Editing Francis Gary Powers (section)

==U-2 incident==
{{Main|1960 U-2 incident}}
[[File:Летчик Фрэнсис Гэри Пауэрс у американского высотного самолета У-2.jpg|thumb|Powers next to a U-2]]
In January 1956, Powers was recruited by the CIA, and on May 13, 1956,{{sfn|Powers|Gentry|2004|p=14}} he was discharged from the Air Force at the rank of [[Captain (U.S. Air Force)|captain]],{{sfn|Powers|Gentry|2004|p=291}} becoming a civilian employee of the CIA with the grade of [[General Schedule (US civil service pay scale)|GS-13]].{{sfn|Powers|Gentry|2004|p=24}} 

In May 1956, Powers began U-2 training at [[Area 51|Watertown Strip]], Nevada. His training was complete by August 1956 and his unit, the Second Weather Observational Squadron (Provisional) or Detachment 10-10, was deployed to [[Incirlik Air Base]], [[Turkey]].

Powers then joined the CIA's [[Lockheed U-2|U-2]] program. U-2 pilots flew [[espionage]] missions at altitudes above {{convert|70,000|ft|km}},<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/products/u2/u-2-specifications.html |title=U-2 Specifications |publisher=Lockheed Martin |access-date=November 16, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title = U-2 Dragon Lady|url = http://www.military.com/equipment/u-2-dragon-lady|website = Military.com|access-date = November 16, 2015|first = John|last = Harper}}</ref> above the reach of Soviet air defenses until 1960.<ref name=":1">{{cite web|title = American U-2 spy plane shot down – May 01, 1960 |url = http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/american-u-2-spy-plane-shot-down|website = History.com|access-date = November 16, 2015}}</ref> The U-2 was equipped with a state-of-the-art camera<ref name=":1" /> designed to take high-resolution photos from the [[stratosphere]] over hostile countries, including the [[Soviet Union]]. U-2 missions systematically photographed military installations and other important sites.{{sfn|Powers|Gentry|2004|p=41}} By 1960, Powers was already a veteran of many covert aerial reconnaissance missions.{{sfn|Powers|Gentry|2004|pp=6–9,14–15, 24, 50–51, 55–56, 95}} Family members believed that he was a [[NASA]] [[weather reconnaissance]] pilot.<ref name="michael20120902">{{cite web |last=Michael |first=Tal |date=September 2, 2012 |title=The Israeli Air Force : Mysterious Spyplane Revealed |url=https://www.iaf.org.il/4385-39415-en/IAF.aspx |access-date=June 6, 2020 |website=Israeli Air Force}}{{dead link|date=December 2024}}</ref>

===Reconnaissance mission===
[[File:RIAN archive 35172 Powers Wears Special Pressure Suit.jpg|thumb|Powers in 1960, wearing his special [[pressure suit]] for [[Stratosphere|stratospher]]ic flying]] 
The primary mission of the U-2s was to overfly the Soviet Union. Soviet intelligence had been aware of encroaching U-2 flights at least since 1958 if not earlier{{sfn|Powers|Gentry|2004|pp=47, 59}} but lacked effective countermeasures until 1960.<ref>{{Cite news|title = Fifty Years Later, Gary Powers and U-2 Spy Plane Incident Remembered |url = http://www.rferl.org/content/Fifty_Years_Later_Gary_Powers_and_U2_Spy_Plane_Incident_Remembered/2029269.html |newspaper = RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty |date = April 30, 2010|access-date = November 16, 2015|first = Vladimir|last = Abarinov}}</ref> On May 1, 1960, Powers' U-2A, ''56-6693'', departed from a military airbase in [[Peshawar]], [[Pakistan]],{{sfn|Powers|Gentry|2004|p=53}} with support from the U.S. Air Station at [[Badaber]] ([[Peshawar Air Station]]). This was to be the first attempt "to fly all the way across the Soviet Union ... but it was considered worth the gamble. The planned route would take us deeper into Russia than we had ever gone, while traversing important targets never before photographed." - Francis Gary Powers{{sfn|Powers|Gentry|2004|pp=53–54}}

===Shot down===
[[File:U2 Powers Senate model.jpg|thumb|right|Wooden U-2 model used by Powers when he testified to the Senate Committee. The wings and tail are detached to demonstrate the aircraft's breakup.]]
Powers was shot down by an [[S-75 Dvina]] (SA-2 "Guideline") surface-to-air missile<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/s75.htm |title=S-75 |publisher=Astronautix.com |access-date=August 31, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121005194237/http://astronautix.com/lvs/s75.htm |archive-date=October 5, 2012 }}</ref> over [[Yekaterinburg|Sverdlovsk]]. A total of 14 Dvinas were launched,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Polmar |first1=Norman |title=Spyplane: The U-2 History Declassified |date=2001 |publisher=Zenith Press |location=Osceola, WI |isbn=0760309574 |page=137}}</ref> one of which hit a [[MiG-19]] jet fighter which was sent to intercept the U-2 but could not reach a high enough altitude. Its pilot, [[Sergei Safronov (fighter pilot)|Sergei Safronov]], ejected but died of his injuries. Another Soviet aircraft, a newly manufactured [[Su-9]] on a transit flight, also attempted to intercept Powers' U-2. The unarmed Su-9 was directed to ram the U-2 but missed because of the large differences in speed.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-12-31 |title=U-2 Incident {{!}} Summary, Significance, Timeline, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/U-2-Incident |access-date=2025-01-16 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

As Powers flew near Kosulino in the Ural Region, three S-75 Dvinas were launched at his U-2, with the first one hitting the aircraft. "What was left of the plane began spinning, only upside down, the nose pointing upward toward the sky, the tail down toward the ground." According to his book ''Operation Overflight'', Powers delayed activating the camera's self-destruct mechanism until he made sure he could exit the cockpit before the charges detonated.  When ''g''-forces unexpectedly threw him from the spinning aircraft, he could no longer reach the destruct switches.  While descending under his parachute, Powers had time to scatter his escape map, and rid himself of part of his suicide device, a silver dollar coin suspended around his neck containing a poison-laced injection pin, though he kept the poison pin.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dobbs |first1=Michael |title=Gary Powers Kept a Secret Diary With Him After He Was Captured by the Soviets |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/gary-powers-secret-diary-soviet-capture-180956939/#yilEojcaVQvIj9qc.99 |website=Smithsonian |language=en}}</ref> "Yet I was still hopeful of escape." He hit the ground hard, was immediately captured, and taken to [[Lubyanka Building|Lubyanka Prison]] in [[Moscow]].{{sfn|Powers|Gentry|2004|pp=61–63, 67–71, 76}} Powers did note a second chute after landing on the ground, "some distance away and very high, a lone red and white parachute".{{sfn|Rich |1994 |pp=159–60}}

===Attempted deception by the U.S. government===
When the U.S. government learned of Powers' disappearance over the Soviet Union, they lied that a "weather plane" had strayed off course after its pilot had "difficulties with his oxygen equipment". What CIA officials did not realize was that the plane crashed almost fully intact and that the Soviets had recovered its pilot and much of the plane's equipment, including its new top-secret high-altitude camera. Powers was interrogated extensively by the [[KGB]] for months before he made a confession and a public apology for his part in [[espionage]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=tdihVideoCategory&id=52645&HPF_rid=9121459&HPF_mid=1180_T1_Url3 |title=This Day in History – What Happened Today in History |publisher=History.com |access-date=August 31, 2012 }}{{dead link|date=October 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

===Portrayal in U.S. media===
Following admission by the White House that Powers had been captured alive, American media depicted Powers as an all-American pilot hero, who never smoked or touched alcohol. In fact, Powers smoked and drank socially.<ref name=Reel>{{Cite book |last=Reel |first=Monte |title=A brotherhood of spies: the U-2 and the CIA's secret war |date=2018 |isbn=978-0-385-54020-9 |location=New York |oclc=1015258913}}</ref>{{rp|201}} The CIA urged that his wife Barbara be given sedatives before speaking to the press and gave her talking points that she repeated to the press to portray her as a devoted wife. Her broken leg, according to the CIA disinformation, was the result of a water-skiing accident, when in fact it happened after she had had too much to drink and was dancing with another man.<ref name=Reel />{{rp|198–99}}

In the course of his trial for espionage in the Soviet Union, Powers confessed to the charges against him and apologized for violating Soviet airspace to spy on the Soviets. In the wake of his apology, American media often depicted Powers as a coward and even as a symptom of the decay of the United States' "moral character."<ref name=Reel />{{rp|235–36}}

===Pilot testimony compromised by newspaper reports===
Powers tried to limit the information he shared with the KGB to that which could be determined from the remains of his plane's wreckage. He was hampered by information appearing in the western press. A KGB major stated "there's no reason for you to withhold information. We'll find it out anyway. Your Press will give it to us." However, he limited his divulging of CIA contacts to one individual, with a [[pseudonym]] of "Collins". At the same time, he repeatedly stated the maximum altitude for the U-2 was {{convert|68,000|ft|km}}, lower than its actual flight ceiling.{{sfn|Powers|Gentry|2004|pp=127–128}}

===Political consequence===
The incident set back talks between Khrushchev and Eisenhower. Powers' interrogations ended on June 30, and his solitary confinement ended on July 9. On August 17, 1960, his trial began for espionage before the [[Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union|military division]] of the [[Supreme Court of the Soviet Union]]. Lieutenant General Borisoglebsky, Major General Vorobyev, and Major General Zakharov presided. [[Roman Rudenko]] acted as prosecutor in his capacity of [[Procurator General of the Soviet Union]]. [[Mikhail I. Grinev]] served as Powers' defense counsel in the trial. In attendance were his parents and sister, and his wife Barbara and her mother. His father brought along his attorney Carl McAfee, while the CIA provided two additional attorneys.{{sfn|Powers|Gentry|2004|pp=110, 114, 119–20, 142–43, 148, 157–58, 162, 188, 220}}

===Conviction===
[[File:RIAN archive 35174 American Spy Pilot Francis Gary Powers.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Powers while he was in Soviet custody]]
On August 19, 1960, Powers was convicted of espionage, "a grave crime covered by Article 2 of the Soviet Union's law 'On Criminality Responsibility for State Crimes{{'"}}. His sentence consisted of 10 years' confinement, three of which were to be in a prison, with the remainder in a [[labor camp]]. The US Embassy "News Bulletin" stated, according to Powers, "as far as the government was concerned, I had acted in accordance with the instructions given [to] me and would receive my full salary while imprisoned".{{sfn|Powers|Gentry|2004|pp=157–61}}

He was held in [[Vladimir Central Prison]], about {{convert|150|mi|km}} east of Moscow, in building number 2 from September 9, 1960, until February 8, 1962. His cellmate was Zigurds Krūmiņš, a Latvian political prisoner. Powers kept a diary and a journal while confined. Additionally, he learned carpet weaving from his cellmate to pass the time. He could send and receive a limited number of letters to and from his family. The prison now contains a small museum with an exhibit on Powers, who allegedly developed a good rapport with Soviet prisoners there. Some pieces of the plane and Powers' uniform are on display at the [[Central Air Force Museum|Monino Airbase museum]] near [[Moscow]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.moninoaviation.com/33a.html|title=Air Force Museum – Monino, Russia|website=www.moninoaviation.com|access-date=March 29, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180403143214/http://moninoaviation.com/33a.html|archive-date=April 3, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Prisoner exchange===
====CIA opposition to exchange====
The CIA, in particular chief of [[CIA Counterintelligence]] [[James Jesus Angleton]], opposed exchanging Powers for Soviet KGB [[Colonel]] [[Rudolf Abel|William Fisher]], known as "Rudolf Abel", who had been caught by the [[FBI]] in the [[Hollow Nickel Case]] and tried and jailed for espionage.<ref name="auto">{{citation |url=https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/hollow-nickel/rudolph-ivanovich-abel-hollow-nickel-case/ |title=Famous Cases: Rudolph Ivanovich Abel (Hollow Nickel Case)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160121132429/https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/hollow-nickel/rudolph-ivanovich-abel-hollow-nickel-case/ |archive-date=January 21, 2016 |publisher= [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]}}</ref><ref name=Reel />{{rp|236–37}} First, Angleton believed that Powers might have deliberately [[defection|defected]] to the Soviet side. CIA documents released in 2010 indicate that U.S. officials did not believe Powers' account of the incident at the time, because it was contradicted by a [[classified information|classified]] [[National Security Agency]] (NSA) report which alleged that the U-2 had descended from {{convert|65,000|to|34,000|ft|km}} before changing course and disappearing from radar. The NSA report remains classified as of 2022.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7113512.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110918040157/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7113512.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 18, 2011 |title=CIA documents show US never believed Gary Powers was shot down |publisher=Timesonline.co.uk |access-date=August 31, 2012}}</ref>

In any event, Angleton suspected that Powers had already revealed all he knew to the Soviets and therefore reasoned that Powers was worthless to the U.S. On the other hand, according to Angleton, William Fisher had revealed little to the CIA, refusing to disclose even his real name, and for this reason, William Fisher was still of potential value.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}

However, Barbara Powers, Gary Powers' wife, was allegedly often drinking and having affairs. On June 22, 1961, she was pulled over by the police after driving erratically and was caught [[driving under the influence]].<ref name=Reel />{{rp|251}} To avoid bad publicity for the wife of the well-known CIA operative, doctors tasked by the CIA to keep Barbara out of the limelight arranged to have her committed to a [[psychiatric ward]] in [[Augusta, Georgia]], under strict supervision.<ref name=Reel />{{rp|251–51}} She was eventually released to the care of her mother. However, the CIA feared that Gary Powers languishing in Soviet prison might learn of Barbara's plight and as a result reach a state of desperation causing him to reveal to the Soviets whatever secrets he had not already revealed. Thus, Barbara unwittingly may have aided the cause of the approval of the prisoner exchange involving her husband and William Fisher.<ref name=Reel />{{rp|253}} Angleton and others at the CIA still opposed the exchange but President [[John F. Kennedy]] approved it.<ref name=Reel />{{rp|257}}

====The exchange====
On February 10, 1962, Powers was exchanged, along with U.S. student [[Frederic Pryor]], for Soviet KGB Colonel [[Rudolf Abel]]. Due to political differences between the [[Soviet Union]] and the [[German Democratic Republic]] at the time, Pryor was turned over to American authorities at [[Checkpoint Charlie]], before the exchange of Powers for Abel was allowed to proceed on the [[Glienicke Bridge]].

Powers credited his father with the swap idea. When released, Powers' total time in captivity was 1 year, 9 months, and 10 days.{{sfn|Powers|Gentry|2004|pp=237–40}}