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U-2 Spy Plane With Fictitious NASA Markings Main Content
NASA Center: Dryden Flight Research Center
Image # : E-5442
Date : 05/06/1960

Title

U-2 Spy Plane With Fictitious NASA Markings

Full Description

After Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union during a CIA spy flight on May 1. 1960, NASA issued a press release with a cover story about a U-2 conducting weather research that may have strayed off course after the pilot reported difficulties with his oxygen equipment. To bolster the cover-up, a U-2 was quickly painted in NASA markings, with a fictitious NASA serial number, and put on display for the news media at the NASA Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base on May 6, 1960. The U-2 cover story in 1956 was that it was an NACA plane to conduct high-altitude weather research. But various observers doubted this story from the beginning. Certainly the Soviets did not believe it once the aircraft began overflying their territory. The NASA cover story quickly blew up in the agency's face when both Gary Powers and aircraft wreckage were displayed by the Soviet Union, proving that it was a reconnaissance aircraft. This caused embarrassment for several top NASA officials.

Keywords

U-2 Spy Plane Francis Gary Powers Soviet Union CIA Edwards Air Force Base Nikita Krushchev Sverdlovsk NACA U-2C NASA Flight Research Center

Subject Category

Unique Aircraft,

Reference Numbers

  • Center: DFRC
  • Center Number: E-5442
  • GRIN DataBase Number: GPN-2000-000112

Source Information

  • Creator/Photographer: NASA
  • Original Source: DIGITAL

Image Information ( Copyright Notification )

ResolutionFormatWidth
(Pixels)		Height
(Pixels)		Size
(KBytes)
Thumbnail .jpg 91 69 9
Small .jpg 646 494 158
Medium .jpg 1515 1158 891
Large .jpg 3030 2316 3,628

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Updated October 31, 2002
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