55 Years Ago - Cold War Tensions Escalate - U-2 Spy Incident

Francis Gary Powers and a U-2 aircraft

 
On May 1, 1960, the pilot of an American U-2 spyplane was shot down while flying through Soviet airspace. The fallout over the incident resulted in the cancellation of the Paris Summit scheduled to discuss the ongoing situation in divided Germany, the possibility of an arms control and test ban treaty, and the relaxation of tensions between the USSR and the United States.

To read the rest of the story link over to here -  https://history.state.gov/milestones/1953-1960/u2-incident

It is an excellent State Department web page on the facts of the Francis Gary Powers U-2 shoot down and its repercussions.

U-2 Wreckage in Moscow

I have had the occasion to communicate with Francis Gary Powers, Jr. concerning my efforts to blog on the Cold War, the Cold War Museum, and the 1960 incident. He has done an very good job of representing his father's legacy and history. You can access his website at the following link - http://garypowers.org/

You can access the Cold War Museum page on the incident here - http://www.coldwar.org/articles/60s/u2_incident.asp

The New York Times Headline on Francis Gary Power's Sentence

Thank you to the U. S. Department of State for allowing me to repost and link to their page on this story.

Thank you to Francis Gary Powers Jr and the Cold War Museum for allowing me to link to their sites.

Photographs courtesy of Google Images.