Documents / FOIA release

/specialCollection/MissileGap/1992/1992-04-01.pdf

Central Intelligence Agency · 406 pages · text from the file's own layer

This is a CIA History Staff monograph by Gregory W. Pedlow and Donald E. Welzenbach, published in Washington in 1992 and approved for release in 2011. It covers the CIA's manned overhead reconnaissance program from 1954 to 1974, which developed and flew the U-2 and the A-12 OXCART. It traces the U-2's development, the overflights of the Soviet Union, the downing of Francis Gary Powers on 1 May 1960, and later operations. One section is titled U-2s, UFOs, and Operation BLUE BOOK.

  • p. 21 …carry a payload of 100 to 700 pounds of reconnaissance equipment, and have a crew of…
  • p. 24 …nonaf- terburning turbojet engine with 9,300 pounds of thrust (this was the same engine he…
  • p. 47 …The plane itself is so light (15,000 pounds), so obviously unarmed and devoid of military…
  • p. 59 …ex- ceed the weight limit of 450 pounds. Johnson ended his report by promising the first…
  • p. 60 …wheels under the tail—weighed only 208 pounds yet could withstand the force of touchdown for…
  • p. 63 …weight to the U-2's 450-pound payload limit. At the same time, Baker would…
  • p. 78 …Despite all these precautions, U-2 pilots normally lost 3 to 6 pounds of body weight…
  • p. 80 …which developed 13,000 pounds of thrust and weighed 3,820 pounds, giving it a power…
  • p. 162 …The paint penalty was calculated to be a foot of altitude for every pound of paint…
  • p. 165 …This new power plant generated 4,200 pounds more thrust while adding only 2,050 pounds…
  • p. 290 …Kelly Johnson then proposed to reduce the aircraft's weight by 1,000 pounds and increase…
Skunk Works Design Staff
005653421 UNCLASSIFIED
—9eepe4.111QECIaLL
Chapter 2
46
speed of Mach 0.8 or 460 knots at altitude. Its initial maximum alti-
tude would be 70,600 feet and the ultimate maximum altitude would
be 73,100 feet. According to these early December 1954 specifica-
tions, the new plane would take off at 90 knots, land at 76 knots, and
be able to glide 244 nautical miles from an altitude of 70,000 feet.
After discussing the reconnaissance bay with James Baker, Johnson
had worked out various equipment combinations that would not ex-
ceed the weight limit of 450 pounds. Johnson ended his report by
promising the first test flight by 2 August 1955 and the completion of
four aircraft by 1 December 1955.'"
Kelly Johnson, -A High-Altitude Reconnaissance Aircraft, - 9 December 1954,
Lockheed Contract Files, OSA Records (S).
UNCLASSIFIED

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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 406 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.