U2 Spy Plane 1960

In January 1960 hopes of real progress in relations between Russia and America seemed possible. Both
countries hoped that Russia’s new spirit of co-operation could be built upon. On 1 May 1960 an American
pilot, Gary Powers, took off from his base in Pakistan. He was flying a U2 plane. It is a long range, high
altitude spy plane. Power’s mission was to take photos of military sites in Russia.

FLIGHT PLAN Powers was working for the

CIA. The U2 plane was lightly armed and it
was a dangerous flight path deep into Soviet
territory. However, the US had been flying
missions such as this for 4 years and all of
them had been successful. The flight goes
well initially and Powers takes photos of
Russian military sites. Over the Ural
Mountains at 68,000 feet the aircraft was hit.
Powers loses control and the U2 dived to the
ground. He ejected from the aircraft and
parachuted out of the plane. The U2 Plane
crashes near Sverdlovsk (see map). Four
days later on a news broadcast, Premier
Khrushchev announced that an American
plane had been shot down over Russia. No
details were given.

You are advisors to US President Eisenhower

1. What questions do you think Eisenhower will want to answer about this incident? Come up with at least
3 questions.
- What do the Russians know?
- What do they have?
- Do they have Carl Powers

2. How are you going to cover up your spying mission? – What ‘reasons’ could you give to the Russians
and the international community for this mission?
- Weather plane

What happened next……..

On 7 May NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) announced that a U2 research plane
used to ‘study weather conditions at high altitude’ had been missing since 1 May
when its pilot ‘reported that he was having oxygen difficulties over Lake Van, Turkey
area.’ The same day the American government said ‘there was no deliberate
attempt to violate Soviet air space and never has been.’ America denied that spy flights over Russia
happened and asked Russia for more information.

On 7 May Khrushchev announced the full facts. The U2 had been shot down by a Soviet missile. Gary
Powers been captured ‘alive and well’ and had admitted to being on a spy mission. On his person was a
poison pen which was given to pilots in case of capture. The USSR now hard proof that America had been
spying on them and that they had also lied about the purpose of Power’s mission.

America and Russia were only days away from a summit meeting in Paris. Any hopes of improving
relations now seemed unlikely. Faced with this evidence. America was forced to admit to spying:
‘aircraft have made flights along the frontier of the free world for the past 4 years’.

Khrushchev demanded a full apology from the Americans. He was prepared to still go to the summit but
only on the condition that Eisenhower admitted that the CIA
made the U2 flights without his permission. Eisenhower
refused to do this and argued that the flights were a ‘vital
necessity’. Khrushchev insisted that America must
apologise, punish those responsible and promise no more
spy missions. Eisenhower refused and so Khrushchev
stormed out of the summit meeting and returned to Moscow.
Khrushchev cancelled an invitation for Eisenhower to visit
Russia and condemned America’s actions in the UN. Many
people around the world felt the Americans had threatened
future progress in east-west relations. In fact, the tension
was now at an all-time high and it was particularly felt in
Berlin.

Powers was put on trial and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment but was ‘swapped’ for a Russian spy in
1962.