THE 456th FIGHTER INTERCEPTOR SQUADRON

T PROTECTORS OF  S. A. C.

 

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Gary Powers' mission map

On May Day, 1960, the season of the spy plane, ruled by the Black Lady came crashing down amongst the fuselage of Francis Gary Powers crippled craft. The spectacular U-2, brainchild of the CIA, took flight in 1955 and offered breathtaking details of our adversaries in action. The critical intelligence found its way daily to the situation room of the White House during those dark, early Cold War days.

On May 1st, 1960, first reports came out of the East, that Powers' U-2 had been downed... brought down from its lofty perch by a Soviet SA-2, and the U-2, once unreachable, now joined the growing list of Cold War casualties, another victim of dangerous deep penetration missions that imperiled air crews.

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Francis Gary Powers      When Captured

General policy of the USG at the time, was to 'publicly' state that most Cold War Era shoot-downs, were nothing more than weather reconnaissance flights, or errant 'weather balloons'. However, with the ever more sophisticated on-board intelligence systems, it was becoming virtually impossible to downplay the role the US was taking in airborne intelligence.

Pilot F. Gary Powers survived his crash to be tried in the Soviet Union as a spy, and convicted to imprisonment. In February 1962, he was swapped for Soviet spy, Rudolph Abel, and returned to the US. During his time in captivity,                     Powers kept a diary and secret journal, which were bequeathed to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, with the request (according to the museum) that they never be publicly displayed. According to the Powers family, the diary and secret journal are on display in the "Looking at Earth" exhibit/gallery. The request not to make the journal contents public was until 2004, in order to allow the family enough time to publish the diary and journal.

Powers case is unique, in that it was made so public, and he came home. The list of Cold War shoot-downs, and the subsequent intelligence and reporting of Americans held in captivity in Soviet satellite prisons is a chilling reminder of that very, very cold war.

AII POW-MIA, Inc.

 

 

 

UNITED STATES INTELLIGENCE FLIGHTS OVER THE SOVIET UNION:

 

(1) United States Note to the U.S.S.R., May 6, 1960.

(2) State Department Statement, May 7, 1960.

(3) Statement by Secretary of State Herter, May 9, 1960.

(4) Soviet Note to the United States, May 10, 1960

(5) News Conference Statement by the President, May 11, 1960

(6) United States Note to the U.S.S.R., May 11, 1960.

(1) United States Note to the U.S.S.R., May 6, 1960.

 

 

(1) United States Note to the U.S.S.R.

(Dept. of State Bulletin, May 23, 1960, p 818.)

The Embassy of the United States of America by instruction of its Government has the honor to state the following:

The United States Government has noted the statement of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, N. S. Khrushchev, in his speech before the Supreme Soviet on May 5 that a foreign aircraft crossed the border of the Soviet Union on May 1 and that on orders of the Soviet Government, this aircraft was shoot down. In this same statement it was said that investigation showed that it was a United States plane.

As already announced on May 3, a United States National Aeronautical Space Agency unarmed weather research plane based at Adana, Turkey, and piloted by a civilian American has been missing since May 1. The name of the American civilian pilot is Francis Gary Powers, born on August 17, 1929, at Jenkins, Kentucky.

In the light of the above the United States Government requests the Soviet Government to provide it with full facts of the Soviet investigation of this incident and to inform it of the fate of the pilot.

 

(2) State Department Statement, May 7, 1960.

(Department of State Bulletin, May 23, 1960, p. 818-819)

The Department has received the text of Mr. Krushchev's further remarks about the unarmed plane which is reported to have been shot down in the Soviet Union. As previously announced, it was known that a U-2 plane was missing. As a result of the inquiry ordered by the President it has been established that insofar as the authorities in Washington are concerned there was no authorization for any such flight as described by Mr. Khrushchev.

Nevertheless it appears that in endeavoring to obtain information now concealed behind the Iron Curtain a flight over Soviet territory was probably undertaken by an unarmed civilian U-2 plane.

It is certainly no secret that, given the state of the world today, intelligence collection activities are practiced by all countries, and postwar history certainly reveals that the Soviet Union has not been lagging behind in this field.

The necessity for such activities as measures for legitimate national defense is enhanced by the excessive secrecy practiced by the Soviet Union in contrast to the free world.

One of the things creating tension in the world today is apprehension over surprise attack with weapon of mass destruction.

To reduce mutual suspicion and to give a measure of protection against surprise attack the United States in 1955 offered its open-skies proposal - a proposal which was rejected out of hand by the Soviet Union. It is in relation to the danger of surprise attack that planes of the type of unarmed civilian U-2 aircraft have made flights along the frontiers of the free world for the past 4 years.

 

(3) Statement by Secretary of State Herter, May 9, 1960.

(Dept. of State Bulletin, May 23, 1960, pp. 816-817.)

On May 7 the Department of State spokesman made a statement with respect to the alleged shooting down of an unarmed American civilian aircraft of the U-2 type over the Soviet Union. The following supplements and clarifies this statement as respects the position of the United States Government.

Ever since Marshal Stalin shifted the policy of the Soviet Union from wartime cooperation to postwar conflict in 1946 and particularly since the Berlin blockade, the forceful takeover of Czechoslovakia, and the Communist aggressions in Korea and Vietnam the world has lived in a state of apprehension with respect to Soviet intentions. The Soviet leaders have almost complete access to the open societies of the free world and supplement this with vast espionage networks. However, they keep their own society tightly closed and rigorously controlled. With the development of modern weapons carrying tremendously destructive nuclear warheads, the threat of surprise attack and aggression presents a constant danger. This menace is enhanced by the threats of mass destruction frequently voiced by the Soviet leadership.

For many years the United States in company with its allies has sought to lessen or even to eliminate this threat from the life of man so that he can go about his peaceful business without fear. Many proposals to this end have been put up to the Soviet Union. The President's open-skies proposal of 1955 was followed in 1957 by the offer of an exchange of ground observers between agreed military in the U.S., the U.S.S.R., and other nations that might wish to participate. For several years we have been seeking the mutual abolition of the restrictions on travel imposed by the Soviet Union and those which the United States felt obliged to institute on a reciprocal basis. More recently at the Geneva disarmament conference the United States has proposed far-reaching new measure of controlled disarmament. It is possible that the Soviet leaders have a different version and that, however unjustifiably, they fear attack from the West. But this is hard to reconcile with their continual rejection or our repeated proposal for effective measures against surprise attack and for effective inspection of disarmament measures.

I will say frankly that it is unacceptable that the Soviet political system should be given an opportunity to make secret preparations to face the free world with the choice of abject surrender or nuclear destruction. The Government of the United States would be derelict to its responsibility not only to the American people but to free peoples everywhere if it did not, in the absence of Soviet cooperation, take such measures as are possible unilaterally to lessen and to overcome this danger of surprise attack. In fact the United States has not and does not shirk this responsibility.

In accordance with the National Security Act of 1947, the President has put into effect since the beginning of his administration directives to gather by every possible means the information required to protect the United States and the free world against surprise attack and to enable them to make effective preparations for their defense. Under these directives programs have been developed and put into operation which have included extensive aerial surveillance by unarmed civilian aircraft, normally of a peripheral character but on occasion by penetration. Specific missions of these unarmed civilian aircraft have not been subject to Presidential authorization. The fact that such surveillance was taking place has apparently not been a secret to the Soviet leadership, and the question indeed arises as to why at this particular juncture they should seek to exploit the present incident as a propaganda battle in the cold war.

This Government had sincerely hoped and continues to hope that in the coming meeting of the Heads of Government in Paris Chairman Khrushchev would be prepared to cooperate in agreeing to effective measures which would remove this fear of sudden mass destruction from the minds of people everywhere. Far from being damaging to the forthcoming meeting in Paris, this incident should serve to underline the importance to the world of an earnest attempt there to achieve agreed and effective safeguards against surprise attack and aggression.

At my request and with the authority of the President, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Honorable Allen W. Dulles, is today briefing Members of the Congress fully along the foregoing lines.

 

(4) Soviet Note to the United States, May 10, 1960

The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics considers it necessary to state the following to the Government of the United States of America.

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Soviet leader Nakita Khrushchev and the recovered wreckage from the shot down of the U-2 piloted by Francis Gary Powers

On May 1 of this year at 5 hour 36 minutes, Moscow time, a military aircraft violated the boundary of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and intruded across the borders of the Soviet Union for a distance of more than 2,000 kilometers. The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics naturally could not leave unpunished such a flagrant violation of Soviet state boundaries. When the intentions of the violating aircraft became apparent, it was shot down by Soviet rocket troops in the area of Sverdlovsk.

Upon examination by experts of all data at the disposal of the Soviet side, it was incontrovertibly established that the intruder aircraft belonged to the United States of America, was permanently based in Turkey and was sent through Pakistan into the Soviet Union with hostile purposes.

As Chairman of the U.S.S.R. Council of Ministers N. S. Khrushchev made public on May 7 at the final session of the U.S.S.R. Supreme Soviet, exact data from the investigation leave no doubts with respect to the purpose of the flight of the American aircraft which violated the U.S.S.R. border on May 1. This aircraft was specially equipped for reconnaissance and diversionary flight over the territory of the Soviet Union. It had on board apparatus for aerial photography for detecting the Soviet radar network and other special radio-technical equipment which form part of U.S.S.R. anti-aircraft defenses. At the disposal of the Soviet expert commission which carried out the investigation, there is indisputable proof of the espionage-reconnaissance mission of the American aircraft: films of Soviet defense and industrial establishments, a tape recording of signals of Soviet radar stations and other data.

Pilot Powers, about whose fate the Embassy of the United States of America inquired in its note of May 6, is alive and, as indicated in the aforementioned speech of Chairman of the U.S.S.R. Council of Ministers N. S. Khrushchev, will be brought to account under the laws of the Soviet state. The pilot has indicated that he did everything in full accordance with the assignment given him. On the flight map taken from him there was clearly and accurately marked the entire route he was assigned after take-off from the city of Adana (Turkey): Peshwar (Pakistan) - the Ural Sea - Sverdlovsk - Archangel - Murmansk, followed by a landing at the Norwegian airfield at Bude. The pilot also stated that he served in subunit number 10-10 which under cover of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is engaged in high altitude military reconnaissance.

This and other information revealed in speeches of the head of the Soviet Government completely refuted the U.S. State Department's concocted and hurriedly fabricated version, released May 5 in the official announcement for the press, to the effect that the aircraft was allegedly carrying out meteorological observations in the upper strata of the atmosphere along the Turkish-Soviet border.

After the complete absurdity of the aforementioned version had been shown and it had been incontrovertibly proven that the American aircraft intruded across the borders of the Soviet Union for aggressive reconnaissance purposes, a new announcement was made by the U.S. State Department on May 7 which contained the forced admission that the aircraft was sent into the Soviet Union for military reconnaissance and, by the very fact, it was admitted that the flight was pursuing aggressive purposes.

In this way, after two days, the State Department already had to deny the version which obviously had been intended to mislead world public opinion as well as American public opinion itself.

The State Department considered it appropriate to refer in its announcement to the "open skies" proposal made by the Government of the United States of America in 1955 and to the refusal of the Soviet Government to accept this proposal. Yes, the Soviet Government, like the governments of many other states, refused to accept this proposal which was intended to throw open the doors of other nations to American reconnaissance. The activities of American aviation only confirm the correctness of the evaluation given to this proposal at the time by the Soviet Government.

Does this not mean that, with the refusal of a number of states to accept this proposal for "open skies," the United States of America is attempting arbitrarily to take upon itself the right "to open" a foreign sky? It is enough to put the question this way, for the complete groundlessness of the aforementioned reference to the United States of America "open skies" proposal to become clear.

It follows from the aforementioned May 7 announcement of the U.S.A. State Department that the hostile acts of American aviation, which have taken place numerous times in relation to the Soviet Union, are not simply the result of activity of military commands of the United States of America in various areas but are the expression of a calculated U.S.A. policy. That which the Soviet Government has repeatedly declared in its representations to the Government of the United States of America in connection with the violations of U.S.S.R. national boundaries by American airplanes has been confirmed, namely, that these violations are premeditated. All this testifies that the Government of the United States of America, instead of taking measures to stop such actions by American aviation, the danger of which has more than once been pointed out by the Soviet Government, officially announces such action as its national policy.

Thus, the Government of the United States of America, in the first place, testifies to the fact that it answers to representations of the Soviet Government were only for the sake of form, behind which were concealed an effort to avoid the substance of the issue, and that all violations by American aircraft of the national boundaries of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics represented actin conforming to U.S.A. policy.

In the second place, and this is the main point, by sanctioning such actions of American aviation, the Government of the United States of America aggravates the situation even more.

One must ask, how is it possible to reconcile this with declarations on the part of leading figures of the United States of America, that the Government of the United States of America, like the Soviet Government, also strives for improvement of relations between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States of America, for relaxation of international tension, and strengthening of trust between states. Military intelligence activities of one nation by means of intrusion of its aircraft into the area of another country can hardly be called a method for improving relations and strengthening trust.

It is self-evident that the Soviet Government is compelled, under such circumstances, to give strict orders to its armed forces to take all necessary measures against violation of Soviet boundaries by foreign aviation. The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics regretfully states that, while it undertakes everything possible for normalization and improvement of the international situation, the Government of the United States of America follows a different path. It is impossible to exclude the thought that, apparently the two Governments view differently the necessity for improving relations between our countries and for creation of a favorable ground for the success of the forthcoming summit meeting.

The Soviet Government, as well as all of the Soviet people, considered that the personal meetings and discussions with the President of the United States of America and other American official figures which the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Rep7ublics had during his visit to the United States of America, made a good beginning in the cause of normalizing Soviet-American relations and therefore the improvement of the entire international situation as well. However, the latest actions of American authorities apparently seek to return the state of American-Soviet relations to the worst times of the "cold war" and to poison the international situation before the summit meetings.

The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics cannot avoid pointing out that the State Department's statement, which is unprecedented in its cynicism, not only justifies provocative flights of aircraft of the armed forces of the United States of America but also acknowledges that such actions are "a normal phenomenon" and thus in fact states that in the future the United States intends to continue provocative invasions into the confines of the airspace of the Soviet Union for the purpose of intelligence.

Thus the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics concludes that the announcement of the State Department that the flight was carried out without the knowledge and permission of the Government of the United States of America does not correspond to reality, since in the very same announcement the necessity for carrying on intelligence activities against the Soviet Union is justified. This means that espionage activities of American aircraft are carried on with the sanction of the Government of the United States of America.

The Government of the Soviet Union makes an emphatic protest to the Government of the United States of America in connection with aggressive acts of American aviation and warns that, if similar provocations are repeated, it will be obliged to take retaliatory measures, responsibility for the consequences of which will rest on the governments of states committing aggression against other countries.

The Soviet Government would sincerely like to hope that the Government of the United States of America recognizes in the final analysis that the interests of preserving and strengthening peace among peoples including the interests of the American people itself, whose striving for peace was well demonstrated during the visit of the head of the Soviet Government, N. S. Khrushchev, to the United States of America, would be served by cessation of the aforementioned dangerous provocative activities with regard to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, by cessation of the "cold war," and by a search through of joint efforts with the Soviet Union and with other interested states for solution of unsettled international problems, on a mutually acceptable basis, which is awaited by all peoples.

 

(5) News Conference Statement by the President, May 11, 1960

I have made some notes from which I want to talk to you about this U-2 incident.

A full statement about this matter has been made by the State Department, and there have been several statesmanlike remarks by leaders of both parties.

For my part, I supplement what the Secretary of State has had to say with the following four main points. After that I shall have nothing further to say - for the simple reason that I can think of nothing to add that might be useful at this time.

First point is this: the need for intelligence-gathering activities.

No one wants another Pearl Harbor. This means that we must have knowledge of military forces and preparations around the world, especially those capable of massive surprise attack.

Secrecy in the Soviet Union makes this essential. In most of the world no large-scale attack could be prepared in secret. But in the Soviet Union there is a fetish of secrecy and concealment. This is a major cause of international tension and uneasiness today. Our deterrent must never be placed in jeopardy. The safety of the whole free world demands this.

As the Secretary of State pointed out in his recent statement, ever since the beginning of my administration I have issued directives to gather, in every feasible way, the information required to protect the United States and the free world against surprise attack and to enable them to make effective preparations for defense.

My second point: the nature of intelligence-gathering activities.

These have a special and secret character. They are, so to speak, "below the surface" activities.

They are secret because they must circumvent measures designed by other countries to protect secrecy of military preparations.

They are divorced from the regular, visible agencies of government, which stay clear of operational involvement in specific detailed activities.

These elements operate under broad directives to seek and gather intelligence short of the use of force, with operations supervised by responsible officials within this area of secret activities.

We do not use our Army, Navy, or Air Force for this purpose, first, to avoid any possibility of the use of force in connection with these activities and, second, because our military forces, for obvious reasons, cannot be given latitude under broad directives but must be kept under strict control in every detail.

These activities have their own rules and methods of concealment, which seek to mislead and obscure - just as in the Soviet allegations there are many discrepancies. For example, there is some reason to believe that the plane in question was not shot down at high altitude. The normal agencies of our Government are unaware of these specific activities or of the special efforts to conceal them.

Third point: How should we view all of this activity?

It is a distasteful but vital necessity.

We prefer and work for a different kind of world - and a different way of obtaining the information essential to confidence and effective deterrence. Open societies, in the day of present weapons, are the only answer.

This was the reason for my open-skies proposal in 1955, which I was ready instantly to put into effect, to permit aerial observation over the United States and the Soviet Union which would assure that no surprise attack was being prepared against anyone. I shall bring up the open-skies proposal again in Paris, since it is a means of ending concealment and suspicion.

My final point is that we must not be distracted from the real issues of the day by what is an incident or a symptom of the world situation today.

This incident has been given great propaganda exploitation. The emphasis given to a flight of an unarmed, nonmilitary plane can only reflect a fetish of secrecy.

The real issue are the ones we will be working on at the summit - disarmament, search for solutions affecting Germany and Berlin, and the whole range of East-West relations, including the reduction of secrecy and suspicion.

Frankly, I am hopeful that we may make progress on these great issues. This is what we mean when we speak of "working for peace."

And, as I remind you, I will have nothing further to say about this matter.

 

(6) United States Note to the U.S.S.R., May 11, 1960.

The Embassy of the United States of America refers to the Soviet Government's note of May 10 concerning the shooting down of an American unarmed civilian aircraft on May 1, and under instruction from its Government, has the honor to state the following.

The United States Government, in the statement issued by the Department of State on May 9, has fully states its position with respect to this incident.

In its note the Soviet Government has stated that collection of intelligence about the Soviet Union by American aircraft is a "calculated policy" of the United States. The United States Government does not deny that it has pursued such a policy for purely defensive purposes. What it emphatically does deny is that this policy has any aggressive intent, or that the unarmed U-2 flight on May 1 was undertaken in an effort to prejudice the success of the forthcoming meeting of the Heads of Government in Paris or to "return the State of American-Soviet relations to the worst times of the cold war." Indeed, it is the Soviet Government's treatment of this case which, if anything, may raise questions about its intentions in respect to these matters.

For its part, the United States Government will participate in the Paris meeting on May 16 prepared to cooperate to the fullest extent in seeking agreements designed to reduce tensions, including effective safeguards against surprise attack which would make unnecessary issues of this kind.

Collected and transcribed by
Larry W. Jewell

Archive ©AII POW-MIA All Rights Reserved

 

 

Trial of Francis Gary Powers
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A tribunal in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics tries Francis Gary Powers, center, standing in defendant’s box, a pilot for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Powers’s U-2 spy plane crashed in Soviet territory in 1960. Powers was convicted and sentenced to ten years of confinement, but he was released in 1962 in exchange for the Soviet spy Rudolf Abel..

 

A History Question

Why is it that most histories of the U-2 still claim Gary Powers' U-2 was shot down by the Soviets when KGB records state that no Soviet fighter got closer than 20,000 feet (nearly 4 miles) and no Soviet missile got closer than 10,000 feet (nearly 2 miles)? Those same records also state that the only aircraft brought down by Soviet Air Defense that day was a Soviet fighter hit by a Soviet missile?
- Ronald Kunkel

Though I am not aware of these KGB records you speak of, you are correct in stating that there is no solid, irrefutable evidence proving that the Soviets shot down Gary Powers' U-2 in 1960. The Soviets were aware of U-2 flights over their territory and had long been sending up interceptors and firing surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) to bring one down, but none of their equipment could reach the U-2's high cruising altitude. Because Soviet capabilities had been improving so rapidly during the 1950s, the US government knew that it was only a matter of time before a U-2 was indeed shot down, so the CIA and US Air Force began searching for a replacement, eventually leading to the SR-71 Blackbird. However, this replacement was still six years away from entering surface when Powers made his ill-fated flight on 1 May 1960.

This flight had been originally planned to occur earlier, but bad weather forced a delay. However, Pres. Eisenhower ordered that no flights occur after 30 April because of an important US-Soviet summit scheduled to begin on 16 May. Although this flight was nearly cancelled, the CIA convinced the White House to proceed for the following reasons:

• Good weather conditions were predicted.

• Intelligence reports indicating that a new Soviet rocket would be visible on its launching pad on 1 May 1960.

• 1 May is "May Day" in Russia, a major holiday equivalent to 4 July in the US. Since this is a national holiday, it was believed that the Soviet radar and anti-aircraft crews would be less vigilant.

However, many of these reasons actually worked against the success of the mission. Francis Gary Powers took off from a base in Pakistan on 1 May and began his long flight over the central Soviet Union. Powers had been chosen for this mission because he was considered the most experienced U-2 pilot with 27 flights over Soviet territory. Unfortunately, the May Day celebrations meant that few Soviet aircraft were flying that day allowing Soviet radar stations to quickly pick-up and track Powers' aircraft. Once within Soviet airspace, 13 fighters were dispatched to attack the U-2, but all of them struggled to keep up with the high-flying plane. Numerous SAMs were also fired, but were unable to reach the U-2 at its 70,000 ft altitude.

Although information on what exactly happened next is unclear, it appears that something went wrong with the U-2's engine. Because the U-2 flew so high in such thin air, the engine could only operate with an injection of a small amount of hydrogen to assist combustion. Some reports indicate that the engine flamed out, which was not unusual. To restart the engine, the aircraft had to descend simply because the air was too thin at cruising altitude. At this point, there are several possibilities as to what may have occurred.

• Some suggest that the U-2 dropped low enough that a Soviet SAM hit it and brought the aircraft down.

• Because the wreckage showed little or no damage to suggest an explosion, many believe that the missile crashed through the U-2's fragile tail without exploding, yet doing enough damage to force the airplane into an uncontrollable spin.

• Some have gone so far as to claim that a Soviet jet made a high-speed pass over the U-2 and the resulting turbulent wake and downwash from the Soviet aircraft damaged the rather fragile U-2 and caused it to enter a spin. Although a few believe the MiG-25 may have been responsible, this is impossible since the MiG-25 didn't make its first flight until 1964.

• There are reports claiming that the U-2 engine still would not restart even as low as 30,000 ft suggesting that something may have been wrong with the hydrogen-injection system. If he could not restart the engine, Powers had little choice but to bail out and let the aircraft continue spiraling down to Earth.

This last explanation seems most likely and is consistent with the KGB reports you speak of. In addition, you are correct in stating that the Russians shot down one of their own aircraft that was tailing the U-2.

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Francis Gary Powers After Being Released

More confusion exists as to what happened after the plane was hit. The U-2 was equipped with a self-destruct system to prevent the aircraft's sophisticated photography equipment from falling into Soviet hands. Before bailing out, Powers should have engaged this system, yet he did not. Surviving wreckage looked remarkably intact, and Powers received great criticism for not destroying the aircraft. Powers has stated that when the U-2 fell into its terminal spiral, the centrifugal force was so great that it broke the canopy and pushed him out of the aircraft. Hanging on by the hose to his oxygen mask, he attempted to hit the self-destruct button but couldn't reach it before the hose broke. Knocked unconscious by the violent exit, he fell several thousand feet until his parachute deployed automatically. He was surrounded by Russian farmers and later soldiers after landing, and was therefore unable to find the wreckage and insure that the U-2 had been destroyed.

Whatever the true story is, the fact remains that an American spy-plane crashed deep within the Soviet Union causing a major international incident, made even more significant because of the upcoming Paris Summit between Pres. Eisenhower and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. The CIA released a cover story that a NASA weather research aircraft operating out of Turkey was missing and "it might have accidentally violated Soviet air space." Khrushchev let the US continue spreading this story for a week before announcing that the pilot had survived. Suffering major embarrassment, Eisenhower was forced to admit the truth behind the mission and the U-2 program, although he refused to publicly apologize to Khrushchev. Powers was sentenced to ten years in prison following an infamous show-trial, but was released in 1962 in exchange for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.

 

Russian history of the Black Lady.

 

U-2: The Helmet, Parachute and Camera from Gary Powers' U-2
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The helmet, parachute and camera from the 1960 Gary Powers U-2 incident. Wreckage is on display at the Central Armed Forces Museum in Moscow.

On May 1st, 1960, a lot of people were on Red Square. It was a holiday demonstration. Suddenly the fine spring mood of Mr. Khrushchev was spoilt by the message of a colonel of the KGB. The antiaircraft defense subdivisions informed that unidentified aircraft had violated the USSR border. The height of the aircraft fly was inaccessible for Russian fighters. Mr. Khrushchev was upset. The day was spoilt. 

American politicians and the military were satisfied. At last a spy plane excelling all modern analogies had been created. It had already flown over the territories of different countries for several years with great success. Up to now it had flown in perfect security anywhere. Neither fighter nor missile could reach this invulnerable aircraft. It was the time to use the spy plane over Russian territory. 

Dwight D. Eisenhower was delighted with his new possibility to tease his political adversary Nikita S. Khruchshev. When signing the order about illegal crossing of the USSR frontier by U-2 his face of professional poker player was impenetrable, but at heart he was happy . Krushchev could bang two shoes on the table at the same time, but he couldn't prove anything. For the Russian the U-2 spy plane would only be a dot on the radar screen. It would be indiscernible to the eyes of fighter pilot. It was able to take photo of all secret objects without difficulties and returned to base. 

  On may 1st, 1960, Francis Gary Powers was the pilot of the U-2. The route was elaborated beforehand. It included all of secret factories and objects in the western part of the USSR. The reconnaissance flight promised much. For Powers it was everyday work. It the evening he had to have supper with his fiancée.

  The aircraft U-2 had been followed by soviet "MIGs" at an inaccessible height. It looked as if "imperialist" provocation was to go unpunished. But Politics is a game you must win at any price. Therefore the KGB and the VAD (air defense) decided to use the most up-to-date "ground-to-air". This meant removing the security, but Russians got their way. The first missile was launched. In five minutes the report had been received: "A soviet "MIG" has been shot down, the remained clearing off". The second missile went a little sideways and slowly disappeared slowly in clouds. In ten minutes a message had been received: "The target has been been hit. The pilot has baled out".

From then the fate of F. G. Powers and the spy plane U-2 "Black Lady" parted. F. G. Powers was jailed as a political prisoner in "Matrosskaya Tishina". He was sentenced to solitary confinement for 10 years. In two years he had been changed for Russian spy Rudolf Abel who had been exposed by the CIA. Supper with his fiancée had been failed. The fiancé had since become a wife and mother.

The fate of the plane is also extremely interesting, although known to very few. The plane crashed near Sverdlovsk. Its remains were collected and sent for examination at factory N 16. Following a careful examination the plane was destroyed on the orders of the KGB. This ended the existence of the most scandalous known U-2 spy-plane. All that remain of it are the memories of F. G. Powers and a single engine part, saved from destruction by an engineer who worked at the factory. This part of the U-2 engine is the last fragment of history. 

Author Mikhail U. Romashoff

Translation V. Ozmidova

 

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After Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union during a CIA spy flight on May 1. 1960, NASA issued a press release with a cover story about a U-2 conducting weather research that may have strayed off course after the pilot reported difficulties with his oxygen equipment. To bolster the cover-up, a U-2 was quickly painted in NASA markings, with a fictitious NASA serial number, and put on display for the news media at the NASA Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base on May 6, 1960.  The U-2 cover story in 1956 was that it was an NACA plane to conduct high-altitude weather research.  But various observers doubted this story from the beginning.  Certainly the Soviets did not believe it once the aircraft began over-flying their territory.  The NASA cover story quickly blew up in the agency's face when both Gary Powers and aircraft wreckage were displayed by the Soviet Union, proving that it was a reconnaissance aircraft.  This caused embarrassment for several top NASA officials.

 

Courtesy Of The Central Intelligence Agency