He was born on August 17, 1929 in Burdine, Kentucky, United States, one of six children of Ida Ford and Oliver Powers. His father, a coal miner, encouraged young Gary to seek a career that would pay more money than coal mining. Powers, ever since his first flight at the age of fourteen, dreamed of nothing but flying. Oliver Powers moved his family to Detroit, Michigan, so that he could work in a defense plant during the last year of World War II.
Gary completed his high school education at Grundy High School in Pound, Virginia. After high school he entered Milligan College in Johnson City, intending to pursue premedical studies. In his junior year, he dropped out of the premedical program but continued to study biology and chemistry. In his senior year, he applied for the Air Force cadets, and graduated from college in 1950.
After finishing basic training, he entered flying school as a second lieutenant and in 1952 achieved the rank of first lieutenant.
In late 1955, Powers and several other pilots were recruited by Major William Collins to work for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). By joining the agency, he officially had to resign his commission in the Air Force, purportedly becoming Francis G. Palmer, a pilot for the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. In reality, he and the other military pilots began training to fly the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft.
Powers and the other pilots signed an agreement stating they would fly espionage missions over the Soviet Union for the CIA for three years then return to the military with ranks equal to those airmen who stayed in the Air Force. As cover for their flights, he and the other pilots were stationed with a Second Weather Observation Squadron informally known as Detachment 10-10 based at Incirlik Air Force Base near Adana, Turkey. From there, they flew to Pakistan, the starting point of their reconnaissance flights.
On May 1, 1960, following a period of reduced flights during temporary warming of relations between the United States and the Soviet Union, Powers undertook what was termed to be a normal surveillance flight from Peshwar, Pakistan to Bodo, Norway. Powers piloted United States Air Force U-2 reconnaissance plane #360 across the Soviet Union. As the plane approached the Russian city of Sverdlovsk, a Soviet missile battery spotted the plane and hit it with a surface-to-air missile. Powers tried desperately to keep the craft in the air, but it had been severely damaged and he had to bail out over Soviet territory. When Powers ejected, the stunned Sverdlovsk townspeople rushed to his aid thinking he was a Soviet air force pilot. They detained Powers but did not treat him harshly even when they learned that they were holding a United States Air Force pilot. Had the plane been destroyed by the explosive charges on board or by the impact of the crash, Powers might have been able to convince the Soviets he was not an American pilot.
Soviet authorities took the remains of the airplane to Moscow for further examination. When CIA officials lost contact with Powers, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration which was in charge of the cover mission, immediately issued a statement that it had lost contact with a weather observation airplane near the Soviet border. Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev released evidence to show this was not the case, and as he brought forth more and more material obtained from Powers and the plane's wreckage, it became clear that Powers was the pilot of a military photoreconnaissance plane and had conducted espionage against the Soviet Union.
At first the United States tried to deny the incident, saying it was not true. Eventually, in the face of overwhelming evidence, President Eisenhower admitted the espionage flights. Powers's own damning testimony before a Soviet court revealed that he had knowingly violated Soviet airspace under orders of the Central Intelligence Agency. He provided a comprehensive account of the events leading up to the crash of the U-2. Powers pleaded guilty to the charges against him and the Soviet court sentenced him to ten years in prison. He had only served two years when a spy swap was arranged.
On February 10, 1962, Powers was taken to Glienicker Bridge, which spanned the Havel River and connected East and West Germany. He was told to walk to the other end of the bridge; simultaneously, American intelligence officials released the celebrated Soviet agent Rudolf Abel at the other end. Powers returned home to confront many people who were ashamed that he had not committed suicide or at least remained silent.
For a short time after he returned to the United States, Powers worked for the Air Force, but he soon resigned and rejoined the CIA full-time at its headquarters in Virginia, instructing U-2 pilots on what to do if they were ever downed over enemy territory. In the late 1960's, Powers moved to southern California, where he worked on the U-2 project at a Lockheed plant in suburban Van Nuys. While working there he wrote a book about his experiences entitled Operation Overflight (1970). Shortly after the book was published, Powers was fired from his job at Lockheed.
Longing to return to flying, he went to work for Los Angeles radio station KGIL as a traffic reporter. During the early 1970's he left KGIL and went to work for an aircraft communications firm, then returned to KGIL. In November 1976, Powers was hired as a helicopter traffic reporter for KNBC in Los Angeles. On August 1, 1977, he was flying over Encino, California, when his helicopter ran out of fuel. Unable to return to Van Nuys Airport, Powers crashed near a Little League baseball field. Some believed Powers's death was part of a conspiracy, since they could not believe that such an experienced pilot would have let his aircraft run out of fuel.
Francis Gary Powers was a part of the CIA's U-2 program, during his espionage mission his plane was shot down, causing famous 1960 U-2 incident. Powers was interrogated extensively by the KGB for months before he made a confession and a public apology for his part in espionage. It caused the great political examination. He received a cold reception on his return home and only adter death was awarded. He was the author of the only book Operation Overflight. Powers received the CIA's Intelligence Star in 1965 after his return from the Soviet Union. In 2000, on the 40th anniversary of the U-2 Incident, his family was presented with his posthumously awarded Prisoner of War Medal, Distinguished Flying Cross, and National Defense Service Medal. On June 15, 2012, Powers was posthumously awarded the Silver Star medal.
(In this new edition of his classic 1970 memoir about the ...)
Quotes from others about the person
His wife considered him to be a "coward, not a hero. "
Senator Saltonstall stated him, "I commend you as a courageous, fine young American citizen who lived up to your instructions and who did the best you could under very difficult circumstances. "
He met and married Barbara Gay Moore, a secretary at Turner Air Force Base near Albany, Georgia, where he was stationed. They were married in April 1954. They were divorced in February 1963.
During his brief employment in Virginia he met and later married Claudia Edwards Downey, a psychometrist (a statistical measurer of variables for psychological tests) employed by the CIA. They were married on October 24, 1963, and had one child.
