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 393 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…
380
Secret NOFORN
Index
Russell, Richard B.
88
Ryan Aircraft
343
s
S-band radar
87
sailplane
10-11. 24-26. 47
Sakhalin Island
201
Saltonstall. Leverett
88
SAM site
177. 205. 306
San Cristobal. Cuba
206-207. 209
San Diego, California
2-P, 343
SANDY HOOK
343
Santa Barbara Channel
254 _ -
Santa Clara Airfield. Cuba
201
Saratov Engels Airfield. Soviet Union
IM
Saryshagan. Soviet Union
139. 168, 232. 336
satellite imagery
298, 255
satellite navigation systems
341
satellite photography
87. 195-197, 22~ 233. 237. 241
satellites
22. 100. 104. 159. 162,211.299,
303. 312. 320. 322. 328
Saville. Gordon P.
17-18
Schalk. Louis
288-289
Schlesinger. James R.
257. 333
Schoech. William A.
285
Schriever, Bernard A.
7, II
Schultze, Charles L.
309
Science and Technology. Directorate of
I 93, 287, 328
Science and Technology, Special Assistant
to the President for
37
Scientific Advisory Board
17. 23
Scientific Advisory Committee
17, 89, 332
Scientific Engineering Institute (SE!)
110- l I l, 129. 260. 267, 27-+. 331-332
Scientific Intelligence (OSI). Office of
14, 21, 39, 81, 97,331,333
SCOPE COTTON
310
SCOPE CRANE
242
SCOPE LOGIC
303
SCOPE SAINT
255
SCOPE SAINT-I
255
SCOPE SAINT-11
255
SCOPE SHIELD
246-247
Scott. Roderick M.
51, 53. 281. 333
Scoville. Herbert
207,287,289.333
SCR-270 radar
7
Scranton-Wilkes-Barre Airport. Pennsylvania
222
Sea of Japan
3
Seaberg, John
8-9. 12. 35-36. 333
SEAFOAM
211
sealant
286. 288
secrecy agreements
295
Seeret

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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.