USAF to Award U-2 Pilot with a Silver Star

The Lockheed built U-2 reconnaissance aircraft is one that is dear to my heart. If you've been reading this website long enough you'd be able to find plenty of examples of where I talk about my fascination with both the machine and the pilots who fly them. The plane was built in the 1950s to satisfy the United States' need for a high-altitude reconnaissance platform that could fly high enough over enemy territory that it was out of the range of Soviet anti-aircraft missiles. At first, the U-2 found great success in it's mission, overflying the Soviet Union unscathed a multitude of times. However it's mission success rate dramatically changed on May 1, 1960 when a Soviet missile shot down U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers during a flight over Russia. According to a Russian website on how Powers was Shot Down:

Because of the U-2's extreme operating altitude, Soviet attempts to intercept the plane using fighter aircraft failed. The U-2's course was out of range of several of the nearest SAM sites, and one SAM site even failed to engage the aircraft since it was not on duty that day. The U-2 was eventually brought down near Degtyarsk, Ural Region, by the first of three SA-2 Guideline (S-75 Dvina) surface-to-air missiles fired by a battery commanded by Mikhail Voronov. In bailing out, the plane's pilot, Francis Gary Powers, neglected to disconnect his oxygen hose and struggled with it until it broke, enabling him to separate from the aircraft. He successfully bailed out and parachuted to safety. He was captured soon after parachuting down onto Russian soil. Powers carried with him a modified silver dollar which contained a lethal, shellfish-derived saxitoxin-tipped needle, but did not use it.

What ensued was a large scale cover-up unsuccessfully orchestrated by the American Government. The Wikipedia article on the 1960 U-2 Incident reads:

Four days after Powers disappeared, NASA issued a very detailed press release noting that an aircraft had "gone missing" north of Turkey. The press release speculated that the pilot might have fallen unconscious while the autopilot was still engaged, even falsely claiming that "the pilot reported over the emergency frequency that he was experiencing oxygen difficulties." To bolster this, a U-2 plane was quickly painted in NASA colors and shown to the media.

After learning of this, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev announced to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, and thus the world, that a "spyplane" had been shot down but intentionally made no reference to the pilot. As a result, the Eisenhower Administration, thinking the pilot had died in the crash, authorized the release of a cover story claiming that the plane was a "weather research aircraft" which had strayed into Soviet airspace after the pilot had radioed "difficulties with his oxygen equipment" while flying over Turkey. The Eisenhower White House acknowledged that this might be the same plane, but still proclaimed that "there was absolutely no deliberate attempt to violate Soviet airspace and never has been", and attempted to continue the facade by grounding all U-2 aircraft to check for "oxygen problems."

On May 7, Khrushchev sprang his trap and announced: I must tell you a secret. When I made my first report I deliberately did not say that the pilot was alive and well… and now just look how many silly things [the Americans] have said.

Not only was Powers still alive, but his plane was also largely intact. The Soviets recovered the surveillance camera and even developed some of the photographs. The incident resulted in great humiliation for Eisenhower's administration, caught in a lie. Powers’ survival pack, including 7500 rubles and jewelry for women, was also recovered. Today a large part of the wreck as well as many items from the survival pack are on display at the Central Armed Forces Museum in Moscow. A small piece of the plane was returned to the United States and is on display at the National Cryptologic Museum.

[Wikipedia Article Cont.] Powers received a cold reception on his return home. Initially, he 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 his capture. He was also criticized for not using an optional CIA-issued "suicide pin" to kill himself. After being debriefed extensively by the CIA, Lockheed, and the Air Force, on March 6, 1962, Powers appeared before a Senate Armed Services Select Committee hearing chaired by Senator Richard Russell and including Senators Prescott Bush and Barry Goldwater Sr. It was determined that Powers had followed orders, had not divulged any critical information to the Soviets, and had conducted himself “as a fine young man under dangerous circumstances.”

And now, almost fifty one and a half years after the incident, the United States Air Force announced that they will be posthumously awarding Francis Gary Powers the Silver Star for "sustained courage and gallantry despite cajolery, trickery, insults and threats of death." The Fox News article reads:

Pilots were permitted to tell the truth about their missions with the exception of certain specifications of their aircraft. "While he admitted he was spying, he did not reveal any vital information to the enemy," said Powers Jr., founder of the Cold War Museum in Vint Hill, Virginia.

The decision to award the Silver Star comes just a few weeks before the 20th anniversary of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, on Dec. 25, 1991. Powers was not honored after his return in 1962 because of the "global political environment," the Air Force report said. The U-2 case was detailed in declassified data presented at a 1998 conference, and Powers was awarded a military POW medal and a CIA director's medal posthumously in 2000. The U-2 Soviet overflights were a joint CIA-Air Force program.

Powers Jr. said he requested his father be considered for the higher military honor a few years ago, citing honors given other captured spy plane pilots. He said no date has been set for the award ceremony.

If you want to read the full article, it can be found by clicking here!

"Dad, I left my heart up there." - Francis Gary Powers describing his first flight at age 14