30-year-old pilot Francis Gary Powers was winging through the atmosphere at the edge
of space over Soviet territory when suddenly a state-of-the-art surface-to-air missile
took to the skies to take him down. It was May 1 of 1960, and Powers was
on a 9-hour reconnaissance mission to gather intelligence about Soviet military installations.
No enemy missile system had shot down a U-2 aircraft at those heights for the past 6 years,
but the Soviets were on high alert and Powers had no way of escaping the imminent hit.
The incident would put the world’s most powerful nations at the brink of war
after the USSR discovered that the spy plane was gathering information for the CIA.
Peeking into the Iron Curtain During the 1950s, the United States and the
Soviet Union were engaged in a dangerous Arms Race that involved weapons of mass destruction, and
they invested millions of dollars in developing intercontinental ballistic missiles or ICBMs.
The continuous rivalry to shift the balance of the Cold War eventually rose to new heights as part of
their nuclear deterrence policies, and both US President and veteran Dwight D. Eisenhower and
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev took swift actions to confront the escalating crisis.
While Khrushchev favored the rapid development of nuclear missiles and silos to counter the
US atomic supremacy, Eisenhower adopted a more discreet approach and approved a secret plan
to gather information on Soviet atomic capabilities and their intentions.
Although American spies and Soviet defectors were already working for the CIA,
aerial reconnaissance was the quickest and most reliable way of gathering information
on the enemy. And as dangerous as it was, the Soviets followed the same policy.
Tensions rose to such heights that during the Geneva Summit in 1955, Eisenhower proposed an
open skies plan to Khrushchev. The plan was simple: each country would be allowed
to make overflights to conduct mutual aerial inspections of nuclear facilities and launchpads.
However, Khrushchev refused the proposal, as Soviet policy strictly rejected international
inspections of any form. He even went on to say that the USSR had developed more nuclear missiles
than the US had initially thought, which forced Eisenhower to implement the US spy plane program.
By 1956, American U-2 spy planes would begin reconnaissance flights over Soviet territory
to gather information about top-secret USSR military facilities.
The U-2 Spy Plane The Lockheed U-2, also known
as the Dragon Lady, was a US single-jet engine, high altitude reconnaissance aircraft developed
by Lockheed Skunk Works and operated by the US Air Force and the Central Intelligence Agency.
Lockheed got approval from the government to begin working on the U-2 in 1954.
Still, many of its essential reconnaissance components were already being developed for years.
The U-2 took to the skies for the first time in August of 1955
and instantly grabbed the attention of NASA, the US Air Force, and the CIA.
High aspect ratio wings gave the U-2 glider-like capabilities that,
combined with its weight, resulted in a solid speed and an operational ceiling of 70,000 feet.
In addition, it was believed at the time that there was no radar or missile system capable
of detecting the U-2, a quality that would allow the CIA to conduct covert operations
and gather specific intelligence. The U-2 controls were exclusively
designed for high-altitude flights, and the pilot had to wear a partially pressurized
space suit that provided him with oxygen and protection if cabin pressure was lost.
The Dragon Lady was also equipped with state-of-the-art trimetrogon A
and B cameras, consisting of three 24-inch focal length or 610-millimeter cameras,
with F/8 resolving 60 lines per millimeter and a ground resolution of 24 inches. Meanwhile,
B was a panoramic camera that took pictures of an extensive area of the Earth's surface.
Coupled with these high-resolution cameras, the U-2 spy plane also carried special
sensors in the nose and wing pods that could collect communication signals, air samples,
and radar imagery. In The Dark
President Eisenhower was pleased with the first U-2 spy plane missions and the intelligence
gathered without being detected by the enemy, as no Soviet fighter jets of the era were capable
of reaching the altitudes of the U-2, making it even more helpful for reconnaissance missions.
In July of 1958, Eisenhower had a conversation with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Feroze Khan Noon
in which he asked for permission to establish a secret intelligence facility in his country
from which the U-2 spy plane could be launched. The base was quickly established in Badaber,
a location chosen for its proximity with Soviet Central Asia.
From there, the U-2 could gather sufficient intelligence about secret Soviet facilities.
However, Eisenhower decided that no American pilots would fly the U-2s
over Soviet territory to avoid direct aggressions.
That task fell to British pilots, who would not be affiliated with the CIA or US Army to
prevent a conflict between the West and the East. The first two missions were a complete success
and gave the US an overview of Soviet ICBM capabilities.
Then, in preparation for the Four Powers Summits of May 1960,
Eisenhower approved spy plane missions piloted by Americans to gather more data about the Soviets.
Although one of the pilots had a close encounter with Soviet MIG19 fighters,
the U-2 proved to be practically invisible for their radar and SAM systems. Or so they thought.
The Soviets had indeed been able to detect the secret flights on their radars since 1956.
Still, they lacked aircraft and missiles capable of striking the
U-2 spy aircraft at 70,000 feet above the ground. Also, the Americans did not know that the entire
Soviet armed forces were put on high alert during their last scheduled mission in April of 1960.
Operation Grand Slam
The last U-2 flight before the Paris Summit happened was rescheduled for May 1,
1960. Unaware of what awaited him, Captain and CIA agent Francis Gary Powers hopped into his U-2
for his planned flight across the Soviet Union. Powers carried with him a silver dollar that
contained a lethal saxitoxin-tipped needle that could put him out in seconds if he was captured
by the enemy. He then gave the coin a last look and prayed that he never had to use it.
Seconds later, the U-2 took off from Pakistan on a 9-hour flight that would take Powers to Norway
under the codename Grand Slam. The objective was to photograph the Baikonur and Plesetsk
Cosmodromes and look for ICBM activity. During the flight’s first hours,
Powers proceeded with the mission as expected. Hovering through the atmosphere, close to the
edge of space, Powers flew over Sverdlovsk when he felt a sharp shock that shook his U-2.
An instant later, he saw an explosion nearby. It was game over. A Soviet S75
SAM had just exploded close to his U-2, and Powers realized the enemy had detected him.
The violent explosion caused the U-2 to drop abruptly,
and a second S75 then scored a direct hit on it. Powers struggled to bail out amidst the fire and
smoke that began to choke him but finally made it out. The CIA agent then slowly parachuted
down to Earth and saw tiny dots that eventually became armed Soviet soldiers aiming at him.
Meanwhile, the aircraft plummeted from the sky, and for an instant, Powers remembered
the silver dollar. He could take it right now to avoid being captured and interrogated,
fulfilling the CIA protocol. However, he had a strong desire to live and chose not to do it.
The pilot was captured as soon as he hit the ground.
Incidentally, thirty minutes later, a Soviet SAM accidentally took down a MIG-19
that had taken off to pursue the U-2 spy plane. Its pilot, Sergei Safronov, did not make it alive.
Fate Days after Powers went Missing in Action,
NASA issued a press release indicating that one of its aircraft had gone missing near Turkey.
According to their cover-up story, the pilot had fallen unconscious while the autopilot was
engaged. Believing that Powers had passed away and his U-2 destroyed, the CIA and US
government followed through with the story. Regrettably, they all fell under Khrushchev’s
plan, who had opted for silence before telling the media that a spy plane had
been shot down in Soviet territory. However, he did not say anything about its pilot.
The US continued selling its cover-up story, claiming that NASA’s aircraft was a weather
research aircraft that may have been shot down over USSR territory. But Khrushchev later revealed
that Powers was alive and well, and publicly acknowledged his affiliation with the CIA.
The Eisenhower administration was uncovered and forced to admit the covert operation.
The Paris Summit was a disaster, and Powers was sentenced to 10 years of confinement. He claimed
to have been treated well by the Soviets and was eventually released after serving two years in
February of 1962 as part of the first-ever “spy swap” exchange with the United States.
Upon his return, Powers was hailed as a hero by some and a traitor by others for
refusing to take the silver dollar. It was not until a decade later that public opinion
shifted and recognized his patriotism and commitment to serving his country.
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