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 375 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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Secret rllOFOAN
Index
Curtiss-Wright Corporation
328
Czechoslovakia
IOI
D ________
D-21 aircraft
291
Dalai Lama
216
Dallas. Texas
293
Damage Assessment Team
183
David Clark Company
62
Davis, Saville
18
Dayton. Ohio
4. 8
DC-6 aircraft
341
deep penetration overflights
316. 123
Defector Reception Center (DRC)
")
defectors
Defense. Department of
33. 61. 122. 145, 154, 161. 234,
236-237, 239, 267, 292-293. 301-302.
304. 310. 317
Defense. Deputy Secretary of
81, 127, 144. 161, 188, 207. 300. 309
Defense. Secretary of
161. 298
Defense Mobilization, Office of
17, 26
Science Advisory Committee
37
Del Rio, Texas
256, 198
Delta-rI camera
250
denied territory
174, 188. 190
Deputy Director of Central Intelligence (DDCI)
30. 36. 43. 327,329.88. 101, 122-123.
127, 139, 186-187, 201, 208-209, 223
Detachment A
94-95, !00-101, 106. 114, 116, 124-125,
139-140, 142-143, 181,316
Detachment B
113, 116, 120-121, 124-126, 133,
135, 139, 142-143. 152-153, 155-157.
164, 167, 181-182. 187. 316
Detachment C
133-134, 139, 143-144, 152, 157,
182, 211-212. 214-220. 224. 316
Detachment G
133. 181-182. 198-199. 211. 221-222.
230-233. 243. 248, 250-251, 254-257
Detachment H
225-226, 228-230. 232-237. 239-241,
243-246, 250-251, 255
Development. Deputy Chief of Staff for
7. 11. 17. 35
Development Planning. Office of
12
Development Projects Division (DPD)
157. 191
Development Projects Staff
40. 55-56, 132. 157, 191. 212,331
Dirty-Birds
128. 130. 135
Donovan. Allen F.
18. 21. 24-26. 29-31, 35. 260. 328
Donovan. James
183
Doolittle, James H.
61. 167. 328
Douglas Aircraft
339
DRAGON
2
DRAGON LADY
77
drivers
59
drone
291. 343
Dryden. Hugh
89, 182
DuBridge, Lee
26-27
8ecaet

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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.