Operation Overflight Ejection Threatens to Cut Off Legs As Powers' U-2 Is Hit Over Russia

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-00764R000500100010-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 24, 1998
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: April 22, 1970
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release J ,#2[4A CJ OP83-00764 1000500100010-6
2 2 APR 1970 CPYRGHT
Operation Overflight
Ejection Threatens to Cud Off Leis
As PowersUs Hit Over Busses
CPYqjilult1r.in a series)
Approaching the border, I
could feel the tension build..
It happened on every over-
flight. Once, across the border,
you relaxed a bit, For some : ed. Due to the presence of some'
reason you felt that anything large thunderclouds, I. couldn't"
that was going to happen would see the launch site itself but
happen there. w could see much of the surround-
.The weather below was worse ing area. I switched on the
than expected. On the Russian cameras. Some intelligence was
side, the clouds came right up' achieved, 'though not 100 per-
to the mountains, a solid under-, cent.
cast. After about one and one- Clouds Disappear
half hours I spotted the first
break in the clouds. I was The clouds closed over again
southeast of the Aral Sea,
slightly right of course. I was
correcting back when some of
the uncertainty came to an end.
Far below T could see the
and remained solid until, about
three hours into the flight, they
began to thin; I could see a
little terrain, including a town.
About 50 miles south of Chel-
l y a b i n s k, the clouds dis-
condensation trail of a single appeared. To my left I got a
engine jet aircraft. It was 'mov good view of the Urals. I began
ing fast, at supersonic speed? to relax a little.
paralleling my course, though Predictably No. 360 chose this
in the opposite direction. moment to be unpredictable.
I watched until it dis- The autopilot began malfunc-
appeared. ' . I tinning, causing the aircraft to
Five to ten ? minutes later I' pitch. nose-up. To correct the
saw another contrail, again; condition, I had to disengage
paralleling my course, only this; the autopilot, retrim and fly the
time moving in my direction., plane manually for a few min-;
Presumably it was the same utes.
aircraft. I Trouble Recurs
?scow PLANNED
i t tg.
KI RO P
't
SYERDLOYS
CHELYABINSK
COSMODROME
I felt relieved. I was sure now, . When I reengaged the autopi-
they were tracking me on lot, the plane flew fine for 10 to
radar, vectoring in and relay- 15. minutes, after which the Bulletin Map by Donald D? Maio
ing my headings to the aircraft. pitch controls again went to the Francis Gary Powers' route In
But it was so far below as to full nose-up position. take The much air- of a dicated U-2 spy plane 1960 Is In-
pose no threat. Because of myi altitude it would have been al-l craft c ouldn
was ahead. For-
most impossible for the pilot to 1 this. Again I went through the Sverdlovsk e onrdlovsk a man.
see me. If this was the best same procedure.. With the same merly known as Ekaterinburg,
result. This time I. left the au it was here, in 1918, that Czar
they could do, I had nothingto' topilot disengaged. Nicholas II and his family were
worry about. Should I go on, I'd have to;fly assassinated. Now an important
Impotent Rage the plane manually the rest', of ,industrial metropolis Sverdlovsk
Odd, but even before reach- the way. ' . was of special interest: I flipped
ing the border I had the feeling 1 It was an abort situation, and i the appropriate switches.
they knew I was coming. . ; I had to make a decision- 'to' This was the first time' a U-2
For four years the U-2s had turn around and go back, or to had flown over the area.
continue the flight. New Airfield
been overflying the USSR. Much
of this time, if not all of it, the I decided to go on and accom- Once past Sverdlovsk, my
Russian government had beer t. push what I had set out to do. route would take me northwest
aware of our activities. Yet, be-. Assassination Site to Kirov, whence I would fly
cause to do' so would be . to:' ;Spotting a huge tank farm, I1north to Archangel, Kanda-
admit that "they could do noth-' noticed it on my map. Ohserv-Ilaksha, Murmansk and, finally,
ing to stop us, they couldn't, Bodo, Norway. 11
even complain. h could imagine ~"g a large complex or build- About 30 to 40 miles southeast
their frustration and rage. Ima- ings, which could have been ei. of Sverdlovsk, I made ?a 90-de-
ther military or Industrial, I ree left turn,' rolled out on
complacentgiving it. made me much less marked them down also, with f ' course and lined up on my next
~r~~ I~ q p~}'
Ahead, ft0I*V*d I fID~1#ri'tOfldr lAM. ? 14a. C~t}iW1; ei'Ita~
the Aral Sed, as t e . yuratarn
Cosmodrome, launching site for city.
I was almost exactly four
hours into the flight.
Spotting an airfield that did
not appear on the map, I
marked it down. My route
would take me directly over It.
Following the turn, I had.to
record the time, altitude, speed,
exhaust-gas temperature, and
engine-instrument readings. I
said, "My God, I've had ,it
now!"
The orange glow seemed to
last for minutes,' although It
was probably gone in seconds.
Yet I had time enough to think
the explosion was external to
the aircraft and, from the push,
probably somewhere behind it.
Going Down
Instinctively I grasped the
throttle with my left hand, and
keeping my right hand _on the
wheel, checked instruments. All
readings normal. Engine func-
tioning O.K. The right wing
started to dropp..I turned the
wheel, and it came back up.
Fine.
Now the nose, very slowly,
started to go down. Proper cor-
rection for this is to pull back
on the wheel to bring it up. I
pulled, but it kept going down.
Either the control cable had se-
vered or the tail was gone. I
knew then I had no control of
the aircraft.
As it kept nosing down, a vio-
lent movement shook the plane,
flinging me all over the cockpit.
I assumed both wings had come
off. What was left of the plane
began spinning, only upside
down, the nose pointing toward
the sky, the tail down toward
the ground. .
All I could see was blue sky,
spinning, spinning. I turned on
the emergency oxygen .supply.
continued
500100010-6
 CP_YRGHT
,,. ,APcc ' Y9d rFA rRW 0wAc%%99A0 ie
felt it at the time - my, suit
had inflated, meaning I'd lost
pressurization in the cockpit.
The suit was now squeezing me,
while the G forces were 'throw.
ing me forward, out of the seat,
up toward the nose.
Cutting Off Legs
'I reached for the destruct
switches, opening the safety
cobers, had my hand' over
them, then changed my mind,
deciding I had better see if I
could get into position to use
the ejection seat first.
Under normal circumstances,
there is only a small amount of
clearance in ejecting. Thrown
forward as I was, if I used the
ejection seat the metal canopy
rails overhead would cut off
so quicK my oouy jUn uin lVa.-
view mirror and snapped it off.
Ii
-RDP83-007641000500100010-6
last thing I saw, because al-
most immediately my face
plate frosted ovdr,~
Something was holding me
connected to the aitcraft: I
couldn't see what. Then I re-
membered the, oxygen hoses:
I'd forgotten two unfasten them
The aricraft was still spin-
ning. I tried to climb back in to
actuate the destruct switches,
but couldn't; the G forces were!
to great:
Reaching down, I tried to feel
my way to the switches. I knew
they were close, six inches
away. from my left hand. at
most, but I couldn't slip my,
hand undeC the windgcreen to:
get at them4
legs back, couldn't.
Yanking at one leg with both! Unable to see, I had no idea
my hands, I succeeded in get- how fast I was falling,. how
ting my heel into the stirrup on close to, the ground .. .
the seat. Then I did the same And then I thought: I've just
with the other heel. But I was got to try to save myself now.
still thrown forward, out of the Kicking and squirming, I must
at get the canopy torso
back. sand Looking ng u up couldn't
py have broken the oxygen hoses
rails, I estimated that using the
seat in this position would sever
both legs about ?three inches
above the knee.
Edge of Panic'
I didn't want to cut them off,
but if it was the only way to get
out, .
Thus far, I had felt no fear.
Now I realized I was on the
edge of panic. "Stop and
think." The words came back
to me. A friend who had also
encountered complications try-
ing to bail out had told me of
forcing himself to stop strug-
gling and just think his way out
of his predicament.
I tried it, suddenly realizing
the obvious.. The ejection seat
wasn't the only way to leave
the plane. I could climb out! So
intent had I been on one solu-
tion, I had forgotten the other. `
Reaching up - not far, be-
cause I. had been thrown up-
iward as well as forward, with
only the seat belt, holding me
down -I unlocked and re-
leased the canopy. It sailed off
into space. ?. .
Half Way Out
because suddenly I was' free,
my body just falling, floatingi
perfectly free. It was a pleas-
ant, exhilarating feeling. Even
better than floating in a swim-
ming pool, I remember think-
ing.
I must have been in shock.
NEXT: Being Captured
From the book "Operation
Overflight" by Francis Gary
Powers and Curt Gentry. Pub-'
dished by Holt, Rinehart and
Winston, Inc. ? 1970 by Francis
Gary Powers and Curt Gentry.,,
The plane was still spinning. I
glanced at the altimeter. It had
passed 34,000 feet and was un-
winding very fast. Again Il
thought of the destruct switches l
but decided to release my seat
belt first, before activating the:
unit. The 70 seconds between
activating it and the actual de-;
struction is not a very long'i
time.
Immediately the force . of
gravity-yanked me halfway out,
both my leg's. I tried to pull my
,ed For lease 1999/09/24: CIA
-RDP83'.00764R000500100010-6