Talk:1960 U-2 incident/Archives/2012/May

Clean Up
Some of the facts regarding Power's mission were just plain wrong. I have updated the planned date for the mission, as it was not May 1st and I added information on why the mission ended up getting flown on May 1st. Additionally, I added references for some of the information that is not commonly known. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Aeroweanie (talk • contribs) 01:01, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

Frequent Vandalism
This article appears to be a target of frequent vandalism, often along the lines of Sandbox-stye testing. Temporary lock?

Clean-Up
I just deleted some irrelevancies. I know, should'nt have done this before warning..

The article is even now not perfect. Somebody with REAL knowledge could edit this.

Wreck image
Added an image of the wreck I took on my trip to Moscow. I don't know if it's really relevant, but might interest someone. &mdash;The preceding signed comment was added by Ravallo (talk &bull; contribs).

Conspiracies regarding the U-2 Crisis
I've heard a number of notable people who claim that the U-2 crisis was an intentional effort by ultra-hawkish anti-communist forces within the military to prevent the Paris Summit from being a success by angering the Soviets. They argue the pilot was setup so he could be shot down by the Soviets and create the crisis. Eisenhower is said to have been out of the loop and thus essentially stabbed in the back. If I'm remembering correctly, I believe the "military industrial complex" comment Eisenhower made upon leaving was said to be partially tied to the U-2 crisis, based on the claim that Eisenhower saw the military industrial complex as major player in the crisis due to the idea that increased tensions between the US and the Soviets would lead to increased spending on the military to their benefit. I will try to dig up these sources for this claim. While this may be viewed by some as just a "conspiracy theory", I do think it merits at least brief mention in the article. --Cab88 14:37, 18 March 2006 (UTC)
 * I heard a while back that Gary Powers was taken down by some Russian pilot trying to ram him and managed to tip his plane out of balance. Whatever happened to that story? Masterblooregard 08:00, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

Eisenhower lied?
I recall newspaper reports from the time in which Ike lied and said it was a weather plane which had gone off course, which Krushcvev refuted by presenting the pilot and his spy camera to reporters. If a 'verifiable source " for this can be found, does it belong in this and the Eisenhower article? The point of this is to differentiate between the unwittingly incorrect statement of some Pentagon functionary or White House press person and a knowing misstatement by a head of state.Edison 23:28, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

Searching the NY Times for May 1960, it turns out that Ike did not go before the cameras and personally lie about the U2. First, a NASA spokesman lied and said it was a marked NASA weather plane. The pilot had had oxygen trouble. Then when Nikita K produced the pilot and his developed spy pictures, the lie was that it was an unauthorized reconnaisance flight. Lower level bureaucrats from the State Department told that lie. So no bold-faced lie from Ike on this occasion, but later analysis said he had knowledge of surveillance overflights and of course of the lies told as part of the spin.Edison 00:02, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

Tut tut
Much of the "American cover-up and exposure" section is copied word for word from. Fortunately, I wrote it and hereby license it under GFDL. Jpatokal 09:26, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

U2 Incident vs U2 Crisis
I beleive that the correct title of this topic should be "The U2 Incident". Who has the authority to make that change? I would also be glad to contribute and edit the info in this section. However, I would prefer to submit a draft for review before making changes and adding info that will only be removed. Some of my source material comes from the Powers collection which I care for. Any suggestions on how to proceed would be appriciated. Gpowersjr 06:05, 18 February 2008 (UTC)


 * It has subsequently been changed to "1960 U-2 incident", which seems reasonable enough. The U-2 is still in service, and there might be U-2 incidents in the future; and even if the aircraft was retired, there might still be an e.g. "1979 U-2 incident" if further information comes to light. -Ashley Pomeroy (talk) 15:23, 26 July 2008 (UTC)

Not shot down?
In an interview made in 1971, that aired for the first time last year, Norwegian citizen and KGB-spy Selmer Nilsen claims that the U2 was not shot down. According to him, he does not cite his sources, two agents got into the base in Turkey and planted a small bomb in the tail of the aircraft. The bomb had a timer-fuse. Does anyone know if this claim has been proven wrong? Or has it at all been discussed? The interview is available at http://www1.nrk.no/nett-tv/klipp/317110, but only in Norwegian. 84.48.40.53 (talk) 16:44, 19 July 2008 (UTC)


 * Can somebody translate Norwegian into English for us? Binksternet (talk) 19:04, 19 July 2008 (UTC)

Selmer Nilsen: -And then in '60, actually already in '59, we had a well known story up here, that started in '59. I'm thinking about the U2 plane. Ivar Enoksen: -What was your mission with regards to U2? Selmer Nilsen: -Get pictures of it, get its route. Departure and landing, of course. Ivar Enoksen: -Did one know where this plane was stationed in Norway? Selmer Nilsen: -Not at first, but right before it was taken down, one was aware of where it was stationed. That it was stationed in Bodø. Ivar Enoksen: -How was it taken down? Selmer Nilsen: -Hehe, yes. Here from the western side, it was said that it was shot down. But, well, in reality it was, well it had started from Turkey, from an airfield there, and there was two agents that managed to get on board, and placed a small explosive charge in the tail section. On a timer, of course. And that's why it came down as intact as it did. Selmer Nilsen: -The Russians lay a very large political meaning in it. As one can remember, Khrushchev said afterwards, two three days afterwards, third or fourth of May he held his large thunder speech, he said that if something like this happens again, we'll wipe out the peninsula. And we know what he meant with that. Ivar Enoksen: -The peninsula was Bodø? Selmer Nilsen: -Yes. --84.48.40.53 (talk) 19:40, 21 July 2008 (UTC)
 * This is the part of the interview that is relevant. Ivar Enoksen is the interviewer. He is stil alive, living in Norway.
 * 30:53
 * 31:09
 * 31:23
 * 31:43
 * 32:23

Victor Sheymov
What does Victor Sheymov say? The section needs to be expanded or deleted. Binksternet (talk) 16:27, 30 July 2008 (UTC)

Violating his orders

 * The plane's pilot, Gary Powers, successfully bailed out and parachuted to safety, although in doing so he violated his orders to destroy the aircraft were he to be shot down.

I'll put a tag on this - how is a pilot whose aircraft has been heavily damaged supposed to destroy the aircraft? Tempshill (talk) 00:19, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Previous Flights
I'm wondering if some information should be added that U-2 flights had overflown the Soviet Union for some time before this incident, had almost certainly been detected and the Soviets had, until this point, been unable to stop them. The current article makes it sound (as Kruschev deceptively claimed) that this was one of the first U-2 overflights.

Hal 10000.0 (talk) 04:10, 18 August 2009 (UTC)


 * Sure, why not include such information? It was also the CIA that wished to keep previous overflights under wraps. Binksternet (talk) 04:42, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

Confusion between PAF Base Peshawar and Peshawar Air Station?
According to the text before my recent change, "Badaber" was used as the airport for the U2 flight. However, it appears that "Badaber" was just a listening post of the US Air Force Security Service (Peshawar Air Station), with no runways where a plane could take off or land – only a helipad. The only nearby facility with a runway was Peshawar Airport, now known as Peshawar International Airport, an airfield used jointly for both military and civil operations by the Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan and the Pakistan Air Force (see also PAF Base Peshawar). The (previous version of the) text, where it has 'The U-2 "spy-in-the-sky" was allowed to use the Pakistan Air Force portion of the Peshawar airport', makes it quite clear that this is Peshawar Airport at 33.99389°N, 71.51472°W, and not Peshawar Air Station at 33.95788°N, 71.57365°W.

I have no access to the cited sources, and can therefore not check whether the article duly echoed a mistake from some source, or whether the previous text was based on a misunderstanding of the sources, but in any case I've changed the text to avoid the identification of Peshawar Airport and Peshawar Air Station. --Lambiam 18:20, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Dead link
During several automated bot runs the following external link was found to be unavailable. Please check if the link is in fact down and fix or remove it in that case!


 * https://www.cia.gov/csi/studies/winter98_99/art02.html
 * In 1960 U-2 incident on 2011-05-25 03:42:09, 404 Not Found
 * In 1960 U-2 incident on 2011-06-04 18:58:41, 404 Not Found

--JeffGBot (talk) 18:59, 4 June 2011 (UTC)

Dead link 2
During several automated bot runs the following external link was found to be unavailable. Please check if the link is in fact down and fix or remove it in that case!


 * http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2000/5/2000_5_36_print.shtml
 * In 1960 U-2 incident on 2011-05-25 03:42:14, 404 Not Found
 * In 1960 U-2 incident on 2011-06-04 18:58:51, 404 Not Found

--JeffGBot (talk) 18:59, 4 June 2011 (UTC)

Dead link 3
During several automated bot runs the following external link was found to be unavailable. Please check if the link is in fact down and fix or remove it in that case!


 * http://www.nsa.gov/museum/museu00034.cfm
 * In 1960 U-2 incident on 2011-05-25 03:42:08, 404 Not Found
 * In 1960 U-2 incident on 2011-06-04 18:59:22, 404 Not Found

--JeffGBot (talk) 19:00, 4 June 2011 (UTC)

Dead link 4
During several automated bot runs the following external link was found to be unavailable. Please check if the link is in fact down and fix or remove it in that case!


 * http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=101162
 * In 1960 U-2 incident on 2011-05-25 03:42:09, 404 Not Found
 * In 1960 U-2 incident on 2011-06-04 18:59:47, 404 Not Found

--JeffGBot (talk) 19:00, 4 June 2011 (UTC)