program.
JOHNSON, Clarence L. (Kelly)
One of the nation's foremost aeronautical designers, Kelly Johnson
graduated from the University of Michigan's School of Aeronautics
in 1933 and began working for the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation.
During World War U he designed the P-38 fighter, and after the war
his design successes continued with the F-104 jet fighter, the
Constellation airliner, and the CIA's two strategic reconnaissance air
craft, the U-2 and the OXCART A-12.
~eeret NOF'ORN
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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.