Francis Gary Powers Jr. examines the wreckage of his father's U-2 spyplane at the Central Armed Forces Museum in Moscow 50 years after it was shot down in Soviet Union air space near the town Sverdlovsk. (AFP/Alexander Nemenov)
Posted on 05/02/2010 8:26:10 AM PDT by Borges
MOSCOW (AFP) – Fifty years after his father was shot down by the Soviets in an incident that marked a turning point in the Cold War, Francis Gary Powers Jr on Friday visited the wreckage of his dad's U-2 spy plane.
"It's a wonderful display," Powers Jr said while standing in the hall of the Central Armed Forces Museum in Moscow which holds the wrecked plane and other material commemorating the so-called "U-2 incident" of May 1, 1960.
On that day, Francis Gary Powers, a US pilot carrying out a secret mission for the CIA to photograph Soviet nuclear sites, was shot down near the Urals Mountains city of Sverdlovsk, now called Yekaterinburg.
Powers parachuted out and was captured by the Soviets, who later convicted him of espionage and threw him in prison.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Is it true that Gary Powers neglected to hit the switch to destroy the U.S. spy plane, thereby skipping SOP, and allowing the Soviets to enjoy our top secrets?
I’ve seen several versions of the story.
The U-2 was equipped with means to destroy the optics package and photographic film record.
Either (a) he hit the “destroy” switch but the destruct mechanism didn’t work, or
(b) he was going to hit the switch, but he wanted to wait to descend to a fairly low altitude before hitting it and then ejecting, but something went wrong and he wasn’t able to follow through on this plan, or
(c) he got cold feet at the moment of truth and couldn’t bring himself to press the button, knowing that his chances of living to tell the tale would go way down if he did so.
Like Gus Grissom and the mysterious self-triggering explosive door bolts, the truth will never be known.
“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 only 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 soldiers after landing, and was therefore unable to find the wreckage and insure the U-2’s destruction.”
Why is this "news?"
Francis Gary Powers Jr. examines the wreckage of his father's U-2 spyplane at the Central Armed Forces Museum in Moscow 50 years after it was shot down in Soviet Union air space near the town Sverdlovsk. (AFP/Alexander Nemenov)
Why is this "news?"
Ummm..., it's an "anniversary date" of an important event -- and on top of that it's a "50-year mark" too...
Both make it news ... doncha know ... :-)
I actually met a guy that flew the U2 and knew Powers.
He said that him and other pilots in the program weren’t exactly sad he got shot down.
I thought that was interesting, and he was dead serious about it.
Didn’t Powers die a few years later when his traffic helicopter crashed in L.A. in an accident? Maybe that “accident” should be investigated.
It was. It's common knowledge that he ran out of gas.
Never knew or didn’t remember the details—surprised that it was as late as 1977 (I would have guessed earlier). Same month as Elvis’ death.
Turns out they shot down one of their own in addition to Powers:
The marshal was debating whether to go home to change his clothes or go straight to Red Square when another call came from Sverdlovsk on the special phone. The general haltingly reported that the second parachutist had been found and that unfortunately he was one of ours, Senior Lieutenant Safronov.“What do you mean, one of ours?” The marshal barely kept from shouting. “How many planes did you shoot down? Can’t you tell the difference between ours and theirs?”
“His transponder wasn’t working,” lied the general. That lie was repeated many times later, until Igor Mentyukov cleared up the matter: The transponders were operating, but on the code for April, not May. In the preholiday flurry of activities, service personnel had not yet changed it. So not surprisingly, the radars perceived friendly as foe.
“How many missiles did you fire?” asked Biryuzov, gradually calming down.
“One, three, and then two more.” The general in Sverdlovsk began counting. “Fourteen in all,” he said, sounding depressed.
“And which one brought down the plane?”
“The first.”
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