Francis Gary Powers was an American pilot whose Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Lockheed U-2 spy plane was shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission in Soviet Union airspace, causing the 1960 U-2 incident.
Powers in 1964
Powers while he was in Soviet custody
Wooden U-2 model – one of two used by Powers when he testified to the Senate Committee. The wings and tail are detached to demonstrate the aircraft's breakup.
Pilot Francis Gary Powers at the American High Altitude Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft
The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed "Dragon Lady", is an American single-engine, high altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated from the 1950s by the United States Air Force (USAF) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It provides day and night, high-altitude, all-weather intelligence gathering.
Lockheed U-2
Original U-2A at USAF Museum
Model "B" U-2 camera on display at the National Air and Space Museum
U-2 at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford