The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance; The U-2 and OXCART Programs, 1954-1974

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104
Sec, et NOFORN
Chapter 3
detachment had four aircraft working and could average up to two
flights per day, Bissell told the President that the crews were "ready
and eager to go in beyond the satellites" and overfly the center of the
Soviet Union. 23
Eisenhower replied that he thought it "urgent" to know whether
the recent flights had been tracked by hostile radars. The President
was obviously concerned that CIA estimates that the U-2 could fly
virtually undetected were proving false. One of the reasons why he
had approved the overflight program was the CIA's assurance that the
Soviet Union would remain unaware of the flights or-at the very
worst-receive only occasional, vague indications.
FIRST U-2 FLIGHTS OVER THE SOVIET UNION
The question of how well the Soviets could track U-2 flights had not
yet been settled when the first overflights of the Soviet Union took
place. On Wednesday, 4 July 1956, the U-2 known as Article 347 be­
gan the first flight over the Soviet Union. Final authorization for mis­
sion 2013 had come shortly before takeoff. Late on the evening of 3
July, Bissell went to project headquarters in the Matomic Building to
give the "Go" or "No go" decision. Although the President had ap­
proved the overflight, the final decision to start a mission depended
on a number of factors, especially the weather over the target area and
at the takeoff and landing sites. Bissell made the decision just before
midnight Washington time, which was six o'clock in the morning in
Wiesbaden. This pattern of last-minute approvals continued for the
duration of the U-2 overflight program. 2•
When Wiesbaden received the "Go" signal, a U-2 equipped with
an A-2 camera and flown by pilot Hervey Stockman took off on a
course that took it over Poznan, Poland, where riots had occurred on
28-30 June. After Poznan, Stockman headed for Belorussia, where he
turned north to Leningrad. The last leg of the mission took the U-2
over the Soviet Baltic states before returning to Wiesbaden. The main
target of this mission was the naval shipyards in Leningrad, center of
" Andrew J. Goodpaster·s handwritten notes on 2 July 1956 meeting, WHOSS. Alpha.
DDEL (TS).
,. Bissell interview by Welzenbach (S); Cunningham interview (TS Codeword).
-ieerct