May 1 - Soviet Union Shoots Down U-2 Spy Plane

This Day in History: 1 May 2020

 

1 May 1960

 

60 years ago, today, an American U-2 spy plane was shot down while conducting espionage over the Soviet Union. The incident caused tension at an important summit meeting between President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, scheduled later in the month. The U-2 spy plane was a sophisticated technological marvel, as it could travel at altitudes of up to 70,000 feet, with state-of-the-art photography. Flights over the Soviet Union began in mid-1956, as the CIA assured Eisenhower that the Soviets could not shoot down the high-altitude planes, as they lacked weapons adequate enough.

 

While on a flight over the Soviet Union, on this day, the plane disappeared, piloted by Francis Gary Powers. The CIA reassured the president that the plane was equipped with self-destruct mechanisms, that would render the wreckage unrecognisable, and the pilot was instructed to kill himself in such a situation. However, Khrushchev was able to produce the wreckage of the plane, and the alive pilot. On May 16, a major summit in Paris commenced between the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain and France, planning to discuss Berlin and nuclear arms control. But, as the meeting opened, Khrushchev began to lecture the United States, causing Eisenhower to storm out of the summit. The meeting collapsed, and the summit was called off. Francis Gary Powers was released 2 years later, in exchange for a captured Soviet spy.

 

Want to find out more about the U-2 spy plane incident? Click here for more information, or here for a video.