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. 18 …This search soon led him to a British twin-engine medium bomber the Canberra-built by…
  • p. 19 …staff was the RB-57D in I 955, whose maximum altitude RAF Canberra Mark-PR3 Seeret
  • p. 22 …al titude performance of the 8-57 Canberra. By January 1954 all three firms had submitted…
  • p. 36 …The RAF equipped the new Canberra PR7 with Rolls Royce Avon-109 engines and gave it…
  • p. 37 …discuss the modi fications for high-alti tude flight being made to the US Canberra, the…
  • p. 80 …production was needed to power spedally configured Canberra RB-57Ds for the Air Force. The first…
  • p. 122 …a reconnaissance version of the twin-engine Canberra bomber, similar to the RAF overflight of Kapustin…
  • p. 130 …et N6fOFU~ Chapter 3 .9f British Canberra bombers at Akrotiri, Cyprus: The Anglo-French military buildup…
  • p. 175 …2 and an Air Force RB-57D Canberra. The two air craft cruised along the Soviet…
  • p. 372 …333 Canberra 5. 9. 23-24. 67. 109. 117, 162 Cannon. Clarence 88 Capp, A l…
  • p. 401 …146 Inspector General 61 oxygen mask 62 RB-57D Canberra 162 Third Air Force 89 US…
365
Follow-On Group (FOG)
77
Ford Foundation
15
Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board
192,226,292,302,330
forest fire detectors
238
Formosa
305 (See also Taiwan)
Fort Worth, Texas
50
40 Committee
188, 257
forward processing center
212
Foster, John
343
France
113, 116-117, 120,201,249
Franco-Prussian War
I
Frankfurt, Germany
2
Free Europe Committee
88
French atomic test area
250
French Indochina
222
French Mediterranean
116
French Mystere
116
French nuclear developments
249
French Polynesia
249
Frogman Incident
94
Fujisawa, Japan
218
Fukien Province
226, 229
G
G-forces
79
G2A aircraft
263
Galbraith, John Kenneth
231-232
Gardner, Trevor N.
11, 13-15, 26-27, 32, 36, 40,
66, 81, 99,327,329,331
Gates, Thomas
164
Gaza Strip
114
Geary, Leo P.
61, 66, 71, 73-74. 78, 152,
186, 196, 288, 329
General Dynamics
312
General Electric 173/GE-3
11
General Tire and Rubber Company
329
GENETRIX
84-85, 87-88
Geneva, Switzerland
96, 147, 159
Geneva Conference on Surprise Attack
159
Geneva summit conference
96
geological survey
254-255
German Luftwaffe
22
German scientists
2
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
120
Gibbs. Jack A.
61, 259-260
Giebelstadt Airbase, West Germany
95, 124, 140
Gilpatric, Roswell
207-208
Glennan. Keith
182
gliders
II
Glienecke Bridge
183
Globke. Hans
101
Goddard, George
330
Sec,et NOFOAN
Index
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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.