During the five years from 1955 to 1960, the United States of America developed and utilized U-2 aircraft to scout the military information of the Soviet Union. On May 1st, 1960, Khrushchev issued a decree for the Soviet missile troops to bring down a U-2 aircraft. This event is known as the famous U-2 Incident. Even though this offensive move maintained the sovereignty of the Soviet Union and the dignity of international law, the influence of this incident is far reaching by creating tension between the world’s superpowers. Specifically, the U-2 aircraft incident diminished the “Camp David Spirit” that once marked the relaxation of the relation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union; it severely spoiled the “1960 Paris Summit Meeting” of U.S.,
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On May 1st, 1960, the 24th deep-penetration U-2 overflight of the Soviet Union was scheduled, code-named Operation Grand Slam. Operation Grand Slam was piloted by Francis Gary Powers, the most experienced U-2 pilot from CIA. After airborne from Peshawar, Pakistan, Powers guided the aircraft towards Soviet-Afghan border and later Tyurantam Missile Test Range, his first target. The planned route would take him over Chelyabinsk, Kyshtym, Sverdlovsk, northwest to Kirov, north over Yur’ya and Plesetsk, then to Severodvinsk, northwest to Kandalaksha, north to Murmansk, and finally his destination Bodo, Norway. Grand Slam was planned to spend 9 hours in air to cover more than 3,800 miles in distance, with 2,900 miles of unauthorized transgressing the Soviet airspace. The core mission was to photograph Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile sites that were currently in operation and plutonium-production facilities and shipyards where nuclear submarines were being …show more content…
The radar tracking continued as Powers flew the U-2 across Central Asian republics. Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky, the Soviet Defense Minister reported this U-2 overflight to Khrushchev immediately. Khrushchev was greatly insulted and ordered to bring down the plane with “all necessary measures” without hesitation. Malinovsky ensured Khrushchev to attempt every possibility to shoot down the plane if the antiaircraft people weren’t “gawking at the crows”. Four and a half hours after airborne, a Soviet SA-2 surface-to-air missile detonated close to Powers’ U-2 and disabled it from 70,500 feet, 20 miles southeast of the city of Sverdlovsk. Fortunately, Powers parachuted and landed safely. After returning to the ground, Powers were surrounded by Soviet farmers and later captured alive by Soviet
On May 1st, 1960, the 24th deep-penetration U-2 overflight of the Soviet Union was scheduled, code-named Operation Grand Slam. Operation Grand Slam was piloted by Francis Gary Powers, the most experienced U-2 pilot from CIA. After airborne from Peshawar, Pakistan, Powers guided the aircraft towards Soviet-Afghan border and later Tyurantam Missile Test Range, his first target. The planned route would take him over Chelyabinsk, Kyshtym, Sverdlovsk, northwest to Kirov, north over Yur’ya and Plesetsk, then to Severodvinsk, northwest to Kandalaksha, north to Murmansk, and finally his destination Bodo, Norway. Grand Slam was planned to spend 9 hours in air to cover more than 3,800 miles in distance, with 2,900 miles of unauthorized transgressing the Soviet airspace. The core mission was to photograph Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile sites that were currently in operation and plutonium-production facilities and shipyards where nuclear submarines were being …show more content…
The radar tracking continued as Powers flew the U-2 across Central Asian republics. Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky, the Soviet Defense Minister reported this U-2 overflight to Khrushchev immediately. Khrushchev was greatly insulted and ordered to bring down the plane with “all necessary measures” without hesitation. Malinovsky ensured Khrushchev to attempt every possibility to shoot down the plane if the antiaircraft people weren’t “gawking at the crows”. Four and a half hours after airborne, a Soviet SA-2 surface-to-air missile detonated close to Powers’ U-2 and disabled it from 70,500 feet, 20 miles southeast of the city of Sverdlovsk. Fortunately, Powers parachuted and landed safely. After returning to the ground, Powers were surrounded by Soviet farmers and later captured alive by Soviet