Pilot spy powers. Scandal of the century: how Soviet air defense systems shot down an American "stealth plane"

May 1, 1960, an event occurred that excited the whole world. The two most powerful powers - the USSR and the USA - were sorting out relations in connection with the downing of air defense forces in the Sverdlovsk region by an American U-2 spy plane ...

On May 1, 1960, at 04:30 Moscow time, Francis Powers, a thirty-year-old American pilot, took off a U-2 plane from the runway of the Peshawar airfield in Pakistan and sent it to the Soviet border. This was the start of Operation Overflight. The flight was supposed to end in 8 hours at a distance of 6 thousand kilometers from the starting point - at Bodø Airport, in Norway. Almost 5 thousand kilometers of the route ran over Soviet territory, the flight all the time took place at an altitude of at least 20 thousand meters

The U-2 was a spy plane equipped with photographic and radio equipment, tape recorders, and radars. Powers' main task was to photograph military bases in the Urals. He photographed the closed "atomic" city of Chelyabinsk-40. At a distance of 20 miles southeast of Sverdlovsk / now Yekaterinburg / Powers changed course, turning 90 degrees. Plesetsk was his next target.

American spy pilot Francis Harry Powers, whose Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was shot down by a Soviet anti-aircraft missile near Sverdlovsk. Russia, Moscow. November 16, 1960

Born in Jenkins, Kentucky, the son of a miner (later a shoemaker). He graduated from Milligan College near Johnson City, Tennessee.
Since May 1950, he volunteered to serve in the US Army, studied at the Air Force School in Greenville, Mississippi, and then at an air force base near the city of Phoenix, Arizona. During his studies, he flew on T-6 and T-33 aircraft, as well as on the F-80 aircraft. After graduation, he served as a pilot at various US air bases, being in the rank of first lieutenant. He flew an F-84 fighter-bomber. He was supposed to participate in the Korean War, but before being sent to the theater of operations, he developed appendicitis, and after being cured, Powers was recruited by the CIA as an experienced pilot and no longer ended up in Korea. In 1956, he left the Air Force with the rank of captain and went full-time to work for the CIA, where he was recruited to the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft program. As Powers testified during the investigation, he was paid a monthly salary of $ 2,500 for performing intelligence assignments, while during his service in the US Air Force he was paid $ 700 a month.
Francis Gary Powers is in flight training. 1956

After being involved in cooperation with American intelligence, he was sent to undergo special training at an airfield located in the desert of Nevada. At this airfield, which was also part of the nuclear test site, for two and a half months he studied the Lockheed U-2 high-altitude aircraft and mastered the control of equipment designed to intercept radio signals and signals from radar stations. In aircraft of this type, Powers flew high-altitude and long-range training flights over California, Texas, and the northern United States. After special training, Powers was sent to the US-Turkish military air base Incirlyk, located near the city of Adana. On instructions from the command of the 10-10 unit, Powers since 1956 systematically made reconnaissance flights along the borders of the Soviet Union with Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan on a U-2 aircraft.
On May 1, 1960, Powers performed another flight over the USSR. The purpose of the flight was to photograph the military and industrial facilities of the Soviet Union and record the signals of Soviet radar stations. The proposed flight route began at the air force base in Peshawar, passed over the territory of Afghanistan, over the territory of the USSR from south to north at an altitude of 20,000 meters along the route Aral Sea - Sverdlovsk - Kirov - Arkhangelsk - Murmansk and ended at a military air base in Bodø, Norway.
Francis Gary Powers in special equipment for long flights in the stratosphere

The U-2 piloted by Powers crossed the state border of the USSR at 5:36 Moscow time, twenty kilometers southeast of the city of Kirovabad, Tajik SSR, at an altitude of 20 km. At 08:53 near Sverdlovsk, the plane was shot down by surface-to-air missiles from the S-75 air defense system. The first missile fired (the second and third did not leave the guides) of the S-75 air defense system hit U-2 near Degtyarsk, tore off the wing of Powers' aircraft, damaged the engine and tail section. For a reliable defeat, several more anti-aircraft missiles were fired (a total of 8 missiles were fired that day, which was not mentioned in the official Soviet version of events). As a result, a Soviet MiG-19 fighter was accidentally shot down, which was flying lower, unable to climb to the U-2 flight altitude. The pilot of the Soviet aircraft, Senior Lieutenant Sergei Safronov, died and was posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

In addition, a single Su-9 was raised to intercept the intruder. This aircraft was transferred from the factory to the unit and did not carry weapons, so its pilot Igor Mentyukov received an order to ram the enemy (at the same time, he had no chance of escaping - due to the urgency of the flight, he did not put on a high-altitude compensation suit and could not safely eject), however, failed to complete the task.
U-2 was shot down by an S-75 missile at the maximum range, while firing at the aircraft in pursuit. A non-contact detonation of the warhead occurred behind the aircraft. As a result, the tail section of the aircraft was destroyed, but the pressurized cabin with the pilot remained intact. The plane began to randomly fall from a height of over 20 kilometers. The pilot did not panic, waited for a height of 10 thousand meters and got out of the car. Then, at five kilometers, he activated a parachute, upon landing he was detained by local residents near the village of Kosulino, not far from the wreckage of the downed plane. According to the version that sounded during the trial of Powers, according to the instructions, he was supposed to use an ejection seat, but did not do this, and at an altitude of about 10 km, in the conditions of a random fall of the car, he left the plane on his own.

... May 5, 1960 at 6.00 the population of the USSR was awakened by the familiar voice of Yuri Levitan: “Attention, attention! All radio stations of the Soviet Union are working! We are transmitting the statement of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Comrade Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev!

In habitually hysterical fashion, Khrushchev announced that Soviet missilemen had shot down a spy plane and denounced "aggressive American circles who, through provocation, are trying to disrupt the Paris summit."

In response, the United States stubbornly insisted on the scientific purpose of the flight. A statement was made by the NASA Directorate: “One of the U-2 aircraft, which since 1956 has been engaged in scientific research of the high layers of the atmosphere, weather conditions and wind direction, went missing while flying over Turkish territory in the Lake Van area. A minute before the disappearance, the pilot managed to report on the radio that he was lacking oxygen.

On May 6, Khrushchev spoke again on the radio. This time he said that "the pilot is alive and does not rock the boat." He added that he deliberately kept silent about this, because otherwise the Americans "would have composed some kind of fable again."

Following Khrushchev’s radio accusations, the White House received an official statement from the Kremlin that shocked the American administration: “The Soviet government at a meeting of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR made a statement that the pilot of the downed plane was in Moscow ... Harry Powers gave exhaustive testimony ... The Soviet authorities have at their disposal irrefutable evidence of the espionage nature of the flight ... "

Remains of a downed plane

Exhibition of the remnants of the downed American spy plane "U-2". Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure. Russia Moscow

Khrushchev is shown the wreckage from the downed U-2

Khrushchev during a visit to the exhibition

Military attachés of foreign embassies at an exhibition of the remains of an American U-2 spy plane shot down on May 1, 1960 near Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg). Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure. Russia Moscow

One of the details of an automatic radio compass

Lenses of an aerial camera mounted on an aircraft

The engine of the downed American Lockheed U-2 aircraft, flown by spy pilot Francis Gary Powers, on display in Gorky Park. Russia, Moscow

Money and valuables for bribery provided by Francis Gary Powers

American spy outfit

... On May 16, 1960, Khrushchev arrived in Paris, but refused to take part in the conference, since Eisenhower did not publicly apologize for the U-2 pirate flight. Of course, the visit of the American president to Moscow was cancelled.

On August 17, 1960, in Moscow, in the Hall of Columns of the House of the Unions, the trial of Powers began. The American side, in addition to a lawyer, was represented by an experienced CBS reporter Sam Jaffe. Before leaving for the USSR, he, the pilot's wife and his father were instructed at the CIA headquarters.

They held together during the trial and heard Powers, leaving the courtroom, quietly say: “Do not believe, father, that I was shot down by a rocket. I was hit by a plane, I saw it with my own eyes.” But only one - Jaff - gave meaning to the phrase thrown in passing. Professional intuition prompted: behind these words lies a secret.

Returning to the United States, Sam Jaff began to investigate the causes and circumstances of the failure of Powers' spy mission, but death prevented him from completing the case.

The wife of an American pilot arrived in Moscow

Powers family members arrived in Moscow

Members of the Powers family outside the American embassy

Barbara Powers' mother, American consul Richard Snyder, pilot's parents, Barbara, Powers' wife during the trial

Spouses Powers, parents of an American pilot

Oliver Powers, father of an American pilot accused of spying for the Soviets

Oliver Powers talking to family friend Saul Curry and an unknown Soviet official

The courthouse where the trial took place

Francis Gary Powers on Soviet television on the day the trial began

The parents of an American pilot are relaxing in a hotel room during a break in the spy process.

People near the building where the trial of the American pilot was held

Muscovites on the street during the trial of an American pilot

Oliver Powers at a press conference appealed to the Soviet authorities with a request to pardon his son

The Powers in their hotel room after a press conference

... On August 19, the verdict was announced: 10 years in prison. However, already on February 10, 1962, Powers and two more American spies were exchanged in Berlin for our intelligence officer Rudolf Abel, who was imprisoned in the United States.

Upon his return, Powers was subjected to grueling interrogations by the CIA. There were leaders of the department who demanded that a criminal case be opened against him for not using a poisonous needle and "talking a lot of unnecessary things in court." And although in 1963 the CIA awarded Powers a medal, nevertheless he suffered a punishment: he was dismissed ahead of schedule from the Air Force. Later, he got a job as a traffic police helicopter pilot. May 1, 1977 died in the line of duty.

Francis Gary Powers holds a model U-2 before testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee on February 10, 1962.

Francis Gary Powers testifies before a Senate committee.

Powers continued to work in military aviation, but there is no evidence of his further cooperation with intelligence. Between 1963 and 1970, Powers worked for Lockheed as a test pilot. In 1970 he co-authored the book Operation Overflight: A Memoir of the U-2 Incident. Rumor has it that this led to his dismissal from Lockheed due to the negative information about the CIA in the book.
Aircraft designer K. Johnson and G. Powers in front of U-2

He then became a radio commentator for radio station KGIL and then a helicopter pilot for KNBC in Los Angeles. On August 1, 1977, he died in a helicopter crash he piloted while returning from filming firefighting in the vicinity of Santa Barbara. The likely cause of the fall was a lack of fuel. Powers was killed along with television cameraman George Spears. Buried at Arlington Cemetery.
Despite the failure of his famous reconnaissance flight, Powers was posthumously awarded for it in 2000. (received the Prisoner of War Medal, Distinguished Service Cross, National Defense Commemorative Medal). On June 12, 2012, U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz presented Powers' grandson and granddaughter with the Silver Star, the third-highest U.S. military award, for "steadfastly rejecting all attempts to obtain vital defense information or be exploited for propaganda purposes." »

(1977-08-01 ) (47 years old)

U-2 with fictitious insignia and fictitious NASA registration number. The plane, released to the press on May 6, 1960, was intended to prove that Powers was a NASA pilot and not a CIA pilot.

Gary Powers is a prisoner in the USSR.

Events May 1, 1960

U-2 was shot down by a missile at the maximum range, while firing at the aircraft in pursuit. The non-contact detonation of the warhead occurred from the side of the rear hemisphere. At about 0900, the pilot was blinded by a strong flash at the tail of the aircraft at an altitude of 21,740 meters. As a result, the tail section of the aircraft was destroyed (" chopped off the tail”), but the pressurized cabin with the pilot remained intact. The plane lost control, went into a tailspin and began to fall from a height of over 20 kilometers. The pilot did not panic, waited for a height of 10 thousand meters and left the plane, climbing over the side without using a catapult, then activated the parachute at five kilometers. Upon landing, he was detained by local residents near the Kosulino station, not far from the wreckage of the downed aircraft. According to the version that sounded during the trial of Powers, according to the instructions, he was supposed to use an ejection seat, but he did not do this, because he knew from one of the technicians that an explosive charge would work in this case, and at an altitude of about 10 km [ ] left the plane on his own.

As soon as it became known about the destruction of the aircraft, US President Eisenhower officially announced that the pilot had lost his way while performing the task of meteorologists, but the Soviet side quickly refuted these allegations, presenting to the whole world fragments of special equipment and the testimony of the pilot himself.

On May 31, 1960, Nikita Khrushchev sent a telegram to Powers' father, Oliver Powers, stating:

I received your letter asking you to give your son a note from his mother. In your letter, you said that a note was attached to it, but for some reason it was not in the envelope. I must inform you that your son will be tried according to the laws of the Soviet Union. The law is the law, I am not in a position to intervene in matters that are in the full jurisdiction of the court. If you wish to come to the Soviet Union to see your son, I am ready to help you in this matter.

Released in 2010, declassified CIA documents showed that U.S. officials did not believe Powers' version of the incident because it contradicted a classified National Security Agency report that claimed that the U-2's altitude had dropped from 65,000 to 34,000 feet (from 20 up to 10 km) before changing course and disappearing from radar screens. The National Security Agency report remains classified.

Memory

« The Soviet military knew the route of Powers, and he was led from the very border. Near Sverdlovsk, four divisions of missile troops were already waiting for the U-2., - N. Fomin.

Life upon returning to the USA

Upon his return to the United States, Powers received a cold welcome. Initially, Powers was accused of failing to act as a pilot in detonating an explosive device to self-destruct a reconnaissance aerial camera, film footage and secret equipment, and also of not committing suicide with a special poisoned needle that was issued to him by a CIA officer. However, a military inquiry and an investigation by the Senate Subcommittee on Armed Services cleared him of all charges. Powers continued to work in military aviation, but there is no evidence of his further cooperation with intelligence. Between 1963 and 1970, Powers worked for Lockheed as a test pilot.

In 1970 he co-authored the book Operation Overflight: A Memoir of the U-2 Incident. Operation Overflight: A Memoir of the U-2 Incident). In 1972, the book was published in the USSR in a small edition with the stamp " Distributed according to a special list", was not on sale.

Subsequently, he became a radio commentator at radio station KGIL, and then a helicopter pilot at the KNBC radio and television news agency in Los Angeles. On August 1, 1977, he died in the crash of a helicopter piloted by him, returning from filming a fire extinguishing in the vicinity of Santa Barbara; the probable cause of the fall was a lack of fuel; TV cameraman George Spears died along with Powers. At the last moment, he spotted children playing in the area and diverted the helicopter to another location to prevent their deaths (had it not been for this last-second deviation that jeopardized his autorotation descent, he might have landed safely) [ ] . Buried at Arlington Cemetery.

Despite the failure of his famous reconnaissance flight, Powers was posthumously awarded in 2000 (for him he received the Prisoner of War Medal, Distinguished Flying Cross, National Defense Commemorative Medal). On June 12, 2012, the Chief of Staff of the US Air Force, General Norton Schwartz, presented Powers' grandson and granddaughter with the Silver Star - the third most important US military award - for being " steadfastly rejected all attempts to obtain vital information about the defense or to be exploited for propaganda purposes».

American pilot, flew reconnaissance missions in the 1950s. Shot down over the USSR in 1960, which led to a crisis in Soviet-American relations.

Born in Jenkins, Kentucky, in the family of a miner (later - a shoemaker). He graduated from Milligan College near Johnson City, Tennessee.

Since May 1950, he volunteered to serve in the US Army, studied at the Air Force School in Greenville, Mississippi, and then at an air force base near the city of Phoenix, Arizona. During his studies, he flew on T-6 and T-33 aircraft, as well as on the F-80 aircraft. After graduating from school, he served as a pilot at various US air force bases, being in the rank of senior lieutenant. He flew an F-84 fighter-bomber. He was supposed to participate in the Korean War, but before being sent to the theater of operations, he developed appendicitis, and after being cured, Powers was recruited by the CIA as an experienced pilot and no longer ended up in Korea. In 1956, he left the Air Force with the rank of captain and went full-time to work for the CIA, where he was recruited to the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft program. As Powers testified during the investigation, he was paid a monthly salary of $ 2,500 for performing intelligence assignments, while during his service in the US Air Force he was paid $ 700 a month.

After being involved in cooperation with American intelligence, he was sent to undergo special training at an airfield located in the desert of Nevada. At this airfield, which was also part of the nuclear test site, for two and a half months he studied the Lockheed U-2 high-altitude aircraft and mastered the control of equipment designed to intercept radio signals and signals from radar stations. In aircraft of this type, Powers flew high-altitude and long-range training flights over California, Texas, and the northern United States.

After special training, Powers was sent to the Incirlik US-Turkish military air base, located near the city of Adana. On instructions from the command of the 10-10 unit, Powers since 1956 systematically made reconnaissance flights along the borders of the Soviet Union with Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan on a U-2 aircraft.

Events May 1, 1960

On May 1, 1960, Powers performed another flight over the USSR. The purpose of the flight was to photograph the military and industrial facilities of the Soviet Union and record the signals of Soviet radar stations. The proposed flight route began at the air force base in Peshawar, passed over the territory of Afghanistan, over the territory of the USSR from south to north at an altitude of 20,000 meters along the route Aral Sea - Sverdlovsk - Kirov - Arkhangelsk - Murmansk and ended at a military air base in Bodø, Norway.

The U-2 plane violated the state border of the USSR at 5:36 Moscow time, twenty kilometers southeast of the city of Kirovabad, Tajik SSR, at an altitude of 20 km. At 8:53 near Sverdlovsk, the plane was shot down by surface-to-air missiles from the S-75 air defense system. The first S-75 air defense missile fired hit U-2 near Degtyarsk, tore off the wing of the Powers U-2 aircraft, damaged the engine and tail section, several more anti-aircraft missiles were fired for reliable destruction (a total of 8 missiles were fired that day, which was not mentioned in the official Soviet version of events). As a result, a Soviet MiG-19 fighter was accidentally shot down, which was flying lower, unable to climb to the U-2 flight altitude. The pilot of the Soviet aircraft, Senior Lieutenant Sergei Safronov, died and was posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Banner. In addition, a single Su-9 was raised to intercept the intruder. This aircraft was transferred from the factory to the unit and did not carry weapons, so its pilot Igor Mentyukov was ordered to ram the enemy (at the same time, he had no chance of escaping - due to the urgency of the flight, he did not put on a high-altitude compensation suit and could not eject safely), however, failed to complete the task.

Powers, after being hit by a U-2 anti-aircraft missile, jumped out with a parachute and, upon landing, was detained by local residents near the village of Kosulino. According to the instructions, Powers was supposed to use the ejection seat of the emergency escape system, but did not do this, and at high altitude, in the conditions of a random fall of the car, he jumped out with a parachute. When studying the wreckage of the U-2 aircraft, it was found that there was a high-powered explosive device in the ejection system, the command to detonate which was issued when trying to eject.

On August 19, 1960, Gary Powers was sentenced by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR under Article 2 "On Criminal Liability for State Crimes" to 10 years in prison, with the first three years in prison.

On February 11, 1962, in Berlin on the Glienicke Bridge, Powers was exchanged for Soviet intelligence officer William Fischer (aka Rudolf Abel). The exchange took place through the mediation of the East German lawyer Wolfgang Vogel.

Memory

For a long time, the District House of Officers of Sverdlovsk housed a small exposition dedicated to the downing of Powers: fragments of the aircraft skin, a headset, according to which the order to defeat was given, a mock-up of the missile that shot down the intruder.

Life upon returning to the USA

Upon his return to the US, Powers was initially accused of failing to destroy his aircraft's intelligence equipment or of failing to commit suicide with a special poisoned needle that had been issued to him. However, a military inquiry cleared him of all charges.

Powers continued to work in military aviation, but there is no evidence of his further cooperation with intelligence. Between 1963 and 1970, Powers worked for Lockheed as a test pilot. He then became a radio commentator for radio station KGIL and then a helicopter pilot for KNBC in Los Angeles. On August 1, 1977, he died in a helicopter crash he piloted while returning from filming firefighting in the vicinity of Santa Barbara. The likely cause of the fall was a lack of fuel. Powers was killed along with television cameraman George Spears. Buried at Arlington Cemetery.

Despite the failure of his famous reconnaissance flight, Powers was posthumously awarded for it in 2000 (received the Prisoner of War Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the National Defense Commemorative Medal).

50 years ago, on February 10, 1962, on the Glienicker Brucke bridge connecting Berlin and Potsdam, where the border between the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and West Berlin passed, there was an exchange of Soviet intelligence officer Rudolf Abel for American pilot Francis Powers.

The Soviet military intelligence officer, Colonel Rudolf Ivanovich Abel (real name and surname William Genrikhovich Fisher) has been in the United States since 1948, where he carried out the task of identifying the degree of possibility of a military conflict with the United States, creating reliable illegal channels of communication with the Center, obtaining information about the economic situation and military (including nuclear) potential.

As a result of betrayal, on June 21, 1957, he was arrested. When arrested, he named himself after his friend and colleague - Rudolf Abel. During the investigation, he categorically denied his affiliation with intelligence, refused to testify at the trial and rejected attempts by American intelligence agencies to persuade him to cooperate.

On November 15, 1957, he was sentenced by an American court to 30 years in prison. He served his sentence in a federal prison in Atlanta.

Soviet intelligence began the fight for Abel's release immediately after he was sentenced. For several years, painstaking work was carried out by a large group of KGB officers. The prisoner had a "cousin" Jürgen Drivs, under whose name the KGB residency officer in East Berlin worked Yuri Drozdov, correspondence was established between Abel's family members and his lawyer in the United States, James Donovan, through a lawyer in East Berlin, Wolfgang Vogel. At first, things progressed sluggishly. The Americans were very careful, checking the addresses of a relative and a lawyer, obviously not fully trusting "cousin Drivs" and Vogel.

Events began to move faster after the international scandal that occurred on May 1, 1960. On this day, an American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, piloted by pilot Francis Gary Powers, was shot down near Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg). The reconnaissance flight route of the aircraft ran from the Peshawar base (Pakistan) through the territory of Afghanistan, a significant part of the USSR territory (Aral Sea - Sverdlovsk - Kirov - Plesetsk) and was supposed to end at the Bude air base in Norway. His goal was to photograph military installations.

After crossing the border of the USSR, the reconnaissance aircraft tried several times to intercept Soviet fighters, but all attempts ended in failure, since the U-2 could fly at altitudes inaccessible to the then fighters: more than 21 kilometers. The aircraft was shot down near the village of Povarnya near Sverdlovsk by a missile from the S-75 anti-aircraft missile system (SAM) created at NPO Almaz (now the Head System Design Bureau of the Almaz-Antey Air Defense Concern). The S-75 air defense system was used for the first time to suppress the actions of aviation.

The missile hit the tail of the U-2 aircraft at an altitude of more than 20 kilometers. The downed plane began to fall. Powers was saved by the fact that his cabin miraculously did not depressurize, he waited for the fall to the mark of 10 kilometers and jumped out with a parachute. After landing, Powers was arrested and later sentenced to 10 years in prison.

At a press conference, in response to Soviet accusations that the United States was engaging in espionage activities by sending its planes flying over Soviet territory, US President Dwight Eisenhower advised the Russians to remember the Rudolf Abel case.

Photos of Abel and materials about him again appeared in the press. The New York Daily News, in an editorial, was the first to offer to trade Abel for Powers. This initiative was picked up by other American newspapers. Soviet intelligence also intensified its operations. The Americans were well aware that Abel, a high-class professional intelligence officer, was "worth" much more than a simple, albeit experienced pilot, Powers, and hoped to make a good deal. As a result of the negotiations, an agreement was reached on the exchange of Abel for three Americans. In addition to pilot Powers, the Soviet side agreed to release an American student from Yale, Frederick Pryor, who was arrested for espionage in East Berlin in August 1961, and a young American, Marvin Makinen, from the University of Pennsylvania. He was in prison in Kyiv (Ukraine), serving an 8-year sentence for espionage.

It was decided to exchange Abel and Powers on February 10, 1962 at the Glieniker-Brücke bridge. Exactly in the middle of the bridge, built over the channel between the two lakes, was the state border between the GDR and West Berlin. This steel dark green bridge was about a hundred meters long, the approaches to it were clearly visible, which made it possible to provide for all precautions. In another area of Berlin, at the checkpoint "Charlie", Frederick Pryor was to be released.

On the morning of February 10, American vehicles approached the bridge from one side, one of which was Abel. On the other hand, the cars of the Soviet and East German representatives who brought Powers. They were accompanied by a covered van with a radio station. Just in case, a group of border guards from the GDR hid in it.

As soon as the signal was received on the radio that Pryor had been handed over to the Americans at Checkpoint Charlie, the main exchange operation began (Makinen was handed over a month later).

Officials from both sides met in the middle of the bridge and completed the prearranged procedure. Abel and Powers were invited there as well. The officers confirmed that these were the people they were waiting for.

After that, Abel was handed a release document signed in Washington on January 31, 1962 by US President John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert Kennedy.

Following this, Abel and Powers each went to their own side of the border.

Returning to Moscow, Fischer (Abel) was sent for treatment and rest, then continued to work in the central apparatus of foreign intelligence. He took part in the training of young illegal intelligence officers. He died in 1971 at the age of 68.

Returning to his homeland, Powers and then flew in a broadcaster's helicopter. In August 1977, he died in a helicopter crash he piloted while returning from filming wildfires in the Los Angeles area.

(Additional

Remains of a downed plane

Returning to the United States, Sam Jaff began to investigate the causes and circumstances of the failure of Powers' spy mission, but death prevented him from completing the case.

The parents of an American pilot are relaxing in a hotel room during a break in the spy process.

People near the building where the trial of the American pilot was held

Muscovites on the street during the trial of an American pilot

Oliver Powers at a press conference appealed to the Soviet authorities with a request to pardon his son

The Powers in their hotel room after a press conference