Documents / Official release
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.
. 42 Sec.ct NOFOAN Chapter 2 The Matomic Building total of 357 personnel divided among project headquarters, a US test ing faci lity. and three foreign field bases. C IA employees represented only one-fourth (92) of .the total. The Air Force personnel commit ment was larger, with l09 positions on the 1955 table of organization (th is total does not include many other Air Force personnel, such as SAC meteorologists. who supported the U-2 project in addition to their other duties). The largest Project AQUATONE category was contract employees, with 156 positions in 1955. This category in cluded maintenance and support personnel from Lockheed (five per aircraft), the pilots, and support personnel from other contractors for items such as photographic equipment.6 The first project headquarters was in CIA's Administration (East) Building at 2430 E Street, NW. Continued growth caused the AQUATONE staff to move several times during its first two years. On l May l 955, the project staff moved to the third floor of a small red brick building (the Briggs School) at 2210 E Street, NW. Then on 3 October. the staff moved to Wings A and C of Quarters Eye, a World War fI "temporary" building on Ohio Drive. NW. in the West Potomac Park area of Washington . On 25 February l956, the project staff moved again. this time to the fifth floor of the Matomic Building • Proj,:ct AQUATONE Table of Organization. 28 April 1955 in OSA History. chap. 3, an neK 15 (TS Codeword). Secret
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Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 406 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.