The U-2 GRAND SLAM Flight Plan
On May 1, 1960, a Lockheed U-2 spy plane was shot down over the airspace of the Soviet Union. The United States denied the incident, but Premier Nikita Khrushchev knew better, since he had access to the U-2 remains and eventually became aware of the surviving American pilot, Captain Francis Gary Powers. The incident was a great embarrassment for President Dwight Eisenhower and the period was a glum time for him.
Only fifteen days afterwards, Eisenhower would be scheduled to sit vis-à-vis at the table with Khrushchev. In May of 1960, the East-West summit ended in disaster, after the leaders had gathered in the city of Paris. Khrushchev demanded an apology from Eisenhower, but the president would deny him of that honor.
Powers left the US base in Peshawar on a flight to the Soviet Union.
The Soviets were aware of the spy plane entering their territory, expected the U-2, and were ordered “to attack the violator by all alert flights located in the area of foreign plane’s course, and to ram if necessary”.
“The U-2 was eventually brought down near Degtyarsk, Ural Region, by the first of three SA-2 Guideline (S-75 Dvina) surface-to-air missiles fired by a battery commanded by Mikhail Voronov.” High-aircraft were susceptible to missile attacks.
“Powers bailed out but neglected to disconnect his oxygen hose first and struggled with it until it broke, enabling him to separate from the aircraft. Powers was captured soon after parachuting safely down onto Russian soil.”
“Powers was convicted of espionage and sentenced to three years of imprisonment plus seven years of hard labor, but he was released on February 10, 1962 during a prisoner-exchange with Russian officer Rudolf Abel.” Powers was a very lucky man under the circumstance.
Once again, there was an American cover-up and follow-up denial. The Eisenhower administration would actually get caught in a bare-faced lie and suffer great humiliation afterwards.
“In 2000, Sergei Khrushchev wrote about the experience of his father, Nikita Khrushchev, in the incident. He described how Mentyukov attempted to intercept the U-2, but failed to gain visual contact.”
Gary Powers, Jr., son of the famous pilot, can be heard in a radio interview with Steve Crilley on Radio FM4 in Vienna, Austria on December 1, 2007.
In 1976, Powers’ biography (Operation Overflight: The U-2 Spy Pilot Tells His Story for The First Time
Ironically, Powers would die in a fatal crash in 1977, supposedly due to a fuel management problem in his Bell 206 helicopter. “The helicopter ran out of fuel and crashed in the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area several miles short of Burbank Airport” in Santa Barbara County. He was fighting brush fires in California.
