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Aircraft History Built by Lockheed. Article 360 (Item 360). Delivered to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as U-2A serial number 56-6693. On April 28, 1960 another U-2 56-6691 (Item 358) took off from Incirlik Air Base in Turkey piloted by Glen Dunaway and landed at Badaber (Peshawar Air Station) in Pakistan to stage for a mission. That same day, C-130 was flown to Peshawar Airfield in Pakistan with the ground crew, mission pilot Captain Francis Powers, and backup pilot Bob Ericson for a photographic reconnaissance mission "Grand Slam" over Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) missle sites in the Soviet Union (Russia). On April 29, 1960 this U-2 took off from Incirlik Air Base piloted by John Shinn and landed at Peshawar Airfield in Pakistan as a replacement plane for delayed flight "Grand Slam" prior to the east–west summit in Paris. On April 30, 1960 the mission was delayed another day due to bad weather over the Soviet Union. Mission History On May 1, 1960 took off from Peshawar Airfield in Pakistan piloted by CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers on a photographic reconnaissance mission over the Soviet Union (Russia). The flight dubbed "Grand Slam" was to overfly and photograph ICBM (ICBM) launch pads including two at Baikonur Cosmodrome and four at Plesetsk Cosmodrome. Another target was Chelyabinsk-65 (today, Mayak), an important industrial center of plutonium processing. At the conclusion, the U-2 would land at Bodø, Norway. Meanwhile, the U-2 flight was anticipated by the USSR and Soviet Air Defence Forces were all on red alert. Soon after the aircraft was detected, Lieutenant General of the Air Force Yevgeniy Savitskiy ordered the air-unit commanders "to attack the violator by all alert flights located in the area of foreign plane's course, and to ram if necessary". Over the Ural mountains, this U-2 was shot down by a S-75 (C-75) Dvina (SA-2 Guideline) surface-to-air missile that exploded to the rear of his plane. Damaged, Powers bailed out and the U-2 crashed near Ekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk). Fate of the Pilot Powers bailed out was captured and later put on trial and convicted as a spy. Wreckage After the crash, the wreckage of this U-2 was recovered and studied by the Soviet Union. Later, the wreckage was placed on display at several museums. Some wreckage is displayed at the Museum of Military Technology, Ekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk) near where the U-2 was shot down. Other wreckage is displayed at the Central Museum of the Armed Forces in Moscow. The display includes the pilot's seat, exterior skin wreckage and a portion of the cockpit frame. Memorials Powers died on August 1, 1977 in a helicopter crash in Encino, CA. On August 8, 1077 he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery at section 11, site 685-2. References USAF Serial Number Search Results - U-2A 56-6693 "6693 (Item 360) was the plane shot down on May 1, 1960 over USSR flown by CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers. Remains noted May 2006 displayed in Central Museum of the Armed Forces, Moscow. Parts reported Aug 2007 still in Central Museum of the Armed Forces in Moscow, other parts reported at Museum of Military Technology, Ekaterinburg (alias Sverdlovsk) hear where the plane was shot down. Powers survived and was put on trial and was convicted as a spy. He was later traded for a convicted Russian spy." Bridge of Spies (2015) depicts this U-2 mission and shoot down Arlington National Cemetery ANC Explorer - Francis Gary Powers (grave photos) FindAGrave - CPT Francis Gary Powers (photos, grave photo) Thanks to Francis Gary Powers Jr. for additional information Contribute
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