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

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1
Seeret PJOFORN
Chapter 2
Not only did the airline pilots report their sightings to air-traffic
controllers, but they and ground-based observers also wrote letters to
the Air Force unit at Wright Air Development Command in Dayton
charged with investigating such phenomena. This, in turn, led to the
Air Force's Operation BLUE BOOK. Based at Wright-Patterson, the
operation collected all reports of UFO sightings. Air Force investiga­
tors then attempted to explain such sightings by linking them to natu­
ral phenomena. BLUE BOOK investigators regularly called on the
Agency's Project Staff in Washington to check reported UFO sight­
ings against U-2 flight logs. This enabled the investigators to elimi­
nate the majority of the UFO reports, although they could not reveal
to the letter writers the true cause of the UFO sightings. U-2 and later
OXCART flights accounted for more than one-half of all UFO reports
during the late 1950s and most of the I960s!"
HIRING U-2 PILOTS
In authorizing the U-2 project, President Eisenhower told DC! Dulles
that he wanted the pilots of these planes to be non-US citizens. It was
his belief that, should a U-2 come down in hostile territory. it would
be much easier for the United States to deny any responsibility for the
activity if the pilot was not an American.
The initial effort to find U-2 pilots was assigned to the
Directorate of Plans Air/Maritime Division (AMO). The DDP had ex-
AMO op­
~e_ra_t~iv-e~---------------~-a~sk~e-d~th,---,at discreet
~~-~---~---,--------r=._
_J
inquiries be made to see if an
fliers were interested in a
high-paying covert project ~---~
brought to the United States---.t_o_r...,.tr_a_t_m_n_g_.~r,.;~i-e-an-w~h~1,~e-,~A~N~l~D~h-,r~e~a~a-n­
lflier residing in England, and he also came to the
United States for training.
In theory the use of foreign pilots seemed quite logical: in prac­
tice it did not work out. Th ~------~---~~~and
could only tly light aircraft. Language was also a barrier for the
although several were good fliers. Because Lieutenant
~C_o_l_o_n_e_l Geary \ad taken a class~ ofl
~hrough tlyincr
school at Randolph AFB in 1950, he got the job of training the=
" Information suppli.:d by James Cunningham to Donald E. Welzcnbach (U).