American spy plane shot down 1961. Scandal of the century: how Soviet air defense systems shot down an American "stealth plane"

Neither the Soviet Union nor Russia fought the United States. However, the wreckage of an American military aircraft destroyed by the Soviet military has been on display at the Central Museum of the Armed Forces in Moscow for more than half a century.

The hot episode of the Cold War took place on May 1, 1960, when the entire Soviet people celebrated the International Workers' Solidarity Day.

But for the Soviet air defense forces, the high military command and members of the Politburo, this day turned out to be really hot.

At 5:36 Moscow time, twenty kilometers southeast of the city of Kirovabad, Tajik SSR, at an altitude of 20 km, a U-2 reconnaissance aircraft invaded the airspace.

This “guest” was already well known to the Soviet military, because he and his “brothers” had been making visits without an invitation since July 1956.

U-2, a marvel of American technology, was stuffed with intelligence equipment and specially created for spy missions in the USSR. The Lockheed aircraft flew at altitudes over 20 kilometers and was considered virtually invulnerable and invincible.

Emotional and impulsive Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev went into a rage after every report of a new U-2 visit. The United States explained all the protests of the Soviet side with "spy mania widespread in the USSR."

And indeed, how to prove the nationality of an aircraft that air defense systems cannot reach?

Hunting for the "invulnerable"

And reconnaissance aircraft continued to travel over the Soviet Union, supplying Washington with information about the military and industrial potential of the USSR.

So on May 1, 1960, U-2, having risen from a base in Peshawar, Pakistan, was going to fly along the route Aral Sea - Sverdlovsk - Kirov - Arkhangelsk - Murmansk, and then land at the Bude base in Norway.

As in previous cases, interceptor aircraft were raised from Soviet airfields, which could not reach the intruder.

Along the U-2 route, only one Soviet aircraft was found that was able to catch up with the intruder at a 20-kilometer altitude - the Su-9, located at the airfield near Sverdlovsk. However, this aircraft was distilled from the aircraft factory, had no weapons, and its pilot did not have a suit for flying at such heights.

Nevertheless, the military command put forward a plan - the pilot on the Su-9 overtakes the U-2 and goes to ram.

Under these conditions, the Soviet pilot had no chance of survival. Pilot Igor Mentyukov, who was destined for the fate of kamikaze, had the right to refuse - after all, this was not in wartime. However, the pilot, asking only to take care of his family (Igor's wife was expecting a child at that moment), went in pursuit.

Unfortunately or fortunately, it was not possible to accurately aim the Su-9 at the target. Having spent fuel, the plane returned to the airfield.

But confidence in their own invulnerability deprived the Americans of caution. U-2 flew in the coverage area of the latest S-75 Dvina anti-aircraft missile system. This complex had a serious weakness - a small range of destruction, not exceeding 30 kilometers.

But at 8:50 in the morning, the reconnaissance was in the zone of destruction of the "Dvina", which was part of the 2nd anti-aircraft missile battalion under the command of Major Mikhail Voronov.

At 0853 U-2 was shot down. But the imperfection of technology did not immediately determine that the target was hit. As a result, a second salvo was fired, which hit one of the Soviet fighters chasing the intruder. So the Soviet died pilot Sergei Safronov.

Confessions of a Kentucky Boy

At this time, the intruder's pilot landed safely in the village of Kosulino, Sverdlovsk Region, where the collective farmers were going to celebrate May Day. At first, the pilot was mistaken for his own, but he uttered a phrase in an incomprehensible language, and this alerted the locals.

Photo of Powers in the USSR. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

The pilot was taken to the office of the local state farm, having previously taken away the gun and knife found from him. However, the unknown behaved peacefully, did not resist and preferred to remain silent.

At the call of the collective farmers, the military arrived, who sent the living "trophy" to Moscow.

30 year old american Pilot Francis Gary Powers remained silent only until he was in the hands of officials. Then he began to speak willingly and frankly.

The son of a miner from Kentucky, after graduating from college, joined the army, where, after graduating from the Air Force School, he was preparing to participate in the Korean War. However, Powers did not get to the front due to appendicitis, after which, instead of Korea, he served at various US Air Force bases.

There he, an experienced pilot, was recruited by the CIA. Powers honestly admitted that he went into reconnaissance pilots because of the money. Instead of the $700 that he received in the Air Force, he began to receive $2,500. For such a salary, you could take a risk.

Although the 10-10 unit, which flew over the territory of the USSR, was convinced that the risk was minimal - the U-2 was invulnerable. Powers realized the fallacy of this theory only while swinging under a parachute canopy over the Urals.

Powers did not want to play the hero dying for America. Once on the ground, the pilot did not shoot at the locals with a pistol, nor try to bribe them with the help of Soviet money, which he was prudently provided with. Moreover, during the search, he gave out a poisoned needle, which was hidden in the collar of his flight suit. The needle with curare poison was intended for the pilot, so that he "did not fall into the clutches of the KGB."

There you are, Mr. Eisenhower!

Nikita Khrushchev rejoiced - in his hands were not only the wreckage of an American reconnaissance aircraft, but also a pilot who honestly admits to his espionage activities.

After the disappearance of the aircraft, the American side launched a pre-prepared legend - the flight was carried out by NASA for scientific purposes and disappeared over the territory of Turkey due to technical problems.

Nikita Khrushchev announced in his official speech that an American spy plane had been shot down over the USSR. But at the same time, he did not say anything about the fact that the pilot was alive.

For this situation, the CIA also had a move prepared. A campaign began in the Western media on the topic that Russians obsessed with spy mania destroyed a NASA plane and killed a peaceful scientist.

34th US President Dwight Eisenhower. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

A statement of this content was made by US President Dwight Eisenhower.

And here the hour of Khrushchev’s triumph came - the world was presented with a living pilot Powers, who told reporters around the world who he was, where he came from and what kind of “meteorological research” the Americans had been conducting over the territory of the USSR for four years now.

It wasn't even a slap. Dwight Eisenhower, the hero of World War II, had never experienced such humiliation in his entire life.

Eisenhower had a reputation as an honest man, and he repeatedly asked the leadership of the CIA - what will happen if the Russians catch us? The CIA, surprisingly, relied on the fact that this would never happen.

And now, at the mercy of the intelligence officers, Eisenhower's reputation was destroyed in an instant.

The President of the United States broke loose - in his next speech, he did not apologize, but promised to continue intelligence activities against the USSR.

Posthumous award

This showed the essence of America, which for many decades exists in the belief that it can do more than others. Washington believed that they had the right to surround the USSR with military bases and send reconnaissance aircraft into the airspace of the Soviet Union. But when a scout is shot down, and even poked in the nose, this is an insult to the United States, a violation of world order and international norms!

Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, making sure that Eisenhower was not going to apologize, expressed many warm words to the United States, and the emerging warming in relations between the two countries was replaced by a new cooling. The summit meeting was cancelled.

As for Gary Powers himself, he was tried in a show trial, sentenced to 10 years in prison for espionage, and sent to serve his sentence in the famous Vladimir Central.

He served a year and a half, and then was exchanged for a Soviet intelligence officer William Fisher(aka Rudolf Abel).

The return of Powers to his homeland was not triumphant - many openly threw accusations of betrayal at him. Powers, having tied up with espionage activities, continued to work as a pilot.

On August 1, 1977, a KNBC helicopter in Los Angeles, piloted by Powers, was filming wildfires. When returning to the base, the equipment failed, and the helicopter crashed. The experts investigating the accident found that Powers had a chance to escape, but he decided to take the falling helicopter away from the playground where the children were playing.

Powers was remembered at the beginning of the 21st century, when a flood of posthumous medals fell upon his relatives. In 2012, he was awarded America's third-highest award, the Silver Star, for having "steadfastly rejected all attempts to obtain vital defense information or be exploited for propaganda purposes."

The United States managed to forget how everything really happened, and the “Silver Star”, which Powers was awarded posthumously, is also exploitation for propaganda purposes, only now a modern American one.

The U-2 reconnaissance flight program over the territory of the USSR was curtailed. With the advent of spy satellites, the need for it has drastically decreased.

And the United States did not learn anything from the story of the reconnaissance aircraft shot down on May 1, 1960 over the Urals.

The principle "We can do what others can't" still defines American policy on the world stage.

Francis Gary Powers (born Francis Gary Powers; August 17, 1929 – August 1, 1977) was an American aviator who flew reconnaissance missions for the CIA. A U-2 spy plane piloted by Powers was shot down while flying near Sverdlovsk on May 1, 1960. Powers survived, was sentenced by a Soviet court for espionage to 10 years in prison, but later exchanged for Soviet intelligence officer Rudolf Abel, exposed in the United States.
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 rails) 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.
Remains of a downed plane

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 departure, 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 he did not do this, and at an altitude of about 10 km, in the conditions of an indiscriminate fall of the car, he left the plane on his own.
At the site of the plane crash

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.
Soviet spokesman Andrei Gromyko speaks at a press conference on the U-2 incident

During a press conference

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 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.
At the Powers Trial

Powers during the process

On February 10, 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.
Upon his return to the US, Powers was met with a cold reception. Initially, Powers was accused of failing to act as a pilot to detonate a self-destructing explosive device for the intelligence AFA, film footage and secret equipment, and 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.
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 while returning from filming firefighting in the Santa Barbara area. 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, US Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz presented Powers' grandson and granddaughter with the Silver Star, the third-highest military award in the United States, for "steadfastly rejecting all attempts to obtain vital defense information or be exploited for propaganda purposes." »
Events around the process in the photographs of Karl Midans
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 May 1, 1960, a Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft piloted by American pilot Francis Gary Powers was shot down in Soviet airspace. The plane invaded from Afghanistan and was shot down by a Soviet surface-to-air missile near Sverdlovsk. Powers survived, was sentenced by a Soviet court for espionage to 10 years in prison, but later he was exchanged for the Soviet intelligence officer Rudolf Abel, exposed in the United States. The incident caused a high-profile international scandal and significantly complicated relations between the USSR and the USA.

In the mid-1950s, the U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft was created in the United States. He was distinguished by the fact that he could fly at high altitudes - up to 20 km and above. The Americans believed that at such a height it would become inaccessible to Soviet air defense and would not be able to detect it in the USSR. The aircraft could reach speeds of about 800 km / h. It could have carried a large amount of data collection equipment, including eight high-resolution cameras. Such cameras made it possible to cover an area of 4300x800 km in one flight. In the United States, a whole program was launched to use reconnaissance aircraft. The initiator of the flights of U-2 spy planes was Richard Bissell, Deputy Director of Covert Operations Planning of the CIA. The Americans even created a special unit, Detachment 10-10, whose planes flew over the countries of the Warsaw Pact and along the borders of the USSR. In total, according to some sources, 24 flights of U-2 aircraft were carried out over the territory of the Soviet Union until 1960. These aircraft collected information on a large number of military and industrial facilities. U-2 first invaded Soviet airspace on July 4, 1956. The reconnaissance aircraft took off from the American military base in Germany and flew over Moscow, Leningrad and the Baltic coast. The fact of the invasion was recorded by the Soviet Union, the USSR sent a note of protest, demanding to stop reconnaissance flights, but since 1957 they resumed. Also, thanks to the U-2, American intelligence managed to find out the location of the Baikonur Cosmodrome in 1957, thanks to the next flight of the U-2 aircraft. The Americans did not stop there. On April 9, 1960, a spy plane flew over the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, photographed an atomic bomb ready to be detonated, and returned with impunity. Until the end of 1959, the USSR did not have an effective means of countering high-altitude U-2s.

Gary Powers was considered the most experienced pilot of the 10-10 squad. He already had 27 flights over the territories of Poland, East Germany, China and the USSR. On May 1, 1960, U-2, operated by Powers, crossed the USSR state border at 5:36 Moscow time. It happened 20 km southeast of the city of Kirovabad, Tajik SSR. The plane was supposed to fly along the route: Peshawar (Pakistan) - Aral Sea - Sverdlovsk - Kirov - Plesetsk and land at the Bude airfield in Norway. The flight was supposed to take 9 hours. Powers was supposed to fly about 6 thousand km during this time, of which almost 5 thousand were over Soviet territory. The route of the aircraft ran over important industrial centers and military bases. In case of detection by Soviet air defense, Powers was ordered to press the self-destruct button of the machine, since the U-2 should in no case be hit by the Russians.
When the U-2 began to approach the USSR border south of Dushanbe at an altitude of more than 19 km at 5.36 Moscow time, the aircraft was noticed by Soviet air defense. By 8 am, the flight was reported to the Minister of Defense, the Chairman of the KGB, members of the Politburo and Khrushchev. By this time, Powers was already flying over Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk and approaching Sverdlovsk. A single Su-9 fighter-interceptor was raised to intercept the intruder. The plane was not armed, as it was being transferred from the factory to the flight unit, the pilot Igor Mentyukov received an order to ram the enemy. At the same time, Mentyukov had no chance to escape - due to the urgency of the flight, he did not put on a high-altitude compensation suit and could not safely eject. However, Powers' U-2 Su-9 could not be detected due to incorrect guidance from the ground. In addition, the reconnaissance aircraft constantly disappeared from the radar. When the Su-9 began to run out of fuel, Mentyukov was forced to return to the airfield.

How Powers was shot down USSR, u-2, usa, air defense

The US responded to the incident only on May 3. A message was published that on May 1, 1960, a U-2 aircraft belonging to NASA disappeared. The apparatus allegedly carried out meteorological research in the upper layers of the atmosphere. The report said that it may have crashed in the Turkish Lake Van area. The US did not mention that it could have been a reconnaissance aircraft. The causes and circumstances of the plane's death were still clear to the Americans. The US believed that the aircraft was destroyed in the course of the mission. However, an official statement from the USSR soon followed. Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev on May 7 announced that an American spy had been shot down by Soviet air defense. Moreover, it was reported that the pilot was alive. The Americans could no longer deny that the plane was reconnaissance. Eisenhower, who was then President of the United States, was forced to admit that it was a reconnaissance aircraft, and flights over Soviet territory continued for several years.

On August 17, 1960, the trial of Powers took place. He pleaded guilty. Two days later he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. However, already on February 10, 1962, he was exchanged for the Soviet intelligence officer William Fisher (Rudolf Abel). The exchange took place in Berlin on the Glienicke Bridge. At home, Powers was also awaiting trial. He was accused of violating office instructions and tested on a polygraph. Nevertheless, the investigative and Senate commissions concluded that he was innocent. After the incident in the sky over the USSR, he continued to work in military aviation for several more years. Powers died on August 1, 1977 in a helicopter crash. His car was photographing a fire in the vicinity of Santa Barbara, California. One of the possible causes of the disaster could be a lack of fuel. After his death, Powers was posthumously awarded several medals and awards, including the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Silver Star, the third-highest military award in the United States.

After the incident on May 1, 1960, the United States no longer conducted reconnaissance flights on U-2 over the territory of the USSR. The incident had serious political consequences, significantly complicating relations between the USSR and the USA. So the American president was forced to cancel his visit to Moscow, and Nikita Khrushchev did not fly to the summit in Paris, where the leaders of the USSR, the USA, Great Britain and France planned to discuss issues of arms control.

Then it was decided to shoot down the U-2 with a rocket. Several missiles were fired, but only one of them, fired from the S-75 air defense system, damaged the reconnaissance aircraft. It was the first combat launch of a rocket on the territory of the USSR. At 0853 hours, the first rocket fired exploded behind Powers' aircraft, blowing off the U-2's wing and damaging the engine and tail section. But the pilot remained intact. The plane began to fall uncontrollably from a height of over 20 km. Several more anti-aircraft missiles were fired. Then Powers decided to jump at a height, according to some sources, 10 km, according to others, 5 km. As soon as he broke away from the aircraft, another missile hit the U-2 with a direct hit. The pilot managed to safely descend by parachute, on the ground he was detained by local residents near the village of Kosulino.
The US responded to the incident only on May 3. A message was published that on May 1, 1960, a U-2 aircraft belonging to NASA disappeared. The apparatus allegedly carried out meteorological research in the upper layers of the atmosphere. The report said that it may have crashed in the Turkish Lake Van area. The US did not mention that it could have been a reconnaissance aircraft. The causes and circumstances of the plane's death were still clear to the Americans. The US believed that the aircraft was destroyed in the course of the mission. However, an official statement from the USSR soon followed. Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev on May 7 announced that an American spy had been shot down by Soviet air defense. Moreover, it was reported that the pilot was alive. The Americans could no longer deny that the plane was reconnaissance. Eisenhower, who was then President of the United States, was forced to admit that it was a reconnaissance aircraft, and flights over Soviet territory continued for several years.
On August 17, 1960, the trial of Powers took place. He pleaded guilty. Two days later he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. However, already on February 10, 1962, he was exchanged for the Soviet intelligence officer William Fisher (Rudolf Abel). The exchange took place in Berlin on the Glienicke Bridge. At home, Powers was also awaiting trial. He was accused of violating office instructions and tested on a polygraph. Nevertheless, the investigative and Senate commissions concluded that he was innocent. After the incident in the sky over the USSR, he continued to work in military aviation for several more years. Powers died on August 1, 1977 in a helicopter crash. His car was photographing a fire in the vicinity of Santa Barbara, California. One of the possible causes of the disaster could be a lack of fuel. After his death, Powers was posthumously awarded several medals and awards, including the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Silver Star, the third-highest military award in the United States.

HOW THE POWERS HAVE BEEN SHUT DOWN

On May 1, 1960, a U-2 spy plane was shot down over the territory of the USSR. This event received a huge resonance all over the world and became one of the milestones in the history of the Cold War. However, for thirty years the secret was the fact that after the destruction of the U-2, the missilemen shot down the Soviet MIG-19 fighter. This tragic event and other little-known details of what happened are told by reserve colonel Mikhail Voronov, whose missile division shot down the U-2.

On May 1, at 5:30 a.m., an American Lockheed U-2 spy plane, which took off from the Peshawar airfield in Pakistan, crossed the border of the USSR. His thirty-year-old pilot, Francis G. Powers, was supposed to cross the country from the Pamirs to the Kola Peninsula, photographing military and industrial installations.

In autumn, our division received a new anti-aircraft missile system. Until February 1960, he was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Shishov, but then he was seconded to study for a long time. I, at that time a major, was entrusted with the performance of his duties.

On the eve of May 1, 1960, we changed from combat duty. I sent several officers home to their families.

The morning was warm and sunny. I left the house, began to clean my boots, intending to go to the barracks and congratulate the soldiers on the holiday. Suddenly a siren and the cry of an orderly:

- Anxiety!

Ran straight to the position. There was an idea that on a holiday they simply decided to arrange an inspection. But then they ran, turned on all the equipment. I report that the division is ready for battle. The commander of the unit reports in response that the intruder is heading towards the Urals. Be ready to destroy it if it enters the zone.

The plane was still far away, in the area of the Aral Sea. I asked permission to feed the soldiers. He gave ten minutes. Just sat down at the table - again the alarm. And the command: "Equipment in combat mode!". This is a very rare command, it is given in exceptional cases. So it's a very serious matter. Everyone concentrated, got close.

I confess, I was very worried: what kind of plane? What does he have on board? Maybe an atomic bomb?

During World War II, when I was in command of a battery, I had to shoot down German planes. But then they flew at an altitude of no higher than 10 kilometers. This one was already at the 20,000th altitude. Yes, and the launch on a combat, and not on a training target, was coming for the first time.

Having made a survey of an object on the shore of Lake Irtysh, Powers began to go around Sverdlovsk.

The holiday was chosen for the reconnaissance flight, apparently not by chance. Its organizers counted on the fact that the rocket men would need a lot of time to coordinate their actions with Moscow. And Moscow at that time was busy with a military parade on Red Square.

- There is a goal! Sergeant Yagushkin reports.

Preparations are underway for the launch of the rocket. And suddenly the plane, having passed Chelyabinsk and not reaching the zone of our division, turned to the right and began to move away to the east. I already thought: "That's it, left us." But after a while he turned again and began to approach from the southeast. And here is the goal in the division zone. Command: "Start!"

The guidance officer, Senior Lieutenant Eduard Feldblum, hesitated - apparently there was some kind of psychological barrier. I told him again: “Yes, start, motherfucker! ...” and the rocket went to the target. And if the senior lieutenant had delayed a little more, the plane would have left the affected area.

The first rocket went towards the target. The second and third are rejection. Automatics worked: the plane was already out of our reach. They, however, were not needed. The first rocket reached the U-2 and exploded in its rear hemisphere. It happened at 8:53 Moscow time.

In Moscow, on Red Square, Nikita Khrushchev welcomed a celebratory demonstration from Lenin's Mausoleum. He already knew about Powers' flight and ordered him to be shot down. But only when Marshal Biryuzov, Commander-in-Chief of the Air Defense Forces, went up to the Mausoleum and reported that the intruder had been shot down by the very first missile, the prime minister's heart was relieved.

At the same time, Boris Yeltsin, then a student at the Ural Polytechnic Institute, was walking in a column of demonstrators along the main square of Sverdlovsk and, like many others, saw a bright spot high in the sky. It was a rocket explosion that interrupted the flight of the U-2.

An error occurred with the evaluation of the results of the shooting. We clearly observed on the screen the approach of the mark from our missile and from the intruder aircraft, but when they converged, the screen turned out to be clogged with marks from the debris. Feldblum mistook them for interference. I duplicated his report at the CP.

Ten minutes later, we realized that Powers was still shot down - I got out of the cockpit and saw a parachute high in the sky. I reported about this, but the CP did not believe: the enemy, they say, continues to fly. The fact is that the unit of the radio engineering troops, which led the target, considered its disappearance on the screens to be temporary and continued to give out the laying of the course - fictitious.

Captain Boris Ayvazyan and senior lieutenant Sergei Safonov arrived at the Sverdlovsk Koltsovo airport at 0735 on a combat alert, but got up in their MIG-19s to intercept the target only more than an hour later. Soon after, Ayvazyan swept up the explosion of Powers' plane, but mistook it for self-destruction of the rocket.

The anti-aircraft missile division of Major Shugaev, one of Voronov's neighbors, discovered the fighters and sent a request "I'm mine." They were silent: for some reason, the pilots did not turn on their answering machines during takeoff. The MiGs were mistaken for an enemy target, and missiles were fired at them.

Boris Ayvazyan noticed a strange cloud in the sky and dived sharply. This saved his life. Senior Lieutenant Sergei Safonov, who was not even thirty years old, died.

Powers flew at an altitude of 20 kilometers, and the ceiling of the MIG-19 was 2-3 thousand meters less. The tragic departure of Sergei Safonov was an unnecessary safety net.

Could be another tragic flight. Another Su-9 ferry plane without any weapons accidentally turned up at Koltsovo airport. The aircraft commander was ordered to intercept the intruder and ram. It was an order for certain death, but while the ferryman was being refueled, everything was decided in the sky.

As already mentioned, the rocket exploded in the rear hemisphere, and this saved Powers' life. Together with the plane, he fell 11 thousand meters, and then manually opened the lantern and jumped out with a parachute.

Later, when examining the wreckage of the aircraft, 200 kilograms of explosives were found under the pilot's seat.

As soon as he clicked on the catapult, an explosion would occur. Powers knew this and therefore did not eject. (The Americans have their own point of view on this: the explosive under the seat was not connected with the catapult, but related to the mechanism for eliminating the aircraft. Powers did not activate it, as he assumed that in this case not only the aircraft would be destroyed, but also himself .)

When Powers almost descended by parachute, he was seen by two residents of the village of Kokulino Kuzhakin and Asabin, who were riding in the state farm Moskvich. We drove up and asked what happened. The parachutist was silent. Then Asabin, a former sailor, guessed what was the matter and disarmed Powers. He was taken to the state farm office, and there they found several gold watches, chains, and rings in his possession. There was a lot of foreign currency and Soviet rubles.

Powers was soon taken to Sverdlovsk and then to Moscow.

On August 19, 1960, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR sentenced US citizen Francis G. Powers to 10 years in prison. But already on February 10, 1962, on the Glinker-Brücke bridge, which connected West Berlin with East, Powers was exchanged for the Soviet intelligence officer Rudolf Abel (real name - Fisher).

After the exchange and return to the United States, an investigation was launched against Powers, but the commission acquitted him. In August 1977, Francis Powers died in a helicopter crash near Los Angeles.

Immediately after the incident, NASA released a press statement regarding the disappearance of a U-2 aircraft intended for atmospheric studies. Moreover, the Americans reported that he had disappeared over the territory of Turkey, in the area of Lake Van.

Four days later, on May 5, Khrushchev, speaking at a session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, casually mentioned the incident. At the same time, he deliberately kept silent about the fact that Power was alive and captured. The State Department hastened to declare that the flight was exceptionally peaceful and the pilot simply strayed off course.

That this was a blatant lie became known to the world on the last day of the session, when Khrushchev announced that he deliberately refrained from mentioning that the pilot was alive and that there were wreckage of the aircraft. “We did this because if we had told everything as it was, the Americans would have come up with a different explanation.”

Powers' unsuccessful flight turned into a big scandal for the United States, which almost led to the resignation of CIA chief Allen Dulles. The U-2 aircraft, a good car for those times, acquired a bad reputation among American pilots. Some joker from the US Air Force even noticed that the U-2 (Yu-tu) sounds in English indistinguishable from the phrase "you too."

On May 7, all the newspapers published the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on awarding distinguished military personnel. I received the Order of the Red Banner.

First on the list of awardees was the name of Senior Lieutenant Safonov, but there was no posthumous mark. Apparently, Leonid Brezhnev, who had just been elected Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council, did not want such a tragic fate behind the first document he signed in his new capacity. And the truth was hidden for thirty years.

By the will of fate, the wife of Sergei Safonov married Boris Ayvazyan.

I continued to command the division until December 1961. In March of the following year, I was transferred to a higher headquarters, given the rank of lieutenant colonel. He worked at the headquarters for five years and retired for health reasons.

In 1978, in the reserve, he received the rank of colonel. I live in the city of Tuapse. I remember that May Day often and, apparently, I will never forget.

And now, to put all the dots on the “and”, let's listen to another participant in the incident with the American spy - Igor Mentyukov.

After the trial of Francis Harry Powers, a former US Air Force pilot and CIA hired pilot, a curious article appeared in one of the Soviet newspapers. It was reported that, upon returning to the United States, Powers' father repeated to reporters the words uttered by his son: “Do not believe, father, that I was shot down by a rocket. I was shot down by a plane, I saw it with my own eyes ... "

The editorial commentary said that the pilot's father made this statement, probably under pressure from the American intelligence services. And the pilot of the plane, whom Powerm “saw with my own eyes”, was waiting for a subpoena. But he did not go to court - for the sake of political conjuncture. And, true to his word, the pilot Igor Mentyukov was silent for more than thirty years.

What was the Soviet ace pilot silent about for thirty years?

Igor Andreevich did not give a non-disclosure agreement, he simply promised to remain silent. They believed the officer's word. In recent years, as it turned out, there is no need for silence.

Igor was born in 1932 in Novoznamenka, in the Tambov region. In 1946 he moved to Tambov, graduated from a railway technical school, then entered the Chernihiv "letka", was transferred to Frunze and after graduating from the Frunze school in 1954 ended up in Savostleyka, Gorky region. He served well, however, he did not enter the academy, and so everything went without hesitation.

So what happened then, in the spring of the sixtieth?

In a publication of that time, Igor says, it is said about single flights over the territory of the USSR by American reconnaissance aircraft. This is not true. Alas, the airspace over the country in 1960 was like a holey caftan, and the Americans flew as they wanted - up and down.

For example, on April 9, the famous U-2 reconnaissance aircraft flew over our territory from Norway to Iran with complete impunity. Filmed Kapustin Yar, Baikonur, another missile range. How many of our missiles were launched uselessly into a clear sky - this is a great secret. After that, Khrushchev raged: “I will disperse everyone, I will tear off their heads! God forbid if this happens again!

The air defense command decided to prepare more thoroughly for a possible repetition of reconnaissance flights by the Americans. And six pilots - including me - the captain, the flight commander, were retrained in a short time, transferred to the latest supersonic high-altitude ultra-long-range fighter-interceptors Su-9. They were then called T-3.

So, a few days before, the late Kolya Sushko and I drove a pair of Su-9s from near Ryazan, from a factory, far north, beyond Murmansk, to the Norwegian border. We spent five days there on combat duty, and then went home to Savostleyka.

We ask Igor Mentyukov:

- How did you end up in Novosibirsk on the first of May? After all, the next violation of the border of airspace was expected in the west?

- Quite right. It was in the west, to the Belarusian city of Baranovichi, that I had to overtake the brand new Su-9 from Siberia. Overtake and start combat duty. I took the plane "zero", as they say now. But, of course, without ammunition - four air-to-water missiles. And in the evening, on the eve of May Day, he landed at an intermediate airfield near Sverdlovsk. I had to refuel, wait for a low-speed transport aircraft that was flying after me with technical staff and equipment.

And in the morning the duty officer wakes me up, and I rush to the airfield on an urgent call. They are already waiting for me on the phone from Novosibirsk. And in the receiver the order: "Readiness number 1."

I rush to the Su-9, take a seat in the cockpit, and the commander of the Sverdlovsk Air Army, General Vovk, gets in touch with me. He reports the order of the "Dragon" - to destroy at any cost a real high-altitude target. "Dragon" conveyed - to ram. And “Dragon” was the call sign of the commander-in-chief of the air defense aviation of the country, the general, and later the air marshal Savitsky.

- And Evgeny Yakovlevich gave such a tough order?

- Yes, Savitsky knew that I was without ammunition. And with a ram, there was no chance to survive.

- What did you think then? Or did you not think at all, acted like an automaton?

- Why, even as you thought! I had the right to refuse: after all, it’s not a war to throw yourself under tanks without weapons. But I didn't know what he was flying with. How about with a bomb? One my life or hundreds of thousands?

And you decided...

- I decided and said: “Point. The only request is to take care of your wife and mother.”

The wife was expecting a child at the time. I was told: "Everything will be done." And then it was no longer up to the lyrics. Further - let's go.

- Were you the first pilot who tried to get Powers?

- Why? ... Two colleagues on combat duty, on the Su-9, also tried to do this, but one gained 15 "plus" kilometers of altitude, the other - a kilometer more. They collapsed and left.

- How did you manage to do it?

- Well, when I flew the MIG-19, I strove for the “ceiling”. Several times he gained 17 kilometers 300 meters, and American intelligence officers walked at an altitude of 19 thousand meters. What are you going to do here? Shooting is useless. True, I remember once our pilot - Filyushkin - could not stand it, cursed and fired from all three guns. Naturally, to no avail, out of desperation: the engines stopped, went down. And I still remembered as a cadet: in order to dial the "ceiling", you need to keep the maximum speed or near it. And the Su-9 had speed capabilities unprecedented at that time, and I was light - without missiles. Plus the temperature was right. So I went up there, 20 kilometers.

- And they began to get closer?

- Yes. He went to the right turn, why - no one understood. In a word, I hear in the headphones: "The target is in the right turn." I roll my eyes - I don't see him. Rapprochement vdet no more, no less - 550 meters in the flow I'm going! And I jumped a little higher than him.

– What happened?

- Powere himself during the investigation and at the trial said that he heard a pop and an orange flame flew ahead of him. You yourself have probably heard such cotton more than once - during the flights of supersonic aircraft. When the glass in the windows tremble. And the flame - he saw the exhaust nozzle of my engine. In a word, Powers' plane hit the wake of my plane. In it, air currents are whipped at a speed of 180 meters per second, plus torque - that's it, it began to twist, the wings broke off.

- It turns out - and you didn’t have to ram him? Did you have enough conversion footprint from your Sukhoi?

- It's all a matter of chance. However, he began to fall.

“But what about Khrushchev’s report that Powers was shot down by a missile?”

- Yes, if a rocket had hit his U-2, the chips would have collapsed to the ground. But the pilot would not have survived, he would have died along with the plane. There was no explosion, only everything gnashed as his U-2 broke apart.

“So why have we all been told for years that Powers was shot down by the valiant rocket men?”

- Everything is banal simple. The situation very well fit into Khrushchev's false idea that in the presence of missiles, aviation is not needed or is needed for parades and honorary escorts.

On the other hand, to convince the enemies that now the air borders of the country are tightly closed from any encroachment. Therefore, the very fact that Powers landed in the zone of action of Captain M. Voronov's division was interpreted in favor of Nikita Sergeevich's theory.

And then Voronov himself did not know how to report. The collective farmers mistook Powers for an astronaut, brought him to the rocket men, and they knew that they had not shot down.

Voronov held a “pause” for half an hour, this is a known fact, and only then was it reported. But when the experts realized that the rocket men had nothing to do with it, no one, naturally, dared to report the truth to Khrushchev. Thus was born the legend of Powers, who was shot down by rocketmen.

- Excuse me, but if Voronov did not report on the “cosmonaut” for half an hour, then for half an hour it was considered that the target was not destroyed?

- Yes, and they actively worked on me from the ground, as if on someone else's!

– In the confusion, everyone forgot that it was necessary to change the “friend or foe” code, because our planes were mistaken for someone else's, real targets. That is why the divisions of Major Voronov and Major Sheludko actively fired on me in their zones. I had to maneuver, get away from the missiles. They weren't released for me alone. Three more - for pilots Ayvazyan and Safonov, who flew on MIG-19 planes to shoot down the enemy, including me. - Yes. After all, with the old code, I was a stranger to the earth. By the way, they also turned out to be strangers! And Sergei Safonov was shot down ... I saw this moment, later I saw the remains of his car - clicks! Imagine what would happen to Powers' plane if his missile destroyed it. And he fell "in large pieces": wings, fuselage ...

- They told me: tomorrow a car will come for you, you will talk with Savitsky. And at half past seven in the morning I was already talking on the phone with Evgeny Yakovlevich.

- Did Savitsky understand that it wasn't the rocket men who shot down Powers?

- Yes, everyone understood everything. We were professionals. It was just a deal with conscience. And Savitsky asked how his health was, how he felt.

- Why such a question to a healthy person, a pilot?

- I flew to a height of two dozen kilometers almost in what my mother gave birth - without a helmet, without a high-altitude-compensating suit. But although the bones were broken, he replied that everything was fine. And then Savitsky said a phrase that is the answer to the question - did he understand everything. He said the following: “Thank you, without you he would have left!” Then I was sent to Belarus. There was a conversation with Moscow, after which I waited for a call for interrogation. Powers was being interrogated at the same time. But the investigation did not need me - so as not to discredit our missile forces. Waited for a call to court - did not wait. He was rewarded with a Saturn watch and an order to keep quiet. And only more than thirty years later, publications appeared - in the journal "Aviation and Cosmonautics", in the newspapers "Red Star". "Top secret". But the authors there made, to put it mildly, a lot of inaccuracies without talking to me. My further fate was normal. According to the law of pairing of cases, being a commander on the Su-11, he turned out to be the personal instructor of Marshal Savitsky. The very one whose order doomed me, in fact, to certain death, if not for the case. But I never held a grudge against him - we are military people. He finished his service as a lieutenant colonel, navigator of the regiment, and was both deputy and chief fighter of the regiment.

Andrei Aderekhin. Komsomolets Kuban.

Nikolai Nikulin. "Work".

From the stories of the rocket man and the pilot, readers are given the right to realize the truth themselves. The opinion of the author of the book is to award Igor Mentyukov with the highest government award. He accomplished a feat!

| |

Portal for the student. Self-training

Hunting for the "invulnerable"

Confessions of a Kentucky Boy

There you are, Mr. Eisenhower!

Posthumous award

RELATED ARTICLES