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…
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Index
374
National Security Council Intelligence
Directive (NSCID)
191
Nationalist China
319,215,224,226,229,236
Nationalist Chinese
201, 205, 222-226,
229-230, 234-237, 239-240,
243, 245-246, 253,257,319
Air Force
223,225
insignia
225
pilots
319,223,230,235,243,246,253
U-2
205, 223-224, 229, 246
Navajo missile
22
Naval Air Station at Atsugi, Japan
134
naval quarantine
210
Nehru, Jawaharlal
231~233
Nelson, Nonnan
68
Nevada
56-57, 341, 113, 130-131, 133, 149,
182, 241, 274, 283, 286, 290, 295,
297, 302-303, 31 I
Nevada Proving Ground
56,241
New Delhi, India
232
Ngo Dinh Diem
230
NICE GIRL
310
nickel-cadmium batteries
240
Nile River
119
NIMBUS
200
1973 Middle East war
256,320
9th Tactical Air Force
330
nitrogen
64
Nixon, Richard M.
245-246, 256-257, 333
Nobel Prize
332
North American Air Defense
Command (NORAD)
289
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO)
20, 329, 87, 148, 172
radars
87
North Island Naval Base, California
248
North Korea
4,233,237,242,307
North Vietnam
190, 221-222, 230-231, 233, 243,
246-247, 301, 304-307, 311,336,342
North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA)
231
Northrop Aviation
259
Norton, Garrison
14-15, 31, 70,260,331
Norwalk, Connecticut
50
Norway
140, 142, 172, 176-177, 303,319
Norwegian Defense Staff
142
Norwegian Intelligence Service
142
Notre Dame University
7
Novaya Zemlya
172
Novokuznetsk, Soviet Union
138
nuclear energy
39, 81, 225
Nuclear Energy Division
39
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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.