A Brief History
On May 1, 1960, CIA employee Gary Powers was flying a reconnaissance mission over the Soviet Union when his high flying top secret U-2 spyplane was shot down by an SA-2 surface to air missile.
Digging Deeper
In the days before satellite imagery the only way for the US to know what the Soviets were up to was by flying U-2’s over their country.
The Lockheed U-2 was designed by legendary airplane designer Clarence “Kelly” Johnson. Johnson had designed the World War II fighter, the P-38 Lightning and later designed America’s first practical jet fighter, the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star. He also designed the Mach 2 Lockheed F-104 Starfighter (known as “The Missile With The Man In It”) and then the SR-71 Blackbird, the fastest air breathing jet ever built (that we know of).
The U-2 was built to fly at 70,000 feet, higher than Soviet jets could fly to intercept them and above the range of any anti-aircraft guns or missiles. Or so we thought! In their eagerness to shoot down a U-2, the Soviets sent fighter interceptor jets after Powers, but to no avail. Firing 3 of the SA-2 Guideline SAM’s they finally managed to hit the U-2, causing Powers to parachute out of the stricken jet and be captured almost immediately upon landing. The salvo of 3 missiles also shot down one of the Soviet interceptors by accident. (There is that “friendly fire” thing again!)
Powers actually was supposed to kill himself to avoid capture and had a hidden syringe containing deadly poison in a hollowed out silver dollar. The US tried to cover up the incident by claiming they had lost a NASA jet over Turkey when the pilot apparently fell asleep, giving that excuse for the plane being over the USSR. The Soviets blasted the US with Cold War rhetoric and the incident was embarrassing for the US and President Eisenhower.
Powers was tried as a spy and sentenced to 3 years in prison and an additional 7 years of hard labor, and in the Soviet Union, hard labor was hard indeed. In 1962 the US managed to work a deal with the USSR to trade a spy that we caught (Rudolph Abel) for Powers and the deal was done.
Exact details of the incident are at issue, with some reports saying Powers was shot down because he fell asleep and his jet flew too low, and others claiming 14 SA-2’s were fired at the U-2. One Soviet pilot claimed he caused Powers to crash by flying by the U-2 and causing violent air turbulence to break off the long and delicate wings of the spy plane. Do not try to ask Powers, he died in 1977 when his news helicopter crashed in California.
The SR-71 Blackbird reputedly also made recon flights over the Soviet Union, and the US claims none of them was ever shot down. Of course, as soon as technology permitted, both sides began using photo satellites and then later a television type satellite that provided real time imagery (like you see in the movies today).
The U-2 incident derailed an attempt to warm relations between the Soviets and Americans and left President Eisenhower a bad note to leave on in his last year in office. On the other hand, the rock group U2 sounds suspiciously familiar!
Question for students (and subscribers): Have you ever flown in a spy plane? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
If you liked this article and would like to receive notification of new articles, please feel welcome to subscribe to History and Headlines by liking us on Facebook and becoming one of our patrons!
Your readership is much appreciated!
Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Gentry, Curt and Francis Gary Powers. Operation Overflight: A Memoir of the U-2 Incident. Potomac Books, 2003.
The featured image in this article, a map by Enemenemu of Francis Gary Powers’s U-2 “GRAND SLAM” flight plan on 1 May 1960 according to “Text of Indictment on Spy Pilot Powers,” is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="2017 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=2017">109 Comments
interesting read, I don’t know that I would be able to purposely poison myself either.
It would be interesting to know what really did happen to Power’s plane.
I found this article interesting, i think it would be nice to know what really happened to Power’s plane as well.
It would definitely be interesting to find out what actually happened to Power’s plane. Interesting article.
Who knows what really happened to his plane, but it would be really interesting to find out what really did happen.
Definitely would be interesting to find out what actually happened.
I don’t think I would have been able to poison myself. I would have jumped out of the plane as well.
I would definitely take my chances too… NO suicide by poison in my future! — DAVID WARDLE
Very interesting article. Would be interesting to find out what really happened
Yeah, I think humans’ natural yearning to survive would have prevented me from drinking the poison, too. I probably would just hope for the best and try my hardest through prison and hard labor.
This really started to raise conflict, especially for spying on the Soviets
I wonder what the US would have done had our roles been reversed.
I’m glad the US could get Powers out of the Soviet Union with the exchange of spies.
I knew and worked with Frank Powers and the assertion that he was *supposed* to kill himself is fallacious; the CIA gave him — as they did all pilots a choice. He did *not* fall asleep or fly too low; he was too good of a pilot for either of those occurrences to happen.
Glad he was able to make it home.
Leave it to the US to start trying to make up cover stories. Powers was lucky to make it out alive since it was the USSR he was spying on. I am surprised he was not shot on capture being marked as an enemy spy.
I agree, with the way that both sides treated POWs it is surprising that he was able to make it home. I would have thought that the USSR would have killed him and it raises an interesting question of why they didn’t.
By trading the spies back to their own countries may not have necessarily been a good thing. Once the Russian spy was sent home he could have gone back to spying on the United States again and vice versa. Spying is just more childish teenage crap that needs gone.
It’s war, you have to suspect something.
It’s hard to believe anything with so many different stories coming out and the government trying to cover up things. I’m glad Powers made it back to the U.S safely.
I would not have poisoned myself, I would have jumped out of the plane.
I can’t believe Powers told no one about what really happened before his death. It is also rather hard to believe he would knowingly parachute out of his plane into enemy territory when he knew they were trying to capture the plane. Realistically it would have been better for him to stay in the plane and try to make the crash a total destruction.
This story could be summarized by saying, the US tried to be sneaky and they got their hand caught in the cookie jar by the Soviets. I also wonder if Powers regretted not taking the syringe of poison, or if he was thankful that he didn’t because he eventually was freed.
Interesting that Powers was originally going to kill himself to avoid capture.
He may have been under cover but your in a plane spying on the enemy. If they find out what else do you think there going to do let you just stay there no of course they will shoot you down. I would probably kill my self instead of being captured too.
Personally, I could never kill myself no matter what would happen in the end. It is a cowards way out.
The excuse the US gave for why Powers was flying over the USSR was really lame and obvious.
I find it amazing the lengths to which spy will go to keep secrets safe, like the poison syringe he had.
I don’t think that I could have killed myself to contain secrets.
I find that a stupid reason to kill yourself. I don’t think I could ever kill myself.
I don’t think I could ever kill myself, I would probably just give them the secrets, I probably wouldn’t be the best spy.
It’s hard to imagine the lengths the us went to to keep their secrets safe, like the poison syringe so Powers could kill himself.
I for sure would not make a good spy
It’s surprising that the U.S was able to get Powers out of this alive.
I wonder what happened in that plane, he was a spy, so for all we know, it all could have been a lie
I’m sure this was very embarrassing to the US. Good to see there was a spy exchange and he was returned.
We must be really good negotiaters
good point this could be a lie since he was a spy lol. but for myself, id be the worst spy in history.
Poison in a hollow silver dollar are we just going to let that pas or talk about it. I mean that is very smart idea. The cover up of a NASA jet going to Turkey was little out there especially when everyone knows that the U.S and Soviet Union have been spying on each other for years now. The thing that got me was the fact that Powers died in a Helicopter Crash hmmmm… very interesting.
So many secrets exposed that it’s kind of funny.
I like to think that i could kill myself for the good of my country but I’m sure I’d feel different if i was actually faced with the decision.
Powers really was going to do anything to protect his country, even planning on killing himself before they would have the chance to capture him!
Powers was very patriotic if he would even think to take his life for the sake of his country.
I wonder what the true circumstances were? I believe if Powers were able he would have followed through, killing himself prior to being captured.
Satellites have changed the spy game from the Cold War days. I am sure the time that Powers had to spend in the Soviet Union was not easy. I am glad we were able to trade to get him back.
Incredible what measures countries were willing to go to in order to spy prior to the invention of satellite technology.
The difference in war tactics today have come a long way. Drones and satellites are able to be used to spy on enemies instead of actual people having to risk getting caught to spy on the other country.
I cannot believe Powers was ready to kill himself to protect a secret. It is amazing the measures people take to hide secrets or try to find them out.
This guy did a great deal of designing and like lydia said the way we do thing now is so top secret and so discreet we really dont have to risk lives.
I find it interesting that Powers wants to kill himself to keep a secret safe.
Overall, I find it pretty sad that an attempt to warm relations with the Soviets left President Eisenhower in a bad spot going into his final term. President Eisenhower is one of the most underrated presidents considering how he dealt with what was handed to him.
The US got caught spying red handed. I wish that they did talk about his imprisonment more in this article
So from the sounds of it Russia didn’t have the capabilities to shoot down the U-2 they just got lucky.
I can;t imagine I would have the strength or resolve that he did.
Those guys are some real heroes knowing here going in there with no back up and if caught they could face any punishment that country wanted to impose on them.
It is interesting to see what the government tried to hide. I also find it interesting that Powers wanted to kill himself to protect his secret.
I was most surprised by the fact that Powers was provided with poison to kill himself rather than be captured by the Soviets. However, he was ultimately captured and sentenced to prison and hard labor.
Very interesting article. I really only thought swallowing poison to kill oneself only happened in the movies.
I thought these type of situations only happened in movies so to read about this happening in real life was crazy that he would want to kill himself to save the secrets.
Wow, I’m surprised by this and I hope these types of situations don’t happen anymore.
I feel that it would take so much to want to kill yourself rather than to be captured by the Soviets. I could imagine that he wanted to keep his secret very safe and that he feared being tortured if he was captured.
Clarance Johnson seems to be the beginning of the jets we know today.
I have heard of certain situations individuals are instructed to kill themselves in order to prevent a chance that they give up secret information of one’s country. I found it interesting however that the U.S. tried to cover the whole thing up, so that they didn’t know they were spying over the Soviet Union’s territory.
It just like a movie which talk about spy, such as Jason Bourne. But, it was not a movie. It surprised me that he tried to kill himself in order to keep the secret.
I cannot understand this history so much. Why he need to do that?
I was shocked to read that he had tried to kill himself in order to keep the secret. I cannot imagine what it would be like knowing you had secrets worth killing yourself for.
I thought things like this was fictional, it’s surprising to hear this was real.
I am amazed that the U.S was able to not go to total war with the soviet union after all these years and all of these conflicts.
It’s incredible to read that the U.S did not end up going to war with the Soviets after all of this conflict.
It is actually really cool that he would rather kill himself than have his secrets given up. This was a very good article.
I wonder what happened to Powers that made him unable to commit suicide. It could’ve been that he didn’t want to die or something happened to the silver dollar containing the syringe.
This was really surprising to hear about.
This goes to show how loyal some people are. Some are willing to die before betraying their country.
It was a good cover up plan.
This was a good article. It really shows how loyal they were. To be killed instead of giving up the plan.
Not bad efforts from the US. You do not hear much about spy tactics these days.
It always seemed like these things only occurred in movies, but here it is in true form. Scary.
That is true dedication
Spying certainly got a lot safer with the advent of satellites.
I bet those pilots always feared being shot down.
I’m sure he killed himself before taken by the Soviets. The treatment and torture back then was terrible to live through.
The thought of flying a spy plane is absolutely nerve wrecking to me. To fly something that could be shot down at any moment is scary especially with the advancement of technology.
Wow, how scary. I would take my own life to avoid being captured and tortured. It is interesting that U2 took their name from this.
Caught with the hand in the cookie jar. Dramatic series of events. Would be interested to know why Powers to follow through with the suicide and what information was derived from him. Be curious to know what the real story is behind the incident.
I would have major anxiety if I had to fly one of those planes. The though that I could be shot at anytime scares me.
I never knew that this is how U2 got it’s name. Unfortunate event for the man flying the plane.
I can’t imagine being a prisoner of war. The US and the Soviet Union was at it for so long its really surprising me that we didn’t have a WWIII. I was a kid in the 80’s and 90’s so I didn’t pay too much attention to what was going on. Kind of glad i didn’t.
Cold War went on for so long and we had so many incidents that we could of had a WW III, but thank god we didn’t because we could have loss lot of lives on both side. War is never good and specially when you have two super powers fighting.
US claims none of them was ever shot down from the blackbird.
Thanks to technology, countries can spy on each other through the internet and computerized air crafts.
This incident was just as embarrassing for Eisenhower as the Rosenberg incident was for the USSR. The only difference is that we eventually got our guy released unlike the Rosenberg’s who were execute. What I found interesting is both of the Rosenberg’s children even though they say that we got it right still are advocating for their mothers record to be expunged on the grounds that even though she knew what her husband was doing she never took part in actually sending intelligence over to the USSR.
it is amazing how technology has evolved. Spying people through electronic devices like computers and different web sites along with flying devices like now we are using drones for a lot of spying.
Wow, this was very cool to read. Crazy that Powers was supposed to kill himself if captured. A needle containing poison hidden in a hollowed out silver dollar is something that I would expect to see in a movie.
The idea to hollow out a silver dollar to fill with poison was such a clever idea! Too bad that the plan to use it fell through, leading to the embarrassment of Eisenhower!
It is crazy that Powers was expected to kill himself to avoid capture.
Sounds like his master plan fell through. That sound like horrible punishment of having to do years of hard labor after being in prison.
A plan that turned out to be all bad.
I’m glad they were able to make a deal to trade our pilot for their spy.
It is interesting that Powers was supposed to kill himself instead of being taken prisoner. Powers had a poison syringe hidden in a silver dollar. The things people think of is mind blowing to me.
Interesting story I have seen many movies where bad guys and such take a poison pill to prevent themselves from giving up secrets. But I never knew that this type of thing actually happened in real life.
How coincidental that the man that designed and flew all of these great jets and planes ended up dying in a crash on a plane. Quite ironic.
I never really believed people were told to kill themselves to avoid capture but I suppose the alternative would have been much worse. I do think it is amazing how one man could be the mastermind behind so many jets.
Can you imagine being shot down by enemy fire and having to parachute down only to be captured? If that wasn’t bad enough, then you were supposed to poison yourself! How many servicemen do you think would be brave enough to do it? It takes a special kind of person to say the least. I’m also surprised the Soviet Union only sentenced him to 3 years in prison and an additional 7 years of hard labor. I would have expected the Soviet Union to kill him because he was a spy.
Amazing how he was willing to kill himself o keep the secret. Knowing that people was actually told to kill themselves before allowing themselves to be capture is crazy, but I guess they figured that was better then them possibly being tortured and telling the secret.
That is extremely embarrassing to be supposedly making peace but get caught spying.
I never heard of Powers before didn’t know we had a guy in the USSR that was captured and held as a spy.
I would be so embarrassed if I got caught spying.
Pretty amazing how dedicated these guys were. It sounds like something out of a spy movie.
What an interesting situation but with an unfortunate outcome.