The Briefing Room
General Category => Science, Technology and Knowledge => History => Topic started by: PeteS in CA on May 01, 2020, 05:51:09 pm
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https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/seven-artifacts-surrounding-1960-u-2-shootdown (https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/seven-artifacts-surrounding-1960-u-2-shootdown)
Seven Artifacts Surrounding The 1960 U-2 Shootdown
On the 60th anniversary of the U-2 shootdown flown by Francis Gary Powers over Sverdlovsk, USSR, we look back at seven artifacts surrounding the incident.
1. Everything was orange...
...
From his lofty perch, Powers’ had no idea of the blood-lust of the Soviet air defense forces arrayed below him. An SA-2 surface-to-air missile battery near Sverdlosk finally locked onto Powers aircraft. The salvo inadvertently shot down a MiG-19 fighter pursuing Powers, but another missile blew off a chunk of Powers’ horizontal stabilizer, a fatal blow for a U-2C at that altitude. In a declassified CIA debriefing with Lockheed’s U-2 designer, Clarence “Kelly†Johnson, upon Powers’ release from Soviet prison in 1962, the pilot explained exactly what happened the moment he lost control of his spy plane.