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.

Open the PDF at page 360 Original source ↗

“Donald A. Johnson”17 pages

  • p. 24 …Instead of a conventional landing gear, Johnson proposed using two skis and a reinforced belly rib…
  • p. 25 …a perceived shortcoming of the Lockheed design." Another factor in the rejection of Kelly Johnson's…
  • p. 26 …19 On 7 June 1954, Kelly Johnson received a letter from the Air Force rejecting the…
  • p. 27 …Gardner described Kelly Johnson's proposal and showed the drawings to Strong. After this meeting. Strong…
  • p. 30 …To make Kelly Johnson' s revolutionary design a reality, one addit ional source of support was…
  • p. 42 …it. A lthough Land had heard Allen Donovan '' James R. Killian. Jr.. interview by Donald E…
  • p. 48 …do the job in Johnson's airplane. And further, I overlaid a curve showing that with…
  • p. 57 …demanding, and Kelly Johnson agreed that such a move would save a lot of money. Lockheed…
  • p. 58 …Ben A. Rich (current head of the "Skunk Works"). interview by Donald E. Welzenbach and Gregory…
  • p. 69 …staff) flew over Nevada with Kelly Johnson in a small Beechcraft plane piloted by Lockheed's…
  • p. 72 …This responsibility has placed a heavy burden on the Office of Security for establishing procedures to…
  • p. 79 …Battin suggested the method used by Nazi war criminal Hermarnn Goering, a thin glass ampule containing…
  • p. 81 …Kelly Johnson used a '·wet-wing" design for the U-2, which meant that fuel was…
  • p. 89 …Airspeed was such a critical factor that Kelly Johnson added a vernier adjustment to the throttle…
  • p. 162 …By late 1957, Johnson agreed that something had to be done. After a series of tests…
  • p. 276 …The committee examined two other Kelly Johnson designs at this meeting-a tailless subsonic aircraft with…
  • p. 324 …OXCART did win a temporary reprieve in late November 1967. The Johnson administration decided to keep…
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Bibliography
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Published Works Cited
Aart, Dick van der. Aerial Espionage, Secret Intelligence Flights by
East and West. Shrewsbury, England: Airlife Publishing, 1985 .
.. AF Cites Red Bomber Progress." Aviation Week, 24 May 1954,
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"'Alleged Overflight of Soviet Area by American Planes." US
Department of State Bulletin, vol. 36, 28 January 1957, p. 135.
.. Alleged Violations of Soviet Territory: Soviet Note of July 10, 1956
with U.S. Reply." US Department of State Bulletin, 30 July 1956,
pp. 191-192.
Alsop, Stewart. The Center. New York: Popular Library, 1968.
Ambrose, Stephen E. Eisenhower. Vol. 2, The President. New York:
Simon and Schuster, 1984.
Andrew, Christopher. Her Majesty s Secret Service: The Making of
the British Intelligence Community. New York: Viking, 1986.
•• Aviation Week Story Spurs Debate on US, Red Airpower
Positions." Aviation Week, 30 May 1955, pp. 13-14.
Beschloss, Michael R. Mayday: Eisenhower, Khrushchev and the U-2
Affair. New York: Harper & Row, 1986.
Brown, William H. "J58/SR-7 l Propulsion Integration." Studies in
Intelligence 26 (Summer 1982): pp. 17-18 (Unclassified).
Brugioni, Dino. The Cuban Missile Crisis-Phase I, 29 August-16
October 1962. DDS&T Historical Series, NPIC-1 (CIA: NPIC,
1971) (Secret).
Burrows, William E. Deep Black: Space Espionage and National
Security. New York: Random House, 1987.
"Can Soviets Take the Air Lead? What Le May, Wilson, Ike Say." US
News and World Report, 11 May 1956, pp. I08-114.
Chronology of the Office of Special Activities, 1954-1968. (CIA:
DS&T, 1969) (Top Secret Codeword).
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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.