Episode 19: The U-2 Incident

The show trail of American pilot Francis Gary Powers

Known as the Dragon Lady - the U-2 was the first aircraft built to fly to the edge of space. With an unclassified maximum ceiling of 70,000 feet, it was though the Soviet built radar would not be able to track it and that Soviet antiaircraft missile would not be able to reach it. Both of those assumptions proved to be wrong.

Still flying more than 65 years after her maiden voyage, today's U-2s, operated by the Air Force and not the CIA, have been updated with state-of-the-art avionics that will keep them airborne for years to come. at 70,000, U2 pilots have to wear pressurized spacesuits in case the cockpit depressurizes.

The U-2 and a lot of other really cool planes were the brainchild of aeronautically engineer Kelly Johnson, seen here with Frank Powers when the two worked together at Lockheed after the U-2 Incident.

Needing a super-secret location to build and test the U-2, Johnson picked the location in the Nevada desert that would become infamous as Area 51.

Francis Gary Powers was recruited into the CIA's U-2 program to keep an eye on Russia after the Korean War. President Eisenhower said it was a vital national security need to prevent another Pearl Harbor.

Powers was shot down on the morning of May 1, 1960, by the near-miss of an SA-2 missile. He was able to bail out but was caught by Russian authorities, taken to Lubyenka prison, the infamous KBG headquarters in Moscow, and questioned for months on end. The U-2 wreckage was put on public display at Gorkey park and the incident ruined any hope of a Cold War thaw at the upcoming Paris summit. Some of the wreckage is still on display at the military museum in Moscow.

When KGB authorities were finished questioning Powers, he was put on a show trial for the world to see. Facing the death penalty, he was convicted and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment - 3 years in prison, followed by 7 years hard labor.

In the 1950s, Soviet Colonel Rudolf Abel (real name William Fisher) was convicted of espionage in New York and sentenced to 30 years in federal prison. He was eventually exchanged for Powers and an American college student being held in East Germany. The Steven Spielberg movie Bridge of Spies starring Tom Hanks tells this part of the story. They were exchanged at the Glienicke Bridge in Berlin in February 1962. Powers was in Soviet custody for nearly two years.

Though officially cleared of any wrongdoing after his return, much doubt about the incident (much of which was kept classified due to its sensitive secret nature), many government officials, politicians, and private citizens continued to criticize Powers for allowing himself to become a pawn for Soviet propaganda and international policy.

He continued to work for the CIA after his release but eventually left and went to work for Lockheed. After that, he worked as a traffic reporter in Los Angeles so he could continue flying. On August 1, 1977, a traffic helicopter he was flying crashed, and Powers was killed. He was 47. Power's second wife, know by all as Sue, fought for her husband, still a pariah to many, to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Her efforts, and those of CIA officers still friendly to Powers, were successful and he was laid to rest in Section 11, Grave 685-2.

Sue joined him there in 2004

Power's son, Francis Gary Powers, Jr. spent more than 30 years digging into the U-2 incident to find out the truth about his father who died when he was 12 years old. After decades of Freedom of Information Act requests, interviews, and document declassifications, it turns out that his dad was, in fact, a hero and conducted himself admirably during an incredibly trying time. After the truth came to light, the US military has about-faced on its ambivalence towards Powers and awarded him several medals posthumously, including the POW Medal and the Silver Star. The CIA has since awarded him the coveted Director's Medal.

Check out Mythbusters!'s Adam Savage taking a flight in a U-2