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 374 Original source ↗

“RAF”18 pages

  • p. 19 …staff was the RB-57D in I 955, whose maximum altitude RAF Canberra Mark-PR3 Seeret
  • p. 36 …In 1952 the Royal Air Force (RAF) began Project ROBIN, which was designed to modify the…
  • p. 106 …The U-2s were to use Lakenheath AFB, an RAF base also used by the USAF…
  • p. 107 …penetrated the British radar net work, causing RAF fighters to scramble. Afterward the Air Ministry made…
  • p. 122 …twin-engine Canberra bomber, similar to the RAF overflight of Kapustin Yar in 1953. The US…
  • p. 156 …Range for the first time since the RAF's overflight in 1953, obtaining photographs of a…
  • p. 166 …In November 1958, four RAF officers arrived at Detachment B at Adana. thus beginning the United…
  • p. 167 …ask Air Vice Marshal MacDonald if the RAF was prepared to '"" See, for ex:ample, the…
  • p. 168 …MacDonald agreed to Bissell's proposal and began recruiting RAF pilots to fly the U-2…
  • p. 169 …Most flights by the RAF pilots in Detachment B, however, took place in the Middle East…
  • p. 177 …For almost a year, the RAF pilots of Detachment B had been ready to fly over…
  • p. 194 …A four-man unit of RAF U-2 pilots was stationed at Detachment G, Edwards AFB…
  • p. 200 …approval authority for missions conducted by the RAF pilots in Detachment 8. The loss of Powers…
  • p. 316 …Project IDEALIST U-2 flying from an RAF facility in Great Britain. The OXCART would fly…
  • p. 332 …1960, the need for British participation lessened. RAF pilots henceforth flew only training or ferry missions…
  • p. 339 …P-E PFIAB PI PIC PID PSAC RAF RFP SAB SAC SAC SA/PC/DCI SAM…
  • p. 351 …4154 Powers Peshawar B B Tyuratam, Kyshtym, Sverdlovsk; downed by SAM a RAF pilot Sec1 et
  • p. 402 …Louis 29 Watertown Strip 57 Watton RAF Base. England 156 "weather plane" cover story 179 weather…
361
CL-282 Project
10-17, 24-27, 29-37, 66. 327-331. 333
CL-400 aircraft
263
clandestine operations
16,321
Clandestine Services
192
Clark Airfield. Philippines
212
Clifford, Clark
311
Cline, Ray
209. 224
"coffin comer"
76
Cold War
17
collection requirements
80-81, 189. 253, 300
Columbia Broadcasting System
18
combat aircraft
6. 26. 45
Combined Shipping Adjustmenc Board
15
Commerce. Depanment of
254
commercial airliners
72
communications intelligence (COMINT)
189. 311. 335-336
Communications Satellite Corporation
328
COMPASS TRIP
254
competitive bidding
44
compressor vanes
291
computer-controlled radar
294
computers
52
Congress, United States
44, 88, 98, 111. 159-160. 170, 293,
315, 317-3 18
constant-velocity film transport
281
Constellation airliner
IO. 329
Contingency Reserve Fund
40,44
Secret NOFORN
Index
contractors
42, 72. 259. 288
contrails
152
Convair
262-263. 267-271. 273. 284. 312
Convair F- 106
284
convective clouds
94
Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory
18. 24-25. 328
Corning Glass Works
282
cosmic-ray effects
94
cover officer
89
coven activities
2. 6, 40. 43-44. 73. 80. 88. 134.
157, 189. 191 -192. 212. 214.
222. 320-321. 328. 342
Covert Action Staff (CAS)
214
covert funding
43
Crabb. Lionel
,94
Crete
116
Crick. Alan
154
Crick Commiuee
154
Crimean Peninsula
108
Cuba
188. 197-201. 205-211. 299-300.
302. 310. 327. 339
Cuban air and ground order of battle
198
Cuban Missile Crisis
55. 199. 209-210. 299. 327
Cubi Point Naval Air Station. Philippines
212. 216. 221
Culbertson. Allma.n T.
66
Cunningham. James A.. Jr.
40. 66. 69. 72. 78-i9. 125. 247.
288-289. 328-329
Current Intelligence. Office of
81
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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.