Approved for Release: 2013/06/25
Secret NOFORN
Hiring U-2 Pilots ........................................................................................................ 73
Pilot Training ............................................................................................................. 75
Final Tests of the U-2 .................................................................................................. 76
Three Fatal Crashes in 1956 ....................................................................................... 79
Coordination of Collection Requirements ................................................................... 80
Preparations To Handle the Product of U-2 Missions .............................................. 82
The Impact of the Air Force Project GENETRIX Balloons ........................................ 84
AQUATONE Briefings for Selected Members of Congress ........................................ 88
The U-2 Cover Story .................................................................................................... 89
Chapter 3
U-2 Operations in the Soviet Bloc and Middle East, 1956-1958
The Deployment of Detachment A to Lakenheath .................................................... 94
The Move to Wiesbaden ............................................................................................. 95
President Eisenhower’s Attitude Toward Overflights .............................................. 96
First Overflights of Eastern Europe ........................................................................... 100
First U-2 Flights Over the Soviet Union .................................................................... 104
Soviet Protest Note .................................................................................................... 109
The End of the Bomber Gap ...................................................................................... 111
Tactical Intelligence From U-2s During the Suez Crisis ......................................... 112
Renewed Overflights of the Soviet Union ............................................................... 122
Radar-Deceptive “Dirty Birds” .................................................................................. 128
The New Detachment C ............................................................................................ 133
Detachment B Flights From Pakistan ....................................................................... 135
The Decline of Detachment A ................................................................................... 139
[redacted] ................................................................................................................... 142
Declining Overflight Activity ..................................................................................... 143
Concerns About Soviet Countermeasures Against the U-2 ..................................... 147
More Powerful Engines for the U-2 ......................................................................... 149
Intervention in Lebanon, 1958 .................................................................................. 152
British Participation in the U-2 Project .................................................................... 153
The U-2 Project at the Beginning of 1959 .............................................................. 157
Chapter 4
The Final Overflights of the Soviet Union, 1959-1960
The U-2 and the “Missile-Gap” Debate ..................................................................... 159
The Last Overflight: Operation GRAND SLAM ....................................................... 170
The Aftermath of the U-2 Downing .......................................................................... 177
The Withdrawal of the Overseas Detachments ....................................................... 181
The Fate of Francis Gary Powers .............................................................................. 183
Changes in Overflight Procedures After May 1960 ................................................ 187
Approved for Release: 2013/06/25