Francis Gary Powers

File:Francis-Gary-Powers model nasm.jpg

Francis Gary Powers with a model of the U-2.

Francis Gary Powers, AKA "Frank" (August 17, 1929 – August 1, 1977) was an American pilot whose CIA U-2 spy plane was shot down while over the Soviet Union, causing the U-2 Crisis of 1960.

Biography

He was born in Jenkins, Kentucky, to a Melungeon family, and was raised in Pound, Virginia, on the Virginia-Kentucky border. After graduating from Milligan College in Eastern Tennessee, Gary was commissioned in the United States Air Force in 1950. Upon completing his training (52-H) he was assigned to the 468th Strategic Fighter Squadron at Turner Air Force Base, Georgia as an F-84 Thunderjet pilot. He was assigned to operations in the Korean War, but (according to his son) was recruited by the CIA because of his outstanding record in single engine jet aircraft, soon after recovering from an illness. He left the Air Force with the rank of captain in 1956, to join the CIA U-2 program.

U-2 pilots carried out espionage missions over hostile countries including the former Soviet Union, systematically photographing military installations and other important intelligence targets. Powers’ U-2, which departed from the Peshawar International Airport and may have received support from the US Air Station at Badaber, near Peshawar in Pakistan, was shot down by a S-75 Dvina missile on May 1 1960, over Sverdlovsk; he was convicted of espionage against the Soviet Union and sentenced to three years' imprisonment and seven years of hard labor. However, on February 10 1962, twenty-one months after his capture, he was exchanged along with American student Frederic Pryor in a spy swap for Soviet KGB Colonel Vilyam Fisher (aka Rudolf Abel) at the Glienicke Bridge in Berlin, Germany.

Wooden U-2 model - one of two used by Powers when he testified to the Senate Committee. The wings and tail are detachable to demonstrate the aircraft's breakup upon impact.

On his return to the U.S., Powers was criticized for having failed to activate his aircraft’s self-destruct charge to destroy the camera, photographic film, and related classified parts of his aircraft before capture. In addition, others criticized him for deciding not to use an optional CIA-issued suicide pin. This pin, which was concealed in a hollowed out silver dollar, could be used to avoid pain and suffering in case of torture. After being debriefed extensively by the CIA, Lockheed, and the USAF, on March 6 1962, he appeared before a Senate Armed Services Select Committee hearing chaired by Senator Richard Russell and including Senators Prescott Bush and Barry Goldwater, Sr. During the proceeding it was determined that Powers followed orders, did not divulge any critical information to the Soviets, and conducted himself “as a fine young man under dangerous circumstances.”

After his return, Powers worked for Lockheed as a test pilot from 1963 to 1970. In 1970, he co-wrote a book called Operation Overflight: A Memoir of the U-2 Incident. He then became an airplane traffic reporter for radio station KGIL in the San Fernando Valley, and was known for his unique sign off “Gary Powers, KGIL skywatch” when he finished his report. He was then hired by Los Angeles television station KNBC to pilot their new "telecopter", a helicopter equipped with externally mounted 360 degree cameras. Powers died on August 1, 1977, when, upon his return from covering brush fires in Santa Barbara county, his helicopter ran out of fuel and crashed just a few miles from Burbank Airport where he was based. KNBC cameraman George Spears was also killed in the incident. Powers was survived by his wife Sue, and two children, Dee and Francis Gary Powers Jr.,and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

In 1998, information was declassified revealing that Powers’ fateful mission had actually been a joint USAF/CIA operation. In 2000, on the 40th anniversary of Powers being shot down, his family was finally presented with his posthumously awarded Prisoner of War Medal, Distinguished Flying Cross and National Defense Service Medal. In addition, then CIA Director George Tenet, authorized Powers to posthumously receive the CIA "Director's Medal" for extreme fidelity and courage in the line of duty.

When asked how high he was flying on May 1, 1960, he would often reply, "not high enough".

Cultural references

• Francis Gary Powers was mentioned several times in the 1991 film Final Approach starring James Sikking (Hill Street Blues) and Hector Elizondo (Pretty Woman)
• Francis Gary Powers was portrayed by Lee Majors in a 1976 movie, Francis Gary Powers: The True Story of the U-2 Spy Incident that dramatized the incident of 1960.
• Francis Gary Powers was the subject of the song "Ballad Of Francis Powers (There's a Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere)" recorded by Red River Dave (Dave McEnery) in 1960.
• The nuclear power plant in the 1996 Off-Broadway musical Zombie Prom was named after Francis Gary Powers.

Further reading

• Nigel West, Seven Spies Who Changed the World. London: Secker & Warburg, 1991 (hard cover). London: Mandarin, 1992 (paperback).
• Sergei N. Khrushchev, Nikita Khrushchev and the Creation of a Superpower. State College, PA: Penn State Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0271019277.
• Francis Gary Powers, Curt Gentry, Operation Overflight. Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, 1971 (hard cover) ISBN 978-0340148235. Potomac Book, 2002 (paperback) ISBN 978-1574884227.

External links

• CIA FOIA documents on Gary Powers
• Check-Six.com - The Crash of Francis Gary Powers' Helo
• Transcripts of the Soviet court trial (in Russian)
• 1962 Russia frees US spy plane pilot