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.

  • p. 24 …April 1954. Lo.:khec:d Corporation. Advanced Devdopmcnt Projec:ts Divi~ion. Burbank. California. Sec,et
  • p. 58 …Pedlow, Burbank, California, 26 August 1988. 6eeret 11
  • p. 85 …how to transfer Lockheed employees from Burbank to Area 5 l without arousing a great deal…
  • p. 273 …SP-1362, "History of the OXCART Program," Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, Burbank, CA. I July 1968, p…
  • p. 287 …designed trailer truck that carried it from Burbank to Area 5 I. By 18 November 1959…
  • p. 296 …not test the OXCART aircraft at its Burbank facility, where the runway was too short and…
  • p. 297 …Construction began in September 1960; a C-47 shuttle s,ervice ferried work crews from Burbank…
  • p. 299 …The plane left Burbank on 26 February 1962 and arrived at Area 51 two days later…
  • p. 304 …into the engine nacelles during assembly at Burbank were sucked into the power plant during initial…
  • p. 372 …293 BUORL 22 Burbank. California 45 &eeret NOFe"N Index Burke. William 168 120 114 Byeloruss1a…
331
Engineering Institute, an Agency proprietary working on ways to re
duce the U-2's vulnerability to radar detection. In 1957 he founded
Itek Corporation.
LUNDAHL, Arthur E.
A Navy photointerpreter during World War II and afterward. Lundahl
became the chief of the Photo-Intelligence Division in I 953. To sup
port the U-2 project, he established a separate photointerpretation
center under Project HTAUTOMAT. Under his leadership the Photo
Intelligence Division grew rapidly and achieved office status as the
Photographic Intelligence Center in 1958. In 1961 Lundahl became
the first head of the National Photograhic Interpretation Center, which
combined the photointerpretation efforts of the CIA and the military
services.
McCONE, John A.
DCI from 1961 to 1965. A strong supporter of the CIA's manned re
connaissance program, McCone presided over the OXCART's main
period of development and pushed for a greater role for the CIA in its
joint reconnaissance programs with the Department of Defense.
MILLER, Herbert I.
Miller worked in the Office of Scientific Intelligence's nuclear branch
and became Richard Bissell's first deputy for the U-2 project. He later
left the Agency to work for the Scientific Engineering Institute.
NORTON, Garrison
An assistant to Trevor Gardner, Norton became an early supporter of
the Lockheed CL-282 and started the CIA's interest in overhead re
connaissance by informing Philip Strong about the aircraft. Norton
later became Navy Assistant Secretary for Research and Development
and was involved with the OXCART program.
OVERHAGE, Carl F. J.
After working on the development of Technicolor, Overhage went to
work for Kodak. He headed the Beacon Hill Panel in 1952 and later
became director of Lincoln Laboratories.
PARANGOSKY, John N.
Parangosky worked for Richard Bissell's Development Projects Staff
in the mid- I 950s. He served as deputy chief of the Adana U-2 unit in
1959 and became project manager of the OXCART program from its
inception through the test flight stage.
~eerct NOFORN
Appendix B
6ec:et

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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.