BOARD OF INQUIRY REPORTS AND DEBRIEFING, FRANCIS GARY POWERS, 2/22/62

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01676R002200080007-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 32
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 8, 2003
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: February 22, 1962
• Content Type: COURTFILE

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JudGe Prettyman . .
MR. HOUSTON: Would you identify yourself:
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was then sworn as a witness by
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Developvient Division, CIA.
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e,:aamine it and tell me whether you are familiar with that document?
. . . . hen examined a document .?1r. 'H'ouston
iMiR. HOUSTON: Does that docmient come ti:ithin your custodian
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cryptonym for Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. It is to the Director of
CIA for the attention of ih :r. Jaa,ies Giunintiaaa and Colonel Geary from
Kelly Johnson, who is Vice President of Lociaheed Aircraft Corporation.
MR. HOUSTON: Maat is the nature of the corwtunication?
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The date of the cable is 21 February 1962,. cent
and received the sane day.
MR. HOUSTON; Judge, I would line to text this cable part
of it.
JUDGE PRn-,TTYMAI3; Marked Exhibit 17-
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Mai. HOUSTON: The to;.t ue would like to put in the record
does not have the cable address and other items which are of a classified nature.
Are there any further questions"s
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States Air Force.
MB. HOUSTON :
the U-2 Project.
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MR. HOUSTON. And you were stationed in Adana?
MR. HOUSTON: From when to when?
until approximately 29 July 1960.
MR. HOUSTON; Did you fly operational missions in the U-2?
From the period October 7, I believe, 1957
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MR. HOUSTON: Did you fly any overflights to Soviet Russia?
MR. HOUSTON: How many mission have you flown?
O
17 missions -- operational missions. I could be off there, six.
MR. HOUSTON: Were you informed of the mission that was to be
flownebout the end of April 1960?
and this was -. the purpose of this was to ferry a U-2 operational airplane
to Mr. Powers at Peshawar. The flight was at night -- late taking off and
after arriving there I was put on a back-up standby for Mr. Powers on his
flight of May 1.
MR. HOUSTON: That -.meant you might be chosen for the mission
instead of bor. Powers if there was any reason why he coullu't fly?
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Yes, sir.
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MR. HOUSTON: Were you also briefed on the policy which applies
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in case anything happens to the mission and you fell into Russian hands?
I had been briefed much earlier on this situation, sir.
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MR. HOUSTON: And your understanding was that if you were
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information with the exception of try to hold down on the altitude capabilities
of the airplane and the range. The rest of the information as far as the
CIA, our employer, anything on this order was completely above board.
MR. HOUSTON: Were there any special briefings in connection
with this mission or any unusual aspects that you recall?
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went over the navigational route, and the briefings together and if he had
previous briefings on the mission, which I em quite certain he did, I didn't
get these.
10. HOUSTON: Did you discuss with Mr. Powers or anyone else
at that time the possibility of a failure of the mission and resulting
capture by the Soviets?
evasion, of course, if we were to go down in any portion of the country
along the mission route and this was more or less a situation where one might say,
"Now which way am I going to go from this point? What am I going to try to
do and look for and if at all possible to remain clear of towns or populated
areas. What were we going to use for food, and through a study of the
geography of the land, how are we going to live off the land." Particularly
we were concerned with water and maintaining health during a trek of possibly
a year and a half, or even two years it might talc to walk out of the USSR,
and of course there was the possibility of which border crossing we might
attempt -- which one was going to be the easiest -- and In quite sure none
of it would be easy. I thinlt we were both adequately briefed as far as
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escape and evasion tactics, we knew that if we were captured way t.-en we
ed. ht be able to bargain with the inforn,ation for our lives.
HR. HOUSTON: You discussed specifically this possibility?
MR. i10USTON: hake it a little more clear exactly what you
mesa -- if you felt in danger you would, by volunteering information, bargair
for ,your lives?
course of the United States Air Force, and tiirouka traininGtiiere, I think
we had both confi.r,;-,ed in our own ,winds that under duress a wan cannot withhold
inforuatiou even if he wants to. With drugs and certain procedures that we
found out in Korea, it is impossible to withhold infori.iation, thereby, if
under possession of our own wits we could divulge any of this Liformation, if
asked, and be able to withhold some of the more is:portant taings -- such as
range and altitude of the airplane -- then we might not be asked D u e
other questions.
MR. HOUSTON: Were you in possession of any other infonaation
which you knew was regarded as sensitive besides the plane's performance,
such au other flights that would be of interest to the Russians and would
cause propaganda or embarrassment to this country?
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N,R. ;IOUSTON: And was there other information which crossed
your kind that you also would protect:
MR. BROSS: May I ask if any particular emphasis is put on
the camera equipment as a sensitive area that you wore:.'-u' supposed to talk
about?
COL. GARY: Were you completely familiar with all the inner
workings and mechanisms and the capabilities of the eaiera? Would you have
considered yourself qualified to talk on the capabilities of this camera?
camera could do. I had seen training mission results of the product but
so far as what an intelligence photo interpreter might gain from photographs,
I could not.
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develop any other category like the illustration of the plane's altitude
capabilities -- any other category of intelligence that you felt of your
own accord you would protect like personnel involved, foreign country
involvements?
no other highly classified information at that time. Granted, all of it
was classified and we regarded it as such. The two things that I was
primarily interested in were the altitude capability of the aircraft and
the range. We felt that if we could protect these then we might have a
future to continue to work.
MR. HOUSTON: Another subject I would like to bring up is
wonder if the Board would like any description of this message.
JUDGE; PRETTDiAN: speaking just for myself, I don't know that
aiy elucidation of the whold thing would, but the definitions of some of the
terms in here would be helpful. Some of the questions I might ask him would
be pretty elementary because I know nothing about it.
maybe from the picture up there [pointing to a picture of the U-27 could
you describe your understanding of what Mr. Johnson thought happened?
JUDGE P," VTYrAN: He speaks of "down-bending" of the wings . . .
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of the fuselage of the aircraft would mean toward the ground as the airplane
is flying. Normal bending of the wings flexing from the fuselage is in an
upward direction, toward the sky -- toward the blue as you see here /Indicating
on the photograph of the Li-2].
JUDGE PRPTT' iAN: I have to ask some question that are pretty
amaturish and probably don't make any sense but I do want to understand
what that fellow was saying. Do those wings bend in normal operation:
say "the stick is rigid". They are built hollow and these wings flex. This
is normal. We design aircraft like this for the simple reason we like to
carry fuel out in these cells that we have installed in a hollow wing.
Due to the fact that something that is hollow does not have rigidity then
we expect it to flex. This in turn takes up some of the positive G-loading
on the fuselage and the aircraft itself. You weigh, sir, 1-0 sitting where
you are and I wiegh 1-G standing where I am. With centrifical force which-can
either make you weigh twice as much, which we call 2-G; three times as much
which we call 3-G and so on. Negative G means that you don't weigh but
half as much with half a G or that you weigh zero with-a minus 1-G. An
aircraft in flight weighs 1-G normally in straight and level flight. As
you would swing a bucket of water around your head and the water remains in
an open bucket, you have to create more than one G for the water to stay
in the bucket as it is on the top of its arc. As it comes around it weighs
more than one G because of centrifical force.
JUDGE MILT U40; Now I understand that. !tow come back to
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of flight and the wings will flex. Nov don-bending in a straight and
level flight is not normal for this particular airplane or any airplane.
JUDGE PRETTYMAN: Now we have gotten this far. The down-bending
is not normal incident to flight.
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one sea of air and moves into another sea of air that might be moving in an
opposite direction, the aircraft would have a tendency to go in the direction
of this other moving sea of air. As you may or may not realize there are
air currents that move in opposite directions or at different speeds to one
another very much like the Gulf Stream moving in the Atlantic Ocean.
JUDGE PRETMAN: A vertical current of air would cause the
wings to down-bend.
turbulence of air these wings might bend more.
JUDGE PREEPT)rDIJUt: Are the wings built straight through the plane,
or are the wings attached on to the fuselage?
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too much up-bend too -- but too much down-bend and those wings would tear off.
Yes, air, but not necessarily at the point at which
they were tacked on to the fuselage. There might be a portion very close to
the fuselage that might be weaker than the actual attaching point.
JUDGE PRETTYNiAN: I suppose in any airplane the wings might
possibly down-bend.
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of the wings than other planes in this sort of use?
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our normal reconnaisance work we have always used a modified fighter type
aircraft which is stressed somewhere in the neighborhood of seven positive
Qty allowable that the pilot may actually put on the airplane and approximately
a minus four G's.
JUDGE PRETTYMAN: You say he might put on the airplane. How does
this allowable and still not have the airplane come apart.
Well, air, this happens to be a very unique airplane in
this portion and it is limited to a positive three G-s allowable. During
my experience with the airplane I treated the airplane like I would a feather.
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Yes, sir, quite a lot. As a matter of fact for
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z wns very careful with it and I highly respected it. Uthough it does have
those characteristics it might code apart with very little positive G and
even less negative G.
NiR. UUOUSTOU. You mentioned one way of doinG this was runnint
into a sudden down current.
i'iR. HOUSTON: Also, of course, any force exerted Troia below on
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the fuselage there would be the resistance to the wines causing down-bend.
xes, sir.
This, is true, such as in a landing. This airplane
uses two landing tears and lands just like a bicycle rolls on the around.
Once flyinc speed is lost a wing will drop and touch the skids on either
side of the wings themselves. If the airplane happened to be dropped --
in other words, flown to a complete stall at which the airplane is no longer
flyinZ fairly high above the sround and then hit on these two skids the wines
raiht break or the gear would cone through the fuselage.
JUDO PREPr1'YMAN: Now about an air pocket?
Sir, there are no air pockets. This is what I
tried to explain to you as a virtical current and that is what you would
normally iscociate with an air pocket.
Another thing that )niC;ht tear an airplane apart, and with
this down-bending peculiarity to this type of aircraft and the delicate
balance, is the tail of the aircraft which is comprised of a horizontal
stabilizer on either side of the fuselage and the vertical stabilizer.
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JUDGE PRnWP3~i u; ; Now is that one piece that Goes all through
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An increase iz~ air speed, turbulence, exceedin; the
desi;i limits of the aircraft. On this particular aircraft we laiow that this
portion of the aircraft will fail first [indicating the horizontal stabilizers
in the photo;,graph of the U-2.], or it will bend and once this has been altered
it no longer works mechanically correct.
MR. iiODU`TON: Other thinGs that rai? ht do it would be some sort
of internal failure or explosion or an outside force other than turbulence.
and the tail does come off -- I car the tail -- either the right or left tail --
the ;,pilot no longer can r;aintain control of the aircraft.
FM:R. HOUSTON: Then that does the aircraft do:
The aircraft characteristically- will pitch forward
and with the stress, this down-bendinC of the wins, and from that point on
I really don't 'Z now what the airplane is really liable to do.
Wi. iiOUuT'ON: when it noses over quite rapidly it is just the
opposite of ccntrifical position ?,aaen you pull up.
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JUDGE PRETTYMAN: Now the use of course of the horizontal tail
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is to permit the pilot to control the plane up or down.
JUDGE PRETTd APT: In other words, he pulls something or other
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JUDGE PR TT)IIAPT: Prow if the horizontal fin come off and he
immediately noticed, or say the plane then started down as it would do,
and he pulled on the stick what would happen?
PTothing, sir. He has no further control of the
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has lost the tail he can no longer maintain control of the aircraft either
in a yawing motion left and right, or a pitching motion up or down, or in a
longitudinal motion, left and right. To turn you must maintain longitudinal
fliht, meaning level, which is the direction the airplane is going. To be
able to control the airplane he still has to maintain control of this. If he
loses control of either direction there is not much telling what it is going; to
do. It is an act of God.
JUDGE PR TTMAAIT: Prow, Ir. Johnson says in none of the pictures
was there evidence to show that the horizontal tail was recovered.
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horizontal tail.
JUDGE PRETTYMA11: IIe means that there is nothing to show that
the horizontal tail was recovered. lie indicates this horizontal tail
came off.
J U D G E P1 1 X1'IAIT: When he says "horizontal tail" does he
mean right and left?
CAPT. SHIIIdN: Yes, sir.
JUDGE PR TTYMAN: here's what he said, "In none of the pictures
was there evidence to show that the horizontal tail was recovered." That
means either one of them?
JUDGE PRETTYtAAN: Nov then he says, "3hoirs clearly that the left
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horizontal surface broke off in up-bending."
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As you would bend and. break a piece of metal of
high tensile strength, it would clearly reveal and hold its jagged edges
in the same direction in which it broke. Do you arec?
JUDGE PRETTYNAN: I don't know a thin? in the world about it.
You are teaching me. Don't ask me. Whathc:.means is that the photoGcaph shows
a jagged edge on the rear part of the fuselage, right
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JUDGE PRE'I`TYI'ART: That photograph shows a jagged edge.
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by the shape of that edge that the tail came off due to an up-bend.
JUDGE PRETT!MAN: And by looking at that an expert can tell
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Yes, sir, that is the best way --
JUDGE PRETTYl:AN: Now he said,;"It also appears from the position
of the aft end of the fuselage in a corner that the right section of the
stabilizer is also missing." Now what does all that mean? Translate that
into English.
JUDGE PRETT d.AI: "The position of the aft end of the fuselage" --
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We normally say anywhere aft of the wing is normally
considered to be the aft section of the aircraft. How he says that in
looking at the aft section --
JUDGE PRETT diAII: -- aft section in the corner.
I think, lie possibly means down in the corner of
the photograph.
b;R. HOUSTON: We haven't Cot this in evidence, but if you would
like to see it we have a picture that could explain this. W could probably
put this photograph in the record and have it available for you to look at.
JUDGE PRLTTM'lAI : i?:ark it for identification now and we will
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Exhibit 18 and made a part of the record . . . .
MR. HOUSTON: The picture was taken in Moscow. You see, this
is the tail end of the plane with the vertical stabilizer there, and the
whole plane is pushed in the corner of the room, and he is referring to
its position in. the photograph.
JUDGE PRETT'4AN: Now he said something or other in this
photograph that he is looking at indicates that the right section of the
stabilizer is missing.
JUDGE PNE'I?TYI??.AN: ;3e goes on and says, "I have one other
photograph in which it appears that the right stabilizer --" That is the
same right horizontal fin?
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different photographs, in this case, revealing one portion of the right
horizontal stabilizer in one and in the previous photograph, indicating that
it wasn't there at all'?
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JUDGE PRETTS145 : I can't make much sense out of that. I don't
know why he would look at one photograph and say, "This right stabilizer
isn't in this photograph and that shows it is missing; however, if we look at
another photograph, it is very severely damaged."
AZR. BROSS: He says, "The right section of the stabilizer" and
down here he says, "The stabilizer is severely damaged." Is the stabilizer
divided into sections?
JUDGE PBETTd AN: This confused me. When he talks about the
right stabilizer, is he talking about the right horizontal fin'
Yea, sir.
JUDGE PRETT2+1N: And when he talks about the right section
of the stabilizer what does he mean by that?
To the best of my knowledge he must be talking
about the outboard section -- the outer portion of it in the direction
away from the fuselage.
JUDGE PRETT2,iAN: It doesn't make any sense for a guy to look
at one photograph and say, "There is nothing in this photograph," and then
turn the page and say, "liere itis."
GENERAL DULL; Don't they v.:ae the term "stabilizer" in'this
last instance to cover both right and left?
JUDGE PB'CTTMAN; ?le talks about the right stabilizer,
in
f3EI AL DULL; Sometimes, but I think/this last one he is
speaking of the stabilizer in general.
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this particular device was used to jam radar and that is about all I know
about it, sir. It was something that they gave us in the airplane to use.
We were to turn it on and use it. It was called for in this particular
mission. How it jammed radar, what it's function was other than that I
don't '_;now, sir.
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was installed in the tail of the U-2. It's primary purpose was to break
a radar lock that might be effected by a fighter interceptor of hostile
nature. As soon as it locked on to the U-2 this box would respond with
a januning effect which would cause the fighter radar to go out of commission
and break the lock, whereby the positioning of the fighter aircraft would be
lost. They would have to reinstitute new procedures to reestablish the loci;
on the U-2.
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naturally be on during his flight -- turned on -- if it was called for in the
operations orders and it was in this case.
JUD&E PRETT1 WJ: It eras turned on. Now you don't know enough
about the Ito know if there was a possibility that it might act
JUDGE PRETTYNIAIN : I think I understand this one. I don't know
why I should. "While the daiaage to the stabilizer could have taken place
conceivably on landing, it does not seem very likely, because of the relatively
undamaged status of the vertical tail itself."
Now the vertical tail is the stand-up piece that stands
straight up above the rear end of the fuselage as it appears in the picture.
(indicating 1,hibit 133 you may see for yourself the virtical undamaged
portion of it.
JUDGE PRGETT!J1AN Here we get back to this that confuses me
over again. In the next paragraph he says, "I repeat that it is interesting that
nowhere in the exhibit -- " that means the Russian exhibit " -- nowhere in the
exhibit was there any sign of the horizontal tail."
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JUDGE PREM MAN: Why he just Got through saying he is
looping at a picture in which it appears that the right stabilizer is very
severely damaged.
JUDGE PRl,?iTdt t: The ri{ ht stabilizer is do1laCed and over here
4e says, "It is interesting that nowhere in the exhibit was there any sign of e
horizontal tail,'!
He didn't say "stabilizer" but from what I understand froii
you it is the sane thin,.
JUDGE PiEEETTr?AH; liow he says, "This photo sph indicates that
the fuselage _probably hit on the right lower side in a manner that would not
c:ainafe the lefthand stabilizer as badly as the picture indicates."
JMGE PRIME iAN: In here he is sayin; that a picture here indicates
that the left hand stabilizer was badly damaged. He just Got through saying
there is no si.anywhere of the horizontal tail.
MR. HOUSTON: Maybe that is what he means by "damaged", Judge.
Sir, might I add something here? Had the tail been
on the aircraft at the time of impact I believe it would have remained crumbled
a nd damaged but he says the horizontal stabilizer there wasn't even on the
aft section of the fuselage.
JUDGE PB.LTTMdAN: Right here he says, "The fuselage probably hit
on the right lower side in a isniznxr that would not denape the lefthand
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stabilizer as badly as the picture indicates."
i?:R. HOUSTON: And the picture indicates it is damaged to
the extent its gone.
GENERAL BULL; Yes, it was never found.
JUDGE PRETTYNiAN: You mean to say that if the stabilizer isn't
in the picture at all he would say that the picture indicates it is badly
daria ged
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MR. HOUSTON: He is doing a rather extreme thing. It's like
saying a man who has his arm amputated has his hand damaged.
JUDGE PRETTd1AN: It may be, but I don't understand it. Here
this clearly says that a picture shows that the left hand stabilizer was
badly damaged and now right back here in the beginning he says, "In none of
the pictures was there evidence to show that the horizontal tail was recovered."
If it wasn't recovered I don't know how you could assert it was badly damaged.
It doesn't add up in my mind. I think we have put enough time on this
II
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MR. BROSS: I would like to carry this one step further and
develop the down-bending of the wings of the aircraft and how this occurs
and why. I wanted to get the picture of what occurred after -- the hypothesis -
assuming; that the stabilizer was broken off. What happens next?
Once the stabiUzer is broken off and tWsets the
balance that Mr. Johnson speaks of in his wire, of course the pilot has no
further control of the aircraft, conceivably. Possibly he has a little.
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As I said earlier he will eventually lose complete control. If the aircraft
then loses its balance by virtue of most of the tail gone,fhs going to come
dawn, and possibly even so far as to rotate the fuselage around the axis
of the wings creating negative G's breaking the wings off through down-bendi,n
and virtually rendering the pilot incapable of doing anything.
VM. BROSS: What comes down?
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This is possible. We don't know exactly what it
is going to do in every case. We can't predict this completely one hundred
percent without error.
COL. GEf1RY: What normally happens is the tail breaks off,
it pitches up and about this time it begins to angle, the wings will break
off, the man goes on his back and loses all lift and he starts to fall in
an inverted spin. This is characteristic of this airplane.
GRP, BULL: Is there a characteristic of this plane as to
the speed of fall thereafter? In starting the spin it wouldn't plummet to
the earth, would it?
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wan left on the fuselage, how much of the fuselage was there, if the engine
remained in the aircraft in the fuselage. Depending on actually how much
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and whore it broke. It would of course reach teriuinal velocity as
fast as it is going to fall sooner or later. We don't know how far or
how fast it is going is be.
If
MR. HOUSTON: /vie plane goes into a spin it would come down
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It might be. It might have a falling leaf effect
floating down or spinning. We actually don't know and can't predict what
everything is going to do at the time when this thing breaks up. Once
the aircraft breaks up I would say it's pretty well time to leave, if possible.
JUDGE PRFT DWI: I think I will ask you a hypothetical question
and ask you to express your opinion Awaanswer to the question. In your opinion
as an experienced air officer and experienced with this particular plane -
I'm not sure that I can recite these facts accurately, but I will try and
make them clear enough so you will understand -- suppose a man is flying
a U-2 and he is on flight and he is flying about 70,000 feet and his flight
course calls for a turn. He makes that turn. As he gets straightened out
on his flight line his right wing dips just a little bit and he corrects
that easily and than at that point he feels something which he describes
as a mild kind of push -- no explosion, no fire no smoke, but he feels a kind
of a push and then his nose starts to dip and he pulls on the stick or whatever
it is he pulls on, and there is no response. Do you have an opinion as an
air officer as to what that could have been --as to what that push or whatever
it was that caused ihatever happened, loss of the horizontal fin and what
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have you. If you don't have an opinion I don't want you to just guess, but
under control in the fact that it does not go pushing left or right or
forward. Had there been an explosion in the engine I'm not certain that the man
in the cockpit would know it unless he felt severe vibration throughout the
airplane or had indications on his instrument --
J=E PRETT240; Iet's assume he had none. He had no sense
of vibrations, no extreme turbulence, but this push as though something had
pushed him suddenly and then when his nose started to drop he tried to pull
it in and it was out of control.
0
MR. HOUSTON: In a slightly different vein I have one more
question. If, at 70,000 feet there is a flame-out Ond'in the first place,
to restart you have to reduce altitude by how much?
In this aircraft with this engine we were normally
restarting at 15,000 feet. This meant a descent of 25,000 feet.
MR. HOUSTON: About how long would that take?
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Depending upon the situation whether you wanted to
glide and in other words trade altitude for distance or whether you wanted to
come down as fast as you could and get a light and go back up, and I speak of
a light as starting the engine again. This could vary from initial rate of
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limits of the airplane and this is under certain configurations -- with
speed brakes out and with the 6rer extended and with the engine flamed out
no thrust cones from the engine. A characteristic of this particular aircraft
with the engine in the idle position we get quite a lot of thrust from it at
altitude. This might make the descnt very, very slow. It takes almost an
hour to desend normally from 70,000 feet to sea level.
12, HOUSTON: But if you wanted to come down fast for a light
it would get down to 40,000 feet in what -- 10 minutes?
MR. IHOUSTOPN: And then suppose for some reason or another you
failed to get a light at 45 or 40,000 and from then on you wanted to
get distance so you put it into your best gliding position.
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airplane it was that you could get about 240 miles from maximum altitude
to the ground and I say this, the ground being sea level, under most ideal
conditions -- 240. This is under no wind conditions and it might take as
long as an hour and fifteen minutes to do this.
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JimGT PRETTIMAN: Something else came to mind. That horizontal
fin - now I want to call your attention to that. You said that this
airplane's wings are so constructed that they are subject to this down-
bending and could break off and throw it into a spin. This particular plane
d oesn't have very much margin insofar as the wings are concerned in respect
to catastrophe. Now how about those horizontal fins. Is that subject
to down-bending under some conditions and if so what, and going still further
with the question, would it be at all possible that if you were to turn -
your flight calls for a turn and you went into the turn then you rolled out
of the turn back on to your flint path could that fin tear off?
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the design limits of the aircraft.
Jt0)GE PBETT)aRAI`N: Which might happen in the course of making a
turn and rolling out back on your pattern?
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I don't think this would be the sensation, sir.
JUDGE PRa'ix'Yi4AN: Are there any further questions? Thank you
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Yes, we have encountered extremely heavy clear
sir turbulence at this altitude. I hesitate to call it heavy because I
believe if we ran into extremely heavy turbulence I believe the aircraft
would break up.
JUDGE PRETTVWT: I wonder whether in this particular instance the
right horizontal fin torn off could have caused the sensation of a bump -- kind
of thrown forward -- and when he sought his stick he didn't have any --
II
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