Chapter 1
14
Trevor Gardner
005653421 UNCLASSIFIED
design showed the most promise for reconnaissance of the Soviet
Union. This belief was shared by Gardner's special assistant,
Frederick Ayer, Jr., and Garrison Norton, an adviser to Secretary
Talbott.''
According to Norton, Gardner tried to interest SAC commander
LeMay in the Lockheed aircraft because Gardner envisioned it pri-
marily as a collector of strategic, rather than tactical, intelligence. But
General LeMay had already shown that he was not interested in an
unarmed aircraft. Gardner, Ayer, and Norton then decided to seek CIA
support for the high-flying aircraft. At that time the Agency's official
involvement in overhead reconnaissance was limited to advising the
Air Force on the problems of launching lar ge camera-carrying bal-
loons for reconnaissance flights over hostile territory (for the details
of this program, see chapter 2). The Chief of the Operations Staff in
the Office of Scientific Intelli gence, Philip G. Stron g . however,
served on several Air Force advisory boards and kept himself well in-
formed on developments in reconnaissance aircraft.'"
Gardner, Norton, and Ayer met with Strong in the Pentagon on
12 May 1954. six days before the Wright Air Development Command
began to evaluate the Lockheed proposal. Gardner described Kelly
Johnson's proposal and showed the drawings to Strong. After this
meeting. Strong summarized his impressions of the Air Force's search
for a high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft:
Proposals for special reconnaissance aircraft have been re-
ceived in the Air Staff from Lockheed, Fairchild, and Bell. . . .
The Lockheed proposal is considered to be the best. It has been
given the type designation of CL-282 and in many respects is a
jet-powered glider based essentially on the Lockheed Day
Fighter XF-I04. It is primarily subsonic but can attain transonic
speeds over the target with a consequent loss of range. With an
altitude of 73,000 feet over the target it has a combat radius of
1,400 nautical miles. . . . The CL-282 can be manufactured
Garrison Norton. interview by Donald E. Welzenbach. tape recording. Washington. DC.
23 May 1983 (S): Michael R. Beschloss. Mayday: Eisenhower, Khrushchev and the U-2
Affair (New York: Harper & Row. 1986). p. 79.
Strong was a colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve and often used that title even though
he was not on active duty. He later advanced to the rank of brigadier general in the reserve.
For Strong's contacts with senior Air Force officials concerning the CL-282, see the
Norton interview (S).
UNCLASSIFIED