The CIA and the U-2 Program 1954-1974

The CIA and the U-2 Program 1954-1974

Author: Gregory W. Pedlow

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 0788183265

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A comprehensive & authoritative history of the CIA's manned overhead reconnaissance program (MORP), which from 1954 to 1974 developed & operated 2 extraordinary aircraft, the U-2 & the A-12 OXCART. Describes not only the program's technological & bureaucratic aspects, but also its political & international context. The MORP, along with other overhead systems that emerged from it, changed the CIA's work & structure in ways that were both revolutionary & permanent. The formation of the Directorate of S&T in the 1960s, principally to develop & direct reconnaissance programs, is the most obvious legacy of the events in this study.


U-2 Dragon Lady Pilot's Flight Operating Instructions

U-2 Dragon Lady Pilot's Flight Operating Instructions

Author: United States Air Force

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2008-01-01

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 0981652662

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Conceived during the dark days of the Cold War, the U-2 is a single-engine,single-seat, surveillance aircraft. Designed by aeronautical engineer ¿Kelly¿ Johnson, the plane was used by the C.I.A. to photograph installations deep inside Soviet Russia. Known as the ¿Dragon Lady¿, the U-2 was classified. Its existence remained a secret until 1960, when a U-2 flown by Francis Gary Powers was shot down over Soviet territory. The U-2 went on to have a long and illustrious career. Upgraded airframes remained in use five decades after it first debuted. Originally printed by Lockheed and the U.S. Air Force in the 1960s, this Flight Operating Handbook taught pilots everything they needed to know before entering the cockpit. Classified ¿Restricted¿, the manual was recently declassified and is here reprinted in book form. This affordable facsimile has been slightly reformatted. Care has been taken however to preserve the integrity of the text.


Airplane Flying Handbook, Faa-H-8083-3b ( Full Version )

Airplane Flying Handbook, Faa-H-8083-3b ( Full Version )

Author: Federal Aviation Administration

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2018-05-12

Total Pages: 348

ISBN-13: 9781719061513

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Airplane Flying Handbook Front Matter Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction to Flight Training Chapter 2: Ground Operations Chapter 3: Basic Flight Maneuvers Chapter 4: Maintaining Aircraft Control: Upset Prevention and Recovery Training (PDF) Chapter 5: Takeoffs and Departure Climbs Chapter 6: Ground Reference Maneuvers Chapter 7: Airport Traffic Patterns Chapter 8: Approaches and Landings Chapter 9: Performance Maneuvers Chapter 10: Night Operations Chapter 11: Transition to Complex Airplanes Chapter 12: Transition to Multiengine Airplanes Chapter 13: Transition to Tailwheel Airplanes Chapter 14: Transition to Turbopropeller-Powered Airplanes Chapter 15: Transition to Jet-Powered Airplanes Chapter 16: Transition to Light Sport Airplanes (LSA) Chapter 17: Emergency Procedures Glossary Index


Flying the SR-71 Blackbird

Flying the SR-71 Blackbird

Author: Richard H. Graham

Publisher: Zenith Press

Published: 2008-07-15

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1610599373

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For anyone who has ever wondered what its like to fly the SR-71 on a secret Mach 3 reconnaissance mission, this book has the answer. Flying the SR-71 Blackbird takes readers along on an operational mission that only a few Air Force pilots have ever experienced. The Lockheed SR-71, unofficially known as the Blackbird, was an advanced, long-range, Mach 3 strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed by Lockheed Skunk Works. The aircraft flew so fast and high that not one was ever shot down, even by a missile. SR-71 pilot and instructor Colonel Richard Graham offers a rare cockpit perspective on how regular Air Force pilots and navigators transformed themselves into SR-71 Blackbird crews, turning their unique aviation talents to account in an unprecedented way. Arguably the worlds foremost expert on piloting the Blackbird, Graham details, as no one else could, what an SR-71 mission entails, from donning a pressure suit to returning to base.


West Point Graduates and the United States Air Force

West Point Graduates and the United States Air Force

Author: Charles F.G. Kuyk, Jr.

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2020-06-11

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 1476639388

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West Point graduates played a central role in developing U.S. military air and space power from the earliest days of mechanized flight through the establishment of the U.S. Air Force in 1947, and continuing through the Persian Gulf War. These graduates served at a time when the world's greatest wave of technological advancement occurred: in aviation, nuclear weapons, rocketry, ICBMs, computers, satellite systems in inner space and man in outer space. This history traces the advancement of weapons and space technology that became the hallmark of the U.S. Air Force, and the pivotal role that West Point graduates played in integrating them into a wide variety of Air Force systems and programs. Many became aircraft commanders, test pilots, astronauts and, later in their careers, general officers who helped shape and implement technologies still in use today.


Skunk Works

Skunk Works

Author: Leo Janos

Publisher: Little, Brown

Published: 2013-02-26

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 031624693X

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This classic history of America's high-stakes quest to dominate the skies is "a gripping technothriller in which the technology is real" (New York Times Book Review). From the development of the U-2 to the Stealth fighter, Skunk Works is the true story of America's most secret and successful aerospace operation. As recounted by Ben Rich, the operation's brilliant boss for nearly two decades, the chronicle of Lockheed's legendary Skunk Works is a drama of Cold War confrontations and Gulf War air combat, of extraordinary feats of engineering and human achievement against fantastic odds. Here are up-close portraits of the maverick band of scientists and engineers who made the Skunk Works so renowned. Filled with telling personal anecdotes and high adventure, with narratives from the CIA and from Air Force pilots who flew the many classified, risky missions, this book is a riveting portrait of the most spectacular aviation triumphs of the twentieth century. "Thoroughly engrossing." --Los Angeles Times Book Review