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 371 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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Index
Baltic Sea
3, 303
Baltic states
104
Baltimore; Maryland
6, 9
Barents Sea
140, 142, 172
Bamesi~rcv
barrel roll,.._s____,
76
Batlin, Alex
66
Bay of Bengal
231
Bay of Pigs
191. 197-199, 205
Baykonur. Soviet Union
137
Beacon Hill
17-19. 21. 24, 3 1-32. 331-33'.!
BEACON HILL Report
17. 19. 21. 24
BEACON HILL Study Group
18, 21
Beechcraft
56. 187
Beerli. Stanley W.
I 9'.?. 196
Beijing, China (see Peiping. China)
228-229
Bell Aircraft Corporation
9
Bell Laboratories
18
Bell Telephone Laboratories
29
" bends"
64
Bennington. Herbert
309
Benton, William
299
Berezovskiy. Soviet Union
138
Berlin, Gennany
16. 20. 127, 147, 162. 183. 196
Berlin crisis
147, 196
BGMARQUE
222
bhangmeter
240
BIRDWATCHER
235
Bison bomber
20-21. 27, 31, 98. 105. 111
Bissell. Richard M .. Jr.
15- 16. 30. 39-41. -B-44. 56. 59.
61. 66, 69-70. n, 74, 78, 81-82. 89,
93, 95. 100-101. 104-106, 109- 110,
121-122. 124. 127-128. 135. 139. 148..
154-1 57. 162. 168. 170. 172. 174, 178-179.
187. 191- 192. 196. 214. 216. 224, 259-260,
262-263. 267. 277-278. 283. 285, 286-287.
289, 295. 327. 328-329, 330-331
Bissell's Narrow-Gauge Airline
72
"black books"
188
"black" contracts
285
BL ACK KNIGHT
126. 134
Black Sea
85. 126. 133. 1-1-l. 153
BLACK SHIELD
301
Blip/Scan Racio
267-268
BLUE BOOK
72-73
Board of Inquiry
184
Bodo AFB. Norway
142. 172. 176- 177
Boeing RB-47
3
Boeing KC-1 35
7 1
bomb damage
49
bomber
2-3. 5. 20-23. 26. 31. so, 66, 98, 105.
109. 111. 140. 167, 214. 262-263.
269. 279, 293. 316-317
Bomber Gap
31.111.316

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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.