US honours Cold War spy plane pilot, who was shot down in Russia after launching from U.S. military

Lodhi

Chief Minister (5k+ posts)

US pilot who spent two years in Soviet prison,awarded posthumous medal five decades after being shot down in Cold War spy plane

More than 50 years after his U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union, iconic Cold War pilot Francis Gary Powers is to be posthumously awarded the Silver Star.
The medal, the third highest honour the U.S. military can bestow, will be presented by Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz to Powers' grandson and granddaughter at a Pentagon ceremony on Friday.
Mr Powers' award is for exhibiting 'exceptional loyalty' during the long and intense interrogation that he endured while being held captive by the KGB and the Soviet Union for nearly two years.
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Francis Gary Powers who was the pilot of an infamous U-2 spy plane shot down over the former Soviet Union in 1960 is to receive a posthumous Silver Star medal

'Its a wonderful honor and were humbled,' said his son, Francis Gary Powers Jr, in an interview with the Bristol Herald Courier.
Powers was shot out of the sky on May 1, 1960 during a top-secret reconnaissance flight over the Soviet Union and languished in jail for 21 months.

He experienced 61 consecutive days of interrogation by the KGB and was tried and convicted for espionage and was set to spend up to ten years in prison, including seven years of hard labour.
The U-2 pilot was hit by an anti-aircraft missile about 1,300 miles inside the Soviet border after launching from a clandestine U.S. military base in Pakistan, near to Peshawar.

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A U-2 spy plane sporting fictitious NASA markings to support the cover story of CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers, whose U-2 was shot down over the USSR 5 days prior to this picture in 1960



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Francis Gary Powers is paraded in front of the cameras by his Soviet captors (left) as the leader of the U.S.S.R Nikita Khrushchev (right) raged to the United States at the 1960 Paris Summit



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The helmut and the suitcase of American Air Force Pilot Francis Gary Powers who was shot down are displayed as part of an exhibition in Leipzig

Bailing out of his aircraft and parachuting to safety, the Soviet's managed to recover the majority of the highly classified plane, precious surveillance photographs and Powers himself.
When the capture of Powers and his aircraft was made public by the incensed leader of the U.S.S.R, Nikita Khrushchev, the United States at first denied the plane was used for military reconnaissance.
They said it was a NASA test plane.

The argument flared up during the nuclear arms talks at the Paris Summit between the U.S.S.R, the USA, France and the U.K. and led to their collapse.
During the summit, Khrushchev produced parts of the U-2 plane and displayed photographs taken by Powers, while he was paraded by the Soviets on national television.
Facing embarrassment and abuse from the Soviet delegation, President Dwight D. Eisenhower refused to apologise for the U-2 flight and he canceled the summit according to the LA Times

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This photo, officially released in Moscow in 1960, shows the Russian people viewing the wreckage of a US U-2 reconnaissance plane shot down over Soviet territory on May 1st

Eventually, Powers was freed from prison after a dramatic trade off for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel on Berlin's Glienicke Bridge.

After returning home, Powers worked as a test pilot for Lockheed and then as a helicopter traffic reporter
He tragically died when his chopper ran out of fuel and crashed in a field returning from a weather report.
He was buried after his death at the age of 47 at Arlington National Cemetery in 1977.

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Francis Gary Powers holds a model of a U-2 spy plane as he testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee after his release from Soviet prison in march 1962

For almost 107 days, Captain Powers was interrogated, harassed, and endured unmentionable hardships on a continuous basis by numerous top Soviet Secret Police interrogating teams, reads the citation for the Silver Star.

Although greatly weakened physically by the lack of food, denial of sleep and the mental rigors of constant interrogation, Capt. Powers steadfastly refused all attempts to give sensitive defence information or be exploited for propaganda purposes, resisting all Soviet efforts through cajolery, trickery, and threats of death to obtain the confessions they sought as part of the pretrial investigation.
As a result of his indomitable spirit, exceptional loyalty, and continuous heroic actions, Russian intelligence gained no vital information from him.
His son, who is now 47, had started petitioning the Air Force Board of Correction of Military Records to get his father the Silver Star.

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A portrait of Francis Gary Powers in 1977. Powers was later killed while flying a KNBC helicopter in Van Nuys, California

This was prompted by the awarded of the medal to two Air Force officers whose plane was shot down over the Barents Sea two months after Powers U-2 was shot down, who were interned and then released.
The confusion with his military award has always been the fact that Powers was no longer a serving Air Force officer at the time of the U-2 incident and was working as a contractor for the CIA.
However, records released in the early 2000s show that the U.S. Air Force was involved in his U-2 mission.
Nothing could have happened before 2000, when declassified files were released, said Powers Jr.
Thats what started the ball rolling.

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A woman looks at memorabilia that belonged to American Air Force Pilot Francis Gary Powers who had been shot down and captured on May 1st, 1960 by the Soviets while flying his "U2" spy plane on a CIA mission over Soviet territory

Upon his return to the United States after his imprisonment, Powers received a cool reception from his countrymen.
He was criticised for not activating the self-destruct mechanism on his plane and for not taking his suicide pill before he was captured by the Soviets.
However, when debriefed before the Senate Armed Services Select Committee which included George H. W. Bushs father Prescott , he was found to have acted in the best traditions of the U.S. Military.
When his son would ask him how high he was flying on May 1 1960, Powers would reply, Not high enough.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...R-receive-posthumous-medal.html#ixzz1xyvkUODH
 

cefspan

Minister (2k+ posts)
Re: US honours Cold War spy plane pilot, who was shot down in Russia after launching from U.S. military base in Pakistan in 1

poKE THE POLAR BEAR AND HE WOULD ATTACK..
 

sngilani

Chief Minister (5k+ posts)
Re: US honours Cold War spy plane pilot, who was shot down in Russia after launching from U.S. military base in Pakistan in 1

Pakistan was at the brink run-over war by USSR on helping U2 American spy mission allowing him to fly from Peshawar for Russia. Americans never thanked Pakistan. By helping American spy's against Russia Pakistan' own existence was at stake. Inspite of all this US could never say "any attack on Islamabad will be considered as attack on Washington".
 

zeshaan

Chief Minister (5k+ posts)
Re: US honours Cold War spy plane pilot, who was shot down in Russia after launching from U.S. military base in Pakistan in 1

What we are facing nowadays only because of this usa,

Jinn halaat main iss waqat hamm hain sirf amreeka kee meharbani say hain,

Warnaa hamm bhee thay kaam kay.