The U-2 Incident

Dr. Cspedes Lecture Notes

Lectures on Contemporary History

Dr. Juan R. Cspedes, Ph.D.

The U-2 Incident

HMW 24

1. U-2 spy plane: a high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft built by the U.S. in the 1950s 1.1. multiple "incidents" (diplomatic confrontations) with the USSR during the Cold War 2. The U-2 incident began on May 1, 1960 2.1. flown by Central Intelligence Agency pilot Gary Powers 2.2. July 1957: U.S. President Eisenhower requested permission from Pakistan's Prime Minister Huseyn Suhrawardy to establish a secret intelligence facility for the U-2 spy plane in Peshawar 2.2.1. strategically in proximity to Soviet central Asia 2.3. Powers to eventually land in Bodo, Norway 2.4. codenamed Operation Grand Slam 3. Photograph Soviet nuclear-weapons facilities in the Ural Mountains, also 3.1. nukes in Siberia 3.2. railroads 3.3. shipyards 4. Powers flew first to the east, over Iran into Afghanistan (at 6:26 AM), in an attempt to cross the Soviet border from an unexpected direction. 4.1. detected by Soviet radar while still 15 miles from the Afghan-Soviet border. 4.2. Although undesirable, detection was not unusual 4.2.1. all previous U-2 flights over the Soviet Union had been detected at some point. 4.2.1.1. Soviets fighter planes or surface-to-air missiles that could not fly high enough (21 miles, 21 kilometers) to shoot it down (for the first few years). 4.2.1.2. The latest Soviet SAM, the SA-2, could reach the general proximity of the U-2, but only if it

The U-2 Incident

Dr. Cspedes Lecture Notes

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4.2.1.2.1. happened to be stationed in the plane's direct flight-path and if 4.2.1.2.2. its operators were already on alert, ready to fire. Powers flew over an SA-2 battalion soon after entering Soviet airspace, but its crew was not on alert and therefore could not fire while he was within range. 5.1. About a dozen Soviet MiG fighter planes also attempted to shoot down Powers, but could not climb high enough to get within weapons range. May 1: (May Day or International Labor Day), Khrushchev was notified of Powers's ongoing flight at 8:00 a.m. Moscow time. 6.1. Massive Soviet festivities celebrating labor and success of Soviet socialism 6.2. Khrushchev feels insulted, ordered that Powers' plane be shot down at any cost 6.2.1. At first the Soviets could not determine the exact location of the plane 6.2.2. Approaching Sverdlosk (now Yekaterinburg), an SA-2 battalion stationed outside the city fired three SA-2s at the radar contact, but 6.2.2.1. only one exploded in the vicinity of Powers's plane. 6.3. The U-2s fragile fuselage was damaged by the concussion and began to break into pieces. 6.3.1. Powers bails out, and was captured as soon as he parachuted to the ground. 6.3.2. Powers carried a modified silver dollar containing a lethal, shellfishderived poison tipped needle, but did not use it Because the U-2 overflights violated international law, the U.S. always denied them publicly At first, Khrushchev did not reveal that Powers had been captured alive 8.1. the U.S. issued several false cover stories 8.1.1. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), claimed that it had lost a U-2 being used for weather reconnaissance over Turkey; 8.1.2. the U.S. claimed that it had strayed accidentally into Soviet airspace when its oxygen supply failed and the pilot lost consciousness.

The U-2 Incident

Dr. Cspedes Lecture Notes

8.1.3. May 6: the U.S. State Department assured reporters at a press conference in Washington, D.C., on that "There was noN-Ono deliberate attempt to violate Soviet air space, and there has never been," and added that it was "monstrous" of the Soviets to assert that the U.S. would lie to the world. 9. Coming roughly two weeks before the scheduled opening of the EastWest, Four Powers Summit in Paris (between) 9.1. Dwight Eisenhower, Nikita Khrushchev, Harold Macmillan and Charles de Gaulle 10.May 7: Khrushchev revealed that he had proof that the U-2 had been a spy plane: Powers himself. 10.1. May 11: President Eisenhower admitted that the U.S. had been overflying the Soviet Union. 10.2. That same day, the remnants of Powers' U-2 were put on public display in Gorky Park in Moscow and were toured by Soviet leaders. 11.The political costs of the U-2 incident were high 11.1. Political protest in Japan caused the U.S. to withdraw its U-2 detachments from that country 11.2. Suhrawardys government embarrassed, tensions rise between Pakistan and USSR 11.3. soon the U.S. had withdrawn all its other overseas U-2s as well. 12.Powers was sentenced to 10 years in prison (3 years in prison and 7 years in a labor camp) for espionage but was exchanged on 19 February 1962 for Colonel Rudolph Ivanovich Abel, a Soviet spy. 12.1. August 19, 1960: Coincidentally, the day Powers was sentenced, the U.S. made its first use of satellite technology that would greatly eliminate the need for U-2 overflights of the Soviet Union 12.1.1. recovered a film package from its first spy satellite, the Corona. 12.1.2. The Corona's pictures showed more of the Soviet Union than all reconnaissance missions made up to that time by the U-2 and highaltitude balloons. 12.1.2.1. at first at lower resolution, but quality later increases 12.2. From that point onward, satellites would provide more and more intelligence of Soviet activitywithout political risk. 13.The overflights over USSR ended in May 1960
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The U-2 Incident

Dr. Cspedes Lecture Notes

14.Several planes were given to the Nationalist Chinese (Taiwan/Formosa) for missions over the PRC. 15.October 1962: a U-2 discovered Soviet offensive missiles in Cuba 16.U-2s flew missions during theVietnam War 17.Collected airborne radioactive debris from other nations' nuclear tests, 18.Monitored 1973 Yom Kippur War cease-fire that ended the 1973 19.Served in the Persian Gulf War For books by Dr. Cspedes, click here or enter in your search engine: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/177-5362173-7291265?url=searchalias%3Daps&field-keywords=dr+juan+r.+cespedes Sources Beschloss, Michael R. (1986). May-Day: Eisenhower, Khrushchev, and the U-2 Affair. New York: Harper & Row. Cespedes, Juan R. (2012). Lectures on Contemporary History. Unpublished manuscript. Florida International University. Fensch, Thomas (2001). The C.I.A. and the U-2 Program: 19541974 (Top Secret). Chula Vista, California, USA: New Century Books Gaddis, John L. (1998). We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History. Oxford University Press. Peebles, Curtis (2000). Shadow Flights: America's Secret Air War against the Soviet Union. Novato, CA: Presidio. Penkovsky, Oleg (1966). The Penkovsky Papers: The Russian Who Spied for the West, London: Collins. Powers, Francis G., and Curt Gentry (2002). Operation Over flight: A Memoir of the U-2 Incident. Brasseys, Inc.
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The U-2 Incident

Dr. Cspedes Lecture Notes

Gilman, Larry (2004). "U-2 Incident." Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence, and Security. Retrieved December 13, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http:// www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3403300770.html Khrushchev, Sergei N. (2000). Nikita Khrushchev and the Creation of a Superpower. State College, PA: Penn State Press. Miller, Jay (1983). Lockheed U-2; Aerograph 3. Aerofax Inc. Richelson, Jeffrey T. (2006). Spying on the Bomb: American Nuclear Intelligence from Nazi Germany to Iran and North Korea. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.