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.
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78 Secret NOfORN Chapter 2 U-2 detachment in formation over Nevada Colonel Yancey's group carefully examined all aspects of the U-2 unit from flight crews to camera technicians and mission pro grammers. When the exercise was over, Yancey reported that the de tachment was ready for deployment. He then briefed a high-level Pentagon panel that included the Secretary of the Air Force and the Chief of Air Staff. These officials concurred with Yancey's detem1i nation that the U-2 was ready for deployment.57 During these final tests in the spring of 1956, the U-2 once again demonstrated its unique airworthiiness. On 14 April 1956, James Cunningham was sitting in his office in Washington when he received a call from Area 51 informing him that a westward-bound U-2 had experienced a flameout over the Mississippi River at the western bor der of Tennessee. After restarting his engine, the pilot reported a sec ond flameout and engine vibrations so violent that he was unable to get the power plant to start again. Early in the program Bissell and Ritland had foreseen such an emergency and, with the cooperation of the Air Force, had arranged for sealled orders to be delivered to every airbase in the continental United States giving instructions about what to do if a U-2 needed to make an e:mergency landing. Cunningham had the project office ask the pilot how far he could glide so they could determine which SAC base should be alerted. The pilot, who by this time was over Arkansas. radioed back that, given the prevailing winds and the U-2·s 21:1 glide ratio, he thought he could reach Albuquerque. New Mexico. Within minutes Cunningham was on the phone to Colonel Geary in the Pentagon, who then had the Air Force's Assistant Director of Operations. Brig. Gen. Ralph E. " Bbscll imcrvicw (S); OSA flisrory. chap. 11. pp. 15-16 (TS Codeword). Geeret
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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.