'The aircraft spiralled downwards, tail first': The CIA spy shot down over Russia in 1960

BBC ^ | 08/18/2025 | Nicholas Barber

[Kid Shelleen]

Francis Gary Powers was on a CIA spying mission over Soviet Russia when his U-2 plane was hit by a surface-to-air missile. "I looked up, looked out, and just everything was orange, everywhere," Powers recalled. "I don't know whether it was the reflection in the canopy itself or just the whole sky. And I can remember saying to myself, 'By God, I've had it now.'"

In fact, Powers managed to parachute to safety, but his troubles were far from over. Having been arrested and interrogated by the KGB, he was put on trial in Moscow, where his family could only watch helplessly.

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TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: aviation; coldwar; u2

[Dan in Wichita]

It would be nice if someone would remaster this movie. It’s on YouTube but the video quality is barely watchable.

[DesertRhino]

It was disgraceful the way Powers was treated when he returned. Basically driven out of military flying, and died piloting a TV helicopter in Los Angeles. The CIA was angry that he didn’t commit suicide!
Same with Bud Mahurin...they hounded him out of the service.

Some of our bravest men were utterly thrown away like garbage.

[Paal Gulli]

The Rooskie AA missiles kept getting progressively closer and Kelly Johnson knew it was just a matter of time until the Russians hit one of his U-2s. That’s why he began working on the SR-71 in 1958.

Johnson had a magic crystal ball be could see the future with. He’d started working on the P-38 Lightning in 1937 without anyone telling him too. In 1943, that still was the only fighter in the US inventory with the range to hunt down and kill Admiral Yamamoto. No Kelly Johnson, no dead Yamamoto.

Not to mention he brought in most of his projects ahead of schedule and under budget. When they made him, they broke the mold.

[Paal Gulli]

"Years later Powers became a helicopter pilot for a local news station in LA...Then he ran out of fuel, crashed and died...."

That isn't the whole story.

He was autorotating to where he knew there was a Little League ball field, which would give him ample room for a safe touchdown. But as he got closer he saw there were kids playing on the field, so he veered to one side and in the veering put the 'copter out of position for a soft landing.

Like all U-2 pilots, he carried the silver dollar with a poison 'suicide' needle secreted in it, even though CIA's personality tests indicated he was incapable of suicide. But his concern for the safety of those kids overwhelmed his instinct for self-preservation, and he died as a result.

[Paal Gulli]

And the fact it was falling tail-first (if they’re telling the truth) would mean it must have lost a significant amount of the airframe forward of the reference datum line. That’s the only reason it ever would get stable free-falling tail-first, a change moving the center of gravity aft of the designed reference datum.

[Robe]

I had read a book saying that Lee Harvey Oswald was a guard at the facility that monitored U-2s coming into Japan. it Supposed that he knew the altitude they cruised. It stated that Powers was shot down after Oswald defected to the USSR

[dragnet2]

Of course my one line comment was not the whole story. You want more?

Crash site;

https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/1-august-1977/screen-shot-2015-10-16-at-18-52-02/

Examination of news photographs of the wreck show that the JetRanger was completely destroyed on impact. It appears to have struck the ground in a nose-down attitude. Surprisingly, damage to the main rotor assembly is slight, with no twisting, tearing, or failure of the doublers at the blade root, as are commonly seen.

An engine failure over a large, level open space, should have resulted in no damage to the aircraft or injuries to its occupants. The autorotation characteristics of the Bell 206-series helicopters are excellent, among the best of any helicopter. The extent of the damage to the airframe, though, when compared to the relatively slight damage to the main rotor assembly, convinces TDiA that the helicopter was not in autorotation, but in free fall. The main rotor blades were not turning within the autorotation r.p.m. range of 355–440 r.p.m.

There are reports that Powers turned the helicopter away from a group of children playing in the open field, but this would not have been possible with the main rotor turning at the very low rotational speeds demonstrated by the lack of twist damage.

[matthew fuller]

Makes you (us) about four score plus 1 years old. 1944 was a good year.

[Freedom4US]

He was provided with a small poisoned needle, hidden in a silver dollar, by the C.I.A.

He was supposed to destroy the cameras and TS stuff kill hisself before capture by the godless communists. Oops

[BatGuano]

I vote for 1940! Good year..
Youse guys are whipper-snappers. (grin)