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 394 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…
381
security
2, 27, 40-41, 43, 55, 59-60, 72, 8 1,
94, 112, 125, 127, 140, 161. 167,
185. 187-188. 191. 197,201,209,
212, 218, 221-222, 224, 236, 256,
273, 283-284, 294, 318, 327
Security, Office of
59, 112, 222
Semipalatinsk, Soviet Union
128, 138-139, 147, 168
SENSINT--Sensitive Intelligence
3
sensors
11, 22. 241, 292, 3 I0
Seventh Air Division
89
Severodvinsk. Soviet Union
172, 176
Shanghai. China
222, 228, 242
sheep-dipping
74
Shell Oil Company
62. 328
shellfi sh toxin
125
Shelton, William
- - - 125, 176
shock wave
290-291
short-range reconnaissance vehicle
342
show 1rial
183
Shuangchengzi, China
226, 228. 235
shutter assemblies
53
Siberia
3
Sichuan, China
230
Sicily
116
Sieker, Robert
131
Sierra snowfield
254
SIGINT Committee
332
Signals Intelligence (SIGINT)
222
Index
Sinai penins1ula
117
"single-pass'" mission
306
Sino-Indian border
231-2:33. 319
Sino-Soviet lborder
336
"Skonk Works"
45
Skunk Work:s
45, 71, 132. 251. 262, 273-274
SKYLARK
299
Smithsonian Institution
55
"snap-up"
148
Snark missil,:s
22
Snider, Sammy V. C.
138
snowmelt
254
SOFT TOUCH
135, 139, 143
software algorithms
52
solar cells
240
solid-fueled imissiles
161.3 17
sound barrier
289
SOUTH GATE
2 16
South Vietnam
230-231, 243, 301. 305
Southeast Asia
190,198,216, 221.301, 310
Sovetskaya Gavan'. Soviet Union
144
Soviet B loc
1-2. 4, 6. 16-20. 87. 93. 112. 123.
147. 152,159. 19~ 197,211.330
Soviet Communist Party Congress
160
Soviet Far East
134,144

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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.