The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance; The U-2 and OXCART Programs, 1954-1974
CIA-UAP-003 · CIA · document · 406 pages · Release 3
What the war.gov catalog says
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.
From the file
…OPERATION BLUE BOOK High-altitude testing of the U-2 soon led to an unexpected side effect-a tremendous increase in reports of unidentified flying objects… p. 85
…became available, however, many ad vocates of high-altitude overflight continued to believe that aircraft flying above 65,000 feet were safe from detection by Soviet radars. p. 20
New Approaches to Photoreconnaissance While existing Navy and Air Force aircraft were flying their risky re connaissance missions over the Soviet Union, the United States began planning for a more systematic and less dangerous approach using new technology. p. 17
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