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. 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…
377
Plans, Directorate of
73, 81, 157,197,211,287
Plesetsk, Soviet Union
176
Poland
I00-101, l04, I 10, 123, 145,303
polarizing filters
330
Polaroid Corporation
18, 24, 29
POLECAT
221
Polish Ambassador to the US
109
Polyarny Ural
172
polygraph examination
185
Pope, Allen L.
214-215
poppy fields
254
Port Said, Egypt
120
Portsmouth Harbor
94
. P9tassium cyanide
66. 125
powered glider
14, 25. 339
Powers. Francis Gary
88,117,124, 174-178, 181-187,
190-191, 195, 197,201.219, 221.
224,252,316,322.332, 336
Poznan, Poland
104
PR3 aircraft
5
Pratt, Perry W.
31
Pratt & Whitney
12, 31. 35, 40, 48, 67, 71. 152,217,
251,268,270, 284-285, 290
Pratt & Whitney J58 power plant
270
Pratt & Whitney J75-Pl3 jet engine
152
Pratt & Whitney J75/19W engines
284
Pratt and Whitney J57
12
President's Board of Consultants on
Foreign Intelligence Activities
37, 127, 167, 170, 190, 192,328,
330
President's Foreign Intelligence
Advisory Board
37
President's Intelligence Checklist
201
President's Science Advisory Committee
37
pressure suits
64, 247
pressurized "spacesuit"
63
Prettyman. E. Barrett
184-185
Prettyman Board
185
Princeton University
29
processing and interpretation centers
115
Project Director
61. 82. 329
Project Officer. AFCIG-5
61
Project Staff
40-43. 56, 72-73. 82, 89,
170. 299
Project Three
27, 29-34. 327
propaganda
88, 160, 162. 183. 186. 317
Pryor. Frederick
183
psychological warfare
186. 222
Pueblo
242. 307,320
Puerto Rico
207,211
Pulse-Position Indicator display
267
Purcell. Edward M.
18, 29, 110-111. 129,260,263.
271, 274. 332
Putt, Donald L.
• 11. 35-36. 40
PYO [Soviet Air Defense]
174
Sec, et NOfOAl'I
Index
Secret

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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.