u2 crisis

• 1. 2 spy plane incident during the Cold War


  May 1st 1960
• In the 1950s, tensions increased between the USA and the USSR
• Khrushchev agreed to a summit meeting in Paris between the USSR, USA, Britain and France in 1960
• The summit was hoped to lead to peaceful coexistence and discussions on increasing tensions in Berlin and the possibility of a nuclear test ban treaty
• On May 1st 1960, just 13 days before the summit, an American U-2 spy plane was shot down over the USSR and its pilot Gary Powers captured
• 1. 2 spy plane


  A sophisticated spy plane developed by the Americans capable of top-secret reconnaissance as it could fly at very high altitudes and more than 13 miles above the ground, making it unreachable by Soviet jets and anti-aircraft missiles
• The U-2 was used by President Eisenhower to gather intelligence on the Soviet nuclear missile capabilities, and over four years of unengaged spying discovered that the USA was ahead in this area
• The Soviets had a new surface-to-air missile that could reach the ranges of the U-2 spy plane
• Incident with the U-2 spy plane

  1. CIA pilot Gary Powers took off from a US Air Base in Pakistan towards the USSR taking photos of military sites

  2. Missiles locked on to his spy plane

  3. Missile exploded near the plane causing it to drop altitude

  4. Another missile made a direct hit

  5. Powers ejected over Soviet territory and was captured by Soviet forces on May 5th
• Khrushchev announced the downed American spy plane, but Eisenhower denied the plane's real mission, claiming it was a weather plane as a cover story
• The Soviets had managed to recover the photos Powers had taken and wreckage evidence proving that the aircraft was indeed for surveillance purposes
• Khrushchev demanded an apology


  Eisenhower refused to apologize
• Relations between the USA and USSR were at an all-time low at the beginning of the talks on May 16th
• Khrushchev walked out of the summit meeting hours before it started, withdrew his invitation for Eisenhower to visit the USSR, and abandoned talks for nuclear disarmament
• As there were no talks on the problems in Berlin, the U-2 incident would lead to the Berlin Wall's construction
• Gary Powers was put on trial and sentenced to 10 years in prison in the Soviet Union, but was released in early 1962 in an exchange for a Soviet spy called Rudolf Abel