FRANCIS GARY POWERS HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES UNITED STATES SENATE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-00764R000500100023-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 27
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 24, 1998
• Sequence Number: 23
• Publication Date: March 6, 1962
• Content Type: REPORT

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FRANCIS GARY POWERS
HEARING
COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES
UNITED STATES SENATE
EIGHTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
ON
FRANCIS GARY POWERS
U.B. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
80028 WASHINGTON : 1982
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RICHARD B.
HARRY FLOOD BYRD, Virginia
JOHN STENNIS, Mississippi
STUART SYMINGTON, Missouri
HENRY M. JACKSON, Washington
SAM J. ERVIN, JR., North Carolina
STROM THURMOND, South Carolina
CLAIR ENGLE, California
E. L. BARTLETT, Alaska
HOWARD W. CANNON, Nevada
ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia
RUSSELL, Georgia, Chairman
LEVERETT SALTONSTALL, Massachusetts
MARGARET CHASE SMITH, Maine
FRANCIS CASE, South Dakota
PRESCOTT BUSH, Connecticut
1. GLENN BEALL, Maryland
BARRY GOLD WATER, Arizona
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FRANCIS GARY POWERS
U.S. SENATE,
COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES,
Washington, D.C.
The committee met, pursuant to call, at 2 p.m., in room 318, Old
Senate Office Building.
Present: Senators Russell (chairman), presiding; Byrd of Virginia,
Stennis, Symington, Jackson, Ervin, Thurmond, Byrd of West Vir-
ginia, Saltonstall, Smith of Maine, Case of South Dakota, Bush, Beall,
and Goldwater.
Also present: William H. Darden, T. Edward Braswell, Jr., Gordon
A. Nease, professional staff; Harry L. Wingate, Jr., chief clerk; and
Herbert S. Atkinson, assistant chief clerk.
Chairman RUSSELL. I have been requested by Senator Cannon, a
member of this committee, who is always most diligent in attending
the sessions, to announce that, due to his attendance at the War
College at Maxwell Field on national security matters, he will be
unable to be here this afternoon.
That will be all for these cameras.
I will ask the officers to see that that rule is enforced and that no
further pictures are taken.
If you need any additional policemen for that purpose, we will
summon them.
The Arined Services Committee, through the Central Intelligence
Agency, has extended to Mr. Francis Gary Powers an invitation to
appear here in open session this afternoon.
Before we hear from Mr. Powers, the Chair would like to make a
very short statement concerning the circumstances of this hearing.
The Chair believes it can be fairly stated that this committee and
its subcommittees have attempted to deal with subjects involving the
Central Intelligence Agency and, indeed, all matters affecting the
national security, in an unspectacular manner.
Accordingly, to some, it may appear that this hearing in the caucus
room, under these circumstances, is somewhat uncharacteristic of the
proceedings of this committee.
In this instance, however, the correction of some erroneous im-
pressions and an opportunity for Mr. Powers to reveal as much of his
experience as is consistent with security requirements make it appar-
ent that a hearing of this type at this time is not only in the national
interest, but is in the interest of fair play for Mr. Powers.
And if this committee needs any defense, the Chair will state that
in scheduling this hearing, this committee has not been motivated
by any spirit of self-aggrandizement.
1
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2 FRANCIS GARY POWERS
Mr. Powers, after having been subjected to it public trial in Moscow,
you should feel no trepidation whatever in appearing before a group
of your fellow citizens and elected representatives.
I hope that you feel just as much at ease as you possibly can.
I understand from Senator Byrd that you are a Virginia boy.
What part of Virginia are you from?
STATEMENT OF FRANCIS GARY POWERS, ACCOMPANIED BY
LAWRENCE HOUSTON, GENERAL COUNSEL, CENTRAL INTELLI-
GENCE AGENCY
Mr. POWERS. I spent most of my life in the southwest part of
Virginia, around Pound and Grundy, Va.
Chairman RUSSELL. Were you educated in Virginia?
Mr. POWERS. Through grammar school and high school in Virginia
and college in Tennessee.
Chairman RUSSELL. What did you do after you left college?
Mr. POWERS. I worked for one summer as a lifeguard at the
swimming pool near my home in Virginia, joined the Air Force in
October of that year.
Chairman RUSSELL. When were you first employed by the CIA?
Mr. PowERS. In May of 1956.
Chairman RUSSELL. YOU were an experienced pilot at the time you
were employed by the CIA; were you not?
Mr. POWERS. Yes, sir. I don't remember the exact number of
hours, but I have had well over a thousand hours of flying time.
Chairman RUSSELL. How much experience did you have with the
U-2?
Mr. POWERS. A little better than 500 hours flying time.
Chairman RUSSELL. Now, Mr. Powers, we would like to have you
M ahead and tell us in your own words of your mission on the 1st of
May 1960.
If you could pull up the microphone a little closer I think some of
the members of the committee perhaps will hear you a little better.
Mr. PowERS. I was awakened on the morning of May 1, sometime
between 2 and 3 o'clock in the morning. I knew before that I might
have to fly the next day but I wasn't certain at the time.
I had breakfast. The doctor looked me over. I was feeling fine.
The navigator gave me a briefing either before or during the time that
I was prebreathing for this flight. He showed me the maps, the
route that I would take, the turning points, the different headings,
and where the equipment was to be turned off and on. Later I
talked to the weather, forecaster who gave me the probable weather
conditions along the route, the weather at destination, how high to
expect condensation trails.
Then, after that, I talked to the detachment commander who told
me what I was to do in case of an emergency, in case of engine trouble,
or a forced landing over enemy territory. This was both before I put
on my pressure suit and while I was prebreathing the oxygen.
Somewhere, I suppose about 5:30 in the morning, I finished dressing
and was taken to the aircraft. I climbed into the aircraft and waited-
I had to wait for signal before starting the engine and before taking
off. The signal came a little late. I don't remember exactly how
late, but it was later than scheduled.
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FRANCIS GARY POWERS 3
I took off, climbed on course. I remember that the condensation
trails were a little higher than I had been told they would be, but not
much. I climbed above this layer and reached my altitude and con-
tinued on course. The weather was cloudy underneath. I couldn't
see the ground for over an hour, and I drifted right off course. There
was a clear area near the Ural Sea where I corrected back toward
course but never did get exactly back on course before I got over the
clouds again.
It was in this area that I saw two condensation trails from jet
aircraft, so I knew at this time-they appeared to be paralleling my
course. The first one headed in exactly the opposite direction as
myself, and a few minutes later, I assume it was the same aircraft
passed me going on the same heading that I was going on. He made
no maneuvers that I could tell and I never did see the aircraft itself,
just the condensation trail.
Chairman RussELL. Did you estimate his altitude?
Mr. POWERS. He was well below me. I felt fairly good at the time.
I was well above the condensation trail layer and I don't think he
ever saw me if he was looking for me. I got back over the clouds there,
made a correction for the wind, but I still drifted to the right of course.
I would say approximately 200 miles south of Sverdlovsk the clouds
ended, and I corrected back to course and was on course the rest of
the flight. Just about the time that the clouds ended, I began having
a little autopilot trouble. It wasn't very bad at the time so I just
disengaged the autopilot, a few minutes later reengaged it and it
worked for about 10 minutes and I had the same trouble again.
I went through this procedure two or three times and finally de-
cided not to use it any more, and I'd say the last 15, 20, or 30 minutes
was flown by hand without the autopilot.
Weather in this area was perfectly clear, visibility was excellent.
I saw no other condensation trails from other aircraft. I was on
very close to course all the way. I got to, I would say, within 30 or
40 miles of Sverdlovsk probably as well as I can remember southeast
of the city, made a turn to the left of approximately 90?, rolled out
on course, lined up on my next flight line. I was to go over the
southern edge of the city-the southwestern edge of the city.
I can remember seeing an airfield there that was not on my map.
After making this turn, I had to record the time that I reached this
particular point, the engine instrument readings, the exhaust gas
temperature, the altitude, several things, I don't remember exactly
what they all were, and I was doing this at the time that I heard and
felt this explosion.
It was approximately a minute after I had rolled out of this turn.
I can't be sure of the times there. It is hard to recall just exactly
what sensation I had at this time. I can remember feeling, hearing,
and just sensing an explosion, but there was no-just a slight accelera-
tion of the aircraft was all that I felt in the aircraft itself. I immedi-
ately looked -up from the instruments and everywhere I looked was
orange.
I don't know whether the whole sky was orange, or just the reflection
of an orange light in the canopy, but I had never seen anything like
this before, and I am sure there was an explosion. I feel that the
explodion was external to the aircraft and behind me, but I really
don't know. I have never been in an aircraft in which the engine
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exploded or which has had an explosion on board, so I don't know
exactly what that would feel like, but I am sure you could feel that
through the controls or through the seat some way, and so I am
almost positive it was external to the aircraft.
For a short time there-I don't know how long-time had no mean-
ing at this particular time-I thought everything was all right. The
right wing started to drop, which is normal in an aircraft, itwanders
around a little, and I turned the wheel, brought the right wing back to
level position, and either after it reached the level position or just
before it reached that, the nose started dropping.
I could probably demonstrate this better with the model here. It
was going along like this. The right wing dropped slightly, not very
much. I used the controls. The wing came back up level and just
before or after it got level, the nose started going down, and very
slowly. So I applied back pressure to the control column and felt no
resistance to the movement of the control column, and this kept going
faster and faster. So I immediately assumed at the time that the
tail section of the aircraft had come off, because it-a very violent
maneuver happened in here. I think I reached a position about like
this and I feel sure that both wings came off.
This was where the very violent maneuver took place.
Chairman RUSSELL. You were not where you could see the wings
to determine whether they had come off?
Mr. POWERS. I didn't have much time to look, and I was being
thrown around in the cockpit very much at this time. It had come
down in this position. I had pulled the control column all the way
back into my lap, and it did no good. As it came down, it kept going
faster and it got like this and I feel that the wings came off then, but
I really don't know. And a very violent maneuver during this time,
and it ended up in a spin about this position. I know the nose was
high, and I know it was turning very fast around, it seemed like
around something heavy like in the fuselage. I don't know how much
of the aircraft was left at the time. But all. I could see by looking
out of the cockpit was sky. The g. forces were very strong. I have
no way of estimating how much.
I know that when I tried to get in the ejection position, it took
both hands on my logs to pull my feet back into the stirrups of the
ejection seat.
It was spinning very violently. I was thrown forward and up,
and I was hanging onto the seat belt, not sitting in the seat.
My first reaction was to reach for the destruct switches, and I
reached up. I don't know whether I touched them or not, but I
thought that I had better see if I can get out of here before using this.
I knew that there was a 70-second time delay between the time of
the actuation of the switches and the time that the explosion would
occur.
So, after deciding that I had better check and see if I could get
out before actuating the switches, I tried to got into position in the
ejection seat so that I could use it. In this particular aircraft there
isn't much clearance between the pilot's knees and the top of the
windshield, the rail, steel rail across the top of the windshield, and I
was being thrown forward, and if I had used the ejection seat at that
time, I would have probably lost both legs just above the knees.
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FRANCIS GARY POWERS 5
I don't know how long I tried getting back in position, but at the
time I could think of no other way to get out, just the ejection seat.
My mind was fixed on that one idea.
I kept glancing at the altimeter as the aircraft was falling and it
was going around very fast. I remembered somewhere during this
time above the altitude of 34,000 feet that a friend of mine who had
had an accident in an aircraft was having trouble getting out of the
aircraft, and I remembered him telling me of his experience.
He said that he told himself that he just had to stop and think, and
this entered my mind at the time, so I just stopped struggling and tried
to think, and this was the first time that I realized that maybe I
could just open the canopy, loosen the seat belt, and climb out.
And, along in here, I saw 34,000 feet on the altimeter, and it was
still moving very fast.
I immediately reached up, opened the canopy. One side came loose
first-I think it was the right side. The other handle loosened the
left side and it floated off-I believe it was to the left. I really don't
know, but it just disappeared.
I had pulled my emergency belt out, however-I think that was one
of the first things I did after this real violent maneuver-so that when
I separated from the aircraft, I would have an oxygen supply while
descending, but I had forgotten to unfasten my oxygen hoses-the
can on my left.
I opened the seat belt, and I was immediately thrown forward and
halfway out of the aircraft.
I can probably demonstrate this better than I can tell. The top of
the canopy was, say, the top of this table, and I was hanging out over
the front of the aircraft about like this [indicating], and I think the
only thing that was keeping me in the aircraft was the oxygen hose.
If that had not have been fastened, I would probably have gone out
right away, I don't know.
Well, then, I tried to got back into the aircraft so that I could
actuate these destructor switches. I couldn't-the g. forces were too
great and I could not pull myself back over the top of the windshield.
I tried to reach around underneath the windshield. I knew where
the switches were. And I couldn't get my hand back underneath.
Also, somewhere about this time my faceplate of my flying suit
frosted up completely. That is when it got into the cold air, and all I
could see was just the eyes on the faceplate about an inch or so in
front of my face. I knew that I was well below 34,000 feet.
I had no idea of what my altitude was. I couldn't get back in the
airplane. I didn't know whether I could get those oxygen hoses
loose or not. I couldn't actuate the destruct switches.
So then I decided just to try to get out. I gave several lunges and
something snapped and I was floating free. It was almost immediately
that the parachute opened, and this surprised me because I hadn't
pulled the ripcord.
The parachute was equipped with an automatic opening device,
but it has to be actuated by pulling another cord, and apparently that
cord got hung on something in the airplane and pulled, because it was
well less than a minute, I am. sure, after leaving the aircraft that the
chute opened.
A short while after that-I don't remember how long-I got to
thinking that this chute was set to open at 15,000 feet or lower; that
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16 FRANCIS GARY POWERS
the maximum altitude it would open would be 15,000 feet; so I knew
that I could take my faceplate off, and not be in danger from the thin
air.
So I removed the faceplate, just left it hanging on the hoses that
were connected to the suit, and started looking around, and I was still
very high-I estimate above 10,000 feet, but I have no idea of the
exact altitude.
There were a lot of thoughts running through my mind at this time.
It is impossible to recall them all, but I remembered I had a map in
my pocket. I took this map out, looked at it, tore it into small pieces,
and scattered it in the air.
I also thought of the coin with the poison pin in it. This had been
given to me just prior to the flight, and it was my option whether to
take this or not, and I chose to take it. I got to thinking that when I
got on the ground if I were captured they would surely find this coin
but maybe with just the pin lying loose in the pocket it would be
overlooked, so I opened up the coin, got the pin out, and just dropped
it in my pocket.
I had several other things in my pockets, but they were more or less
necessary to survival if I could evade capture, so I decided not to get
rid of those things. I don't remember exactly what they were. It
was ust some of the things that I couldn't get into my survival pack
itself. I couldn't tell where I was going to land. There were a lot of
wooded areas there, and there was one fairly large one that I would
drift toward and then drift back away from. I was trying to guide
the parachute over to this wooded area, but I had no success in that.
The winds were variable as I was coming down in the parachute,
and first I would go toward the woods, later away from them.
When I got down fairly close to the ground, there was a car I could
see on a dirt road. I didn't know what he was doing, but he wasn't
going too fast and lie seemed to be just keeping up with me, and the
closer I got the closer he would get to me. He came to a little village
there, turned left out to the outskirts, of the village and stopped, and
I guess I was maybe 200 feet in the air at this time, and I think it
was two men got out of the car.
I was descending what appeared to be very rapidly at the time, and
I landed in an open field about 25 feet from a tractor with one driver
on the tractor and one man standing beside the tractor.
When I hit the ground I fell down. When I looked up, one of the
men, I don't know which it was, was out grabbing a-hold of the para-
chute to try to collapse it. I remember releasing a strap on one side
so that the air would spill out of the chute. A couple of these men
helped me to my feet. I don't remember whether they tried to say
anything to me at the time or not. I think they did, and I just shook
my head. They helped me remove my parachute harness and the
helmet of the flying suit. They took away the pistol and a knife
that I had on my parachute. After I got my helmet off and could
look around, there was a large crowd of people there, a lot of children,
so apparently there was a school in this area. I don't know how many
grownups but I would say there were at least 50 people. This is
just a guess.
These men tried to talk to me and I would just shake my head and
indicate that I couldn't understand them. One of them pointed at
me and held up two fingers, and I got the impression that he was
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FRANCIS 7
asking if there were two of us, and I told him "No,". just shook my
head "No," and pointed to inyself and held up one finger telling him
that I was alone. And then he pointed up in the air.and I looked up,
and saw what I think was a- parachute, but I knew that I had no
other parachute on board the aircraft.
f knew that it was no one that I knew, so I wasn't very interested.
at the time. They didn't pay too much attention to this. They just
talked among themselves, one on each side of me caught my arm and.
led me to this car that I had seen earlier. They put me in the car
in the front seat next to the driver and with a man on my right and,
there were three, I believe, in the back seat. They had loaded up,
the parachute, and I think my survival pack, in the trunk of the car.
They started driving through the village and I indicated to them
that I would like to have something to drink, so he stopped in front
of it house there in this small village. One of the men went inside,
brought out a glass of water which I drank and they gave the glass
to some of the people standing around and we left this village. It
was on a very bad dirt road, a lot of ruts, a very rough ride. The
car was small, and .I estimate that it took about 30 minutes to get
to this next village which was a larger place.
There was a paved street running through this second village.
They stopped on the side of the street that we approached the
village from, got me out of the car, and there was what I took to be
a policeman there.
They talked to him and he went through my pockets, not very
thoroughly, led. me across the street into some sort of an office, and,
I estimate that I stayed there about 2 hours. There were both civilian
and military there. I don't know whether the military was there
when I arrived or not but I know they were there during the time and
before I left. One of the military men tried to speak to me in German,,
and I told him I didn't understand him. There was no one there
that could speak English, so they didn't ask me any questions at the
time.
People kept bringing in small pieces of wreckage from the aircraft.
I saw several pieces of metal, some with English written on it, there
was a small roll of film. They had my parachute there, the survival
pack. Oh, they searched me here at this building also. They stripped
me down to my underwear, went through my pockets, felt along the
seams, but they didn't find the needle at this time.
They called in a doctor. She was a young woman, I would say
about 30 years old. I had some scratches on my right leg which she
painted and bandaged. They tried to talk to me several times, but
I couldn't understand them and they couldn't understand me, and
I estimate it was around 2 hours, maybe a little more, but I have no
way of knowing how long I was there. They loaded me up in a mili-
tary vehicle, a little larger than our jeep. There was an officer on my
left, myself in the middle, and an enlisted man on my right in the
back seat. The enlisted man had a carbine of some kind.
In the front seat there was a military driver and a civilian. They
took me into a fairly large city which I assumed was Sverdlovsk.
It was in the downtown area, into a fairly large office building, I
would say about three stories high, and they took me to the second
floor.
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8 FRANCIS GARY POWERS
There they performed a thorough search and found the needle at
this place. I tried to invent a story there that I didn't know where
I was, I was off course, but they brought out the packages that I had
in my survival pack or on my person with maps of the Soviet Union,
Russian rubles, and several other items that indicated the nature of
the mission. It was then that I decided to follow the instructions
that I had received earlier and tell them that I was a member of the
CIA and the nature of the mission.
It was quite obvious that they knew it anyway. I think I stayed
there approximately 30 minutes. They made a lot of telephone calls.
There was a man there who spoke English also and asked me several
questions, and that is how I found out my story wouldn't hold up.
They seemed to be in a hurry. They made several telephone calls,
talked a lot among themselves, and they gave me back my underwear
and the outer flying suit but kept the pressure suit. They also gave
me something similar to our poncho with two slits on each side made
out of canvas. The slits were for the arms to go through. They
put this on me.
One man got out a pair of handcuffs. They talked among them-
selves and he put them back in his pocket and they never did put
them on me. We went back outside.
They loaded me in a fairly large car, limousine type, drove to an
airfield, and when we got there, we stopped at the gate on one side of
the terminal building, I suppose it was, and we waited there maybe 5
minutes, and there was a jet passenger aircraft in front of this build-
ing. Someone opened the gate. We drove to the front entrance of
this aircraft. They made me run up the steps and led me into the
front compartment which contained 10 seats. There were four men
with me. I remember at least one was in uniform and one was a
civilian, but I don't remember what the other two were wearing.
They asked me no questions on this flight.
I am getting ahead of myself. It seemed to me that the aircraft
was waiting there for us because as soon as we got in they moved the
loading ramp away and started up immediately, and through the
curtains to the back, when the stewardess walked through, I could
see that there were other passengers in the back, so I suppose it was a
regular passenger flight to Moscow.
During the flight they asked no questions. Some of the-a
couple of the men played chess. They ate, offered me food but I
couldn't eat, and it was during this time that I made up my mind
exactly what course I would follow during the forthcoming weeks.
I knew that if these people released the news that I was there-I
didn't know that they would at the time, but I knew that if they did-
that there would be a lot of stuff in the papers in the States, and I
also knew that they probably subscribed to every paper we have, and
I wanted to make my story as close to what I thought would be re-
leased in the papers as possible.
I think the flight took about 3 hours.
We arrived at the airport in Moscow. They had me sit there for
about 5 minutes, brought me out, ran me down the steps to a waiting
car, and we immediately left. The car had curtains inside that they
kept pulled.
You could see outside through the curtains, but I don't suppose
anyone could see inside.
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FRANCIS. GARY POWERS 9
They took me downtown to the building that I stayed in until
September 9.
There was another search performed immediately upon my arrival
at this building. They took all my clothing and gave me other cloth-
ing there. There was an interrogation, I would say, within 30 min-
utes after my arrival there, and there were quite a few high-ranking
people, many of them in uniforms, many of them in civilian clothes.
I don't remember exactly the questions they asked during this
time, but I think it was mostly concerned with establishing that I was
a member of the CIA,, or worked for the CIA, and the purpose of the
flight.
I don't know how long this lasted. I do know that Rudenko, who
was the prosecutor during the trial, was more or less in charge of this
interrogation session.
He offered me a Chesterfield cigarette. They asked me, I think
at this time, what I knew about Moscow; what I knew about Russia;
and I told them I knew very little about it.
They asked me if I would like to see Moscow, and I said "Yes."
And they said, "Well, that might be arranged." Then I don't know
whether I said. anything or not, but, after this session. was over, they
took me to the prison section of this building. There I received a
physical examination, not a very thorough one.
There was a lot of time spent just locked up in a room with nothing
but a bench built against the wall and just waiting. The doctor came
into this room and examined me there. I waited again.
They took me to a. doctor's office, and it was either a different
doctor or a nurse, I don't know which, gave me. a shot. This was
after dark; I don't know what time it was.
They immediately took me. to a cell and put me in it, brought in.
some food which I couldn't eat, and I lay down and tried to sleep.
The next morning there was an interrogation, and, for some reason.
or the other, this was left out of the books that they had compiled of
the investigation.
I don't know why this one was left out, but it was.
Chairman RUSSELL. How do you know it was left out?
Mr. POWERS. They told me that according to the Russian law, I
could review the evidence in the case before the trial.
Going through this evidence a week or so prior to the. trial, I saw
that one was missing, and I told this to my Soviet-appointed defense
counsel, and he just shrugged his shoulders. That morning they
said that in the afternoon we would take a tour of Moscow, and I
was all for this because I know as long as I was riding around in a
car they would not be asking questions, and I would have been
willing to take a trip every day.
The real interrogation started on the morning of the 3d, and it
varied, the sessions varied in length, but there were times as much
as 10 to 12 hours in a single day, several times at night, but, as the
time went on, they. got shorter and a longer period between the
interrogations.
It was somewhere in the latter part of May that I had a very bad
cold, could hardly talk, that they gave me the first day off that I
did not have an interrogation.
I don't remember the exact date, but it was after the 20th of May.
Through June the sessions became shorter and sometimes they
would skip the whole weekend, Saturday and Sunday.
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I suppose you probably have a lot of questions on this that I have
gone over. Any time you want.
Chairman RUSSELL. I do have a number.
I was interested that you said a number of times that you had no
way of knowing the time. I think the first time you said your
parachute was coming down. Did you not have a timepiece of
some kind with you?
Mr. PowERS. No.
I had the clocks in the airplane itself. I had no wristwatch. I
think there was one in my pocket, but I had forgotten about it, and
it probably was not wound, anyway.
From that time I do not remember seeing a clock or anything that
I could tell the time by.
Chairman RUSSELL. It is rather unusual for any American not to
have a wristwatch or some kind of timepiece with him after passing
14 or 15 years of age.
I was somewhat surprised that you didn't have a wristwatch or
some watch with which you could tell the time.
Mr. POWERS. Well, it is very hard to wear a wristwatch over this
pressure suit. It can be done, but I usually went by the watches we
had in the aircraft itself.
Chairman RUSSELL. About what time of day was it when this
unexplained explosion struck your plane?
Mr. POWERS. I don't remember the exact time, but I do remember it
was close to the hour, I think just before the hour, but which hour I
don't know. It was in the morning. I was using Greenwich time.
I have no idea what the local time was. It could be very easy to find
out by going back over the flight plan and following the route because
I was very close to schedule.
Chairman RUSSELL. Unfortunately the Russians have all that;
haven't they?
Mr. POWERS. They have all that I had with me.
Chairman RUSSELL. If you were compelled to make an estimate of
the time that elapsed after you lost control of your plane until the
time that you were on the ground, what would you estimate that
time to be?
Mr. POWERS. I have thought about this a lot, and I really don't
know. I don't know how fast the aircraft was falling. I know it was
going pretty fast, but time didn't seem to mean anything. A second
could have been a minute or a minute could have been a second. It
seems like
Chairman RUSSELL. I am including the time that you were in your
parachute coming down. Would you estimate 1 minute, 2 minutes,
3 minutes, 4 minutes?
Mr. POWERS. It was more than that. The parachute itself, I
would say, was better than 10 minutes, but I really don't know. I am
just guessing this.
Chairman RUSSELL. Better than 10 minutes in the parachute?
Mr. POWERS. Yes.
Chairman RUSSELL. Do you think it would have been longer or
shorter than that after you lost control before the parachute opened?
Mr. POWERS. I would say much shorter.
Chairman RUSSELL. Much shorter. Now, these men that were
in that automobile that were pursuing you or following you on this
dirt road, were they civilians or in military uniform?
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Mr. POWERS. They all had civilian clothing.
Chairman RUSSELL. When was the first time you saw anyone in
uniform?
Mr. POWERS. At the second village where these men took me.
Chairman RUSSELL. Apparently they thought you were a Russian
when they first came up to you?
Mr. POWERS. Probably so. I really don't know. It didn't take
them long to take my pistol away, and the knife.
Chairman RUSSELL. They had spoken to you prior to that time;
hadn't they?
Mr. POWERS. Yes, but I just shook my head, didn't say a word,
so I don't know what they thought.
Chairman RUSSELL. Did you ever have a jetplane flame out on
you, Mr. Powers, while you were piloting?
Mr. POWERS. Yes, I have.
Chairman RUSSELL. Does it make any unusual noise or give any
unusual impetus to the plane?
Mr. POWERS. Different aircraft react differently. In this particu-
lar airplane I had had flameouts before. Sometimes there is a
chugging of the engine, but you know what that is. There was no
kind of an explosion accompaymng that, and nothing that would give
an orange light.
Chairman RUSSELL. The orange light was something that was
really unusual?
Mr. POWERS. Yes, and it was apparently persistent. It wasn't
a flash, but all the time that I was looking out it was there, but I don't
remember ever seeing it again.
Chairman RUSSELL. Has there ever been any other occasion when
you were in an airplane and were the target of a ground-to-air missile
or explosive or shell of any kind?
Mr. POWERS. Not that I know of.
Chairman RUSSELL. You have never seen any ground-to-air
missile explode?
Mr. POWERS. No, I haven't.
Chairman RUSSELL. Is that right?
Mr. POWERS. I have seen photographs or moving pictures of
some of our missiles shooting an aircraft down, but the ones I have
seen, the missile hits the aircraft.
Well, I am sure that nothing hit this aircraft. If something did
hit it, I am sure I would have felt it.
Chairman RUSSELL. You did say that the plane had an impetus
forward when it was hit?
Mr. POWERS. Yes, sir.
Chairman RUSSELL. When this explosion occurred evidently it oc-
curred behind the plane?
Mr. POWERS. That was my thinking. There was definitely a
slight acceleration-not much, but a push.
Chairman RUSSELL. Could you see the plane to which you re-
ferred or did you only see the markings of the jet plane in the atmos-
phere?
Mr. PowERS. This was at least an hour earlier, and I only saw the
condensation trails themselves. I tried to see the aircraft and
couldn't. They were quite a way below and I estimated 20 miles to
the right, but it is hard to estimate distances in the air.
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12 FRANCIS GARY POWERS
Chairman RUSSELL. That is not much range for a jet airplane
though, is it, 20 miles? The main difference was the
Mr. POWERS. The altitude.
Chairman RUSSELL. The altitude, not the distance from it?
Mr. POWERS. Yas.
Chairman RUSSELL. Did you see any other airplanes on that mis-
sion?
Mr. POWERS. I saw no other condensation trails or airplanes.
Chairman RUSSELL. Have you ever had reason to believe that air-
planes on any other mission were undertaking to reach you or to
find you?
Mr. POWERS. Pardon?
Chairman RUSSELL. Have you ever had any occasion to believe
on this or any mission that an airplane was attempting to attack the
plane which you were piloting?
Mr. POWERS. No. On this mission I can't be sure that these two
planes that I did see or the condensation trails that I did see, I can't
be sure that they were looking for me, but it seemed odd that they
would first parallel my course exactly in the opposite direction and
then a few minutes later parallel my course in the same direction I
was heading. I assume that they were looking for me but they made
no turns to try to intercept or anything.
Chairman RUSSELL. You said several times that you drifted to the
right of course?
Mr. POWERS. Yes.
Chairman RUSSELL. To the right of course. Not being a pilot,
why is that-what is that of course, is that the prevailing wind pushing
to the right?
Mr. POWERS. We usually have a forecast wind for different alti-
tudes, and the flight plan is drawn up to take into consideration the
strength of the wind, and apparently the wind information we had
was a little wrong and the wind was stronger than the navigator
thought it would be, and he had computed the course for a slower
wind.
Chairman RUSSELL. You are not a navigator yourself, Mr. Powers?
Mr. POWERS. Yes, a pilot has to be a navigator, but I am not a
rated navigator. I never was a rated navigator in the Air Force.
Chairman RUSSELL. Had you ever made a parachute descent be-
fore?
Mr. POWERS. No, sir.
Chairman RUSSELL. You say they didn't find this needle until
about the third time they examined you, I believe. Where was the
needle hidden?
Mr. POWERS. I had just dropped it loose in the pocket.
Chairman RUSSELL. Loose in your pocket?
Mr. POWERS. Yes.
Chairman RUSSELL. I wish you would clear up the matter of the
needle, Mr. Powers.
Were you under any obligation to destroy yourself if you were
captured?
Mr. POWERS. Oh, no. I don't remember exactly who gave me the
needle that morning, but they told me, "You can take it if you want
to." They said, "If something does happen you may be tortured.
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FRANCIS GARY POWERS 13
Maybe you could conceal this on your person in some way, and if you
see that you cannot withstand the torture, you might want to use it."
And that is the reason I took the noodle. But I could have left it.
I wasn't told to take it.
Chairman RUSSELL. Do you have the instructions that you re-
ceived that morning and that you usually received there before you
Mr. PowERS. Do I have them?
Chairman RUSSELL. Yes, sir; the instructions as to your course of
conduct in the event you fell into the hands of any enemy, potential
enemy.
Mr. POWERS. Well, it is hard to remember this long exactly what
they were.
Chairman RUSSELL. I think they are there. You can read them,
[ think they ought to go into this record.
Mr. POWERS. Listed here are three paragraphs:
(a) If evasion is not feasible and capture appears imminent, pilots should
surrender without resistance and adopt a cooperative attitude toward their
captors.
(b) At all times while in the custody of their captors, pilots will conduct them-
selves with dignity and maintain a respectful attitude toward their ,superiors.
(c) Pilots will be instructed that they are perfectly free to tell the full truth
about their mission with the exception of certain specifications of the aircraft.
They will be advised to represent themselves as civilians, to admit previous Air
Force affiliation, to admit current CIA employment, and to make no attempt
to deny the nature of their mission.
That is all.
Chairman RUSSELL. Those instructions had been given you before
you took off on this flight?
Mr. POWERS. Yes.
Chairman RUSSELL. You were thoroughly familiar with them?
Mr. POWERS. Yes.
Chairman RUSSELL. They were a part of your agreement with the
CIA?
Mr. POWERS. Yes.
Chairman RUSSELL. Mr. Powers, were you close enough to this
other parachute to tell whether it was occupied by a man or whether
it just had some object in it?
Mr. POWERS. No. It was very high. I don't know how high.
I couldn't see what it was.
I thought at the time that-well, where were a lot of thoughts run-
ning through my mind, and I thought at the time that maybe this ex-
plosion was caused by a rocket, and, if so, maybe this parachute was
used to recover, say, the first stage or something.
Actually, I have no idea what was in the parachute, but I am sure
it was a parachute, very similar to mine. It was a different color.
I think it had red and white markings.
Chairman RUSSELL. Were these people concerned about it? Was
there any possibility that this was a Russian in that parachute and
that they had shot down one of their own planes in their efforts to reach
you at your high altitude?
Mr. POWERS. I really don't know.
The people just asked me if there were two of us, two Americans.
I mean he just pointed at myself and asked if there were two, and I
told him by sign language that there was only one, and we got in the
car and left.
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14 FRANCIS GARY POWERS
They didn't seem concerned at all.
Chairman RUSSELL. So they didn't even look for the other man?
Mr. POWERS. No, the ones who were with me did not.
Chairman RUSSELL. You do not know whether anyone else out
there looked for him or not?
Mr. POWERS. No; I have no idea.
Chairman RUSSELL. They did not ever bring him in to where they
took you?
Mr. POWERS. No.
I do know that this was not part of my aircraft or equipment.
Chairman RUSSELL. I was very much interested in that one day's
interrogation that was left out of your evidence and how you knew
it was left out.
You cannot read Russian, can you, Mr. Powers?
Mr. POWERS. No.
They translated the interrogations into English for me to read and
to correct.
Chairman RUSSELL. And there was no evidence of that day at all
in this record?
Mr. POWERS. There was definitely an interrogation on that morn-
ing, and it was definitely not in the books they gave me to review.
Chairman RUSSELL. That is what I mean: There was nothing in
the book that transpired that day?
Mr. POWERS. Right.
Chairman RUSSELL. Did they threaten you at any time when
they were examining you?
Mr. POWERS. There were no definite threats, but they didn't let
me forget that this crime was punishable by death. Anytime they
would mention that it was 7 to 15 years and death, and they wouldn't
let me forget that.
Chairman RUSSELL. Did you ever manifest any reluctance in
answering the questions that they asked you or did you answer them
immediately?.
Mr. POWERS. I refused to answer several of their questions. I
showed reluctance on many.
Chairman RUSSELL. Pardon?
Mr. POWERS. I showed reluctance on many, some that I couldn't
see how they could be of any interest to them. at all, but I was just
reluctant in answering all questions.
Chairman RUSSELL. That was not exactly in. conformity with your
instructions there to cooperate with your captors; was it?
Mr. POWERS. Well, you shouldn't go overboard with this coopera-
tion, I don't think.
Chairman RUSSELL. You were quoted in the press as having stated
at your trial that you had made a terrible mistake in flying over Russia
and apologized to the Russian people and would never do it again.
Was that a misquotation or did you make that statement at your trial?
Mr. POWERS. No, that wasn't a misquotation. I made this
statement on the advice of my defense counsel, and also because it
was easy to say I was sorry because what I meant by saying that and
what I wanted them to think I meant was quite different. My main
sorrow was that the mission failed, and I was sorry that I was there,
and it was causing a lot of adverse publicity to the States. But, of
course, some of these things I couldn't say in that statement.
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FRANCIS GARY POWERS 15
Chairman RUSSELL. Was the room in which you were confined a
cell, a jail cell, or was it just an ordinary office room?
Mr. POWERS. No, it was part of a prison. It had a solid door
with a peephole in it, one window with opaque glass, and bars on
the outside of the glass itself. The only way I could see out was
through a small crack at the top, and I could see part of the wall of
the wing of the building opposite this cell, but it was definitely a
prison.
Chairman RUSSELL. Was it kept reasonably clean?
Mr. POWERS. Yes, it was kept clean.
Chairman RUSSELL. How was your food that you had there at
the prison?
Mr. POWERS. The food was better at the first place in Moscow
there than it was at Vladimir at the prison there. I couldn't eat for
a long time, and apparently they got quite worried about it and kept
asking me if they could get me any special foods or anything, and I
told them "No."
Later on I did start eating, but I never had much of an appetite
the whole time I was there. There seemed to be plenty of the food
but it is quite different from what we have here. It consisted pre-
dominantly of potatoes and cabbage.
Chairman RUSSELL. Borsch and different kinds of soups?
Mr. POWERS. Yes, at the prison in Vladimir the best part of the
meal at lunch was a bowl of soup.
Chairman RUSSELL. Did you ever have a roommate or did you
occupy,that cell by yourself?
Mr. POWERS. From May 1 to September 9 I was in solitary con-
finement. When I moved to the other prison I had a roommate.
Chairman RUSSELL. What had he been charged with?
Mr. POWERS. He was-they called it an article 58, which I think
means crimes against the state, and lie said treason. He spokeEng-
lish. He spoke four languages. He was a Latvian. He spoke Lat-
vian, German, English, and Russian.
Chairman RUSSELL. Do you have any reason to believe he was
planted there to spy on you or do you think he was a bona fide prisoner?
Mr. PowERS. This was always in the back of my mind, but I do not
think he was a plant. He had a lot of stuff that he had accumulated
over the few years that he had been there, notes that lie had taken
while he was studying Russian written on scraps of newspaper and it
lot of other things. It took him a long time to accumulate what he
had. I feel sure that he wasn't a plant.
Chairman RUSSELL. How long had he been in prison?
Mr. POWERS. He was there, I think, in April of this year will be
7 years. This is what he told me. His sentence was 15 years.
Chairman RUSSELL. Did they not periodically examine your posses-
sions? You say he had accumulated this file of material about Russian.
They didn't go through your belongings to see whether you had any-
thing you shouldn't have?
Mr. POWERS. Not while we were there, anyway. Not while we were
in the cell.
Chairman RUSSELL. Not in any instance?
Mr. POWERS. There were several inspection teams who came around
the prison. They would just come in and ask through an interpreter
if there were any questions, any complaints, stuff like this, but they
didn't bother us very much at all.
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Chairman RUSSELL. I can't refrain from saying that the Russians
were much more gentle with you than I would ever have expected
they would have been to one who was taken under those circumstances.
Mr. POWERS. It surprised me, also. I expected much worse treat-
ment than I received.
Chairman RUSSELL. I rather think you got off somewhat better
than a Russian spy would in this country under the same circu n-
stances.
Mr. POWERS. I really don't know.
Chairman RUSSELL. It might depend on where he happened to
land. Undoubtedly he would have a rough time in the.section of the
country from which I come.
Senator Saltonstall?
Senator SALTONSTALL. Mr. Chairman-Mr. Powers, I think I only
have one or two questions. I have listened with interest to what
you have said. I have listened to what Mr, McCone has told us,
what he has given out in unclassified information, and I have listened
to the chairman.
My question would be this: Did I understand you correctly that
when you were coming down in the parachute: you threw away your
instructions and threw away the map?
Mr. POWERS. No, I had no written instructions with me, but I did
have a map, and I tore that up in. very small pieces and scattered it
out in the air as I was coming down.
Senator SALTONSTALL. So that your instructions were in your head,
so to speak?
Mr. POWERS. Yes.
Senator SALTONSTALL. Now, did you have a briefcase or something
else in which these other things, your special food, and these other
things, were that they looked through afterward?
Mr. POWERS. Yes. I had what we call a seat pack. In this seat
pack was a collapsible rubber liferaft, some food., some water, matches,
several other items necessary to, say, live off the land or survival in an
unpopulated area.
Senator SALTONSTALL. In other words, nothing except survival kit?
Mr. POWERS. Yes. There were also some cloth maps for escape
and evasion.
Senator SALTONSTALL. Mr. Powers, I will just say this: After
listening to Mr. McCone and after listening to you, I commend you
as a courageous, fine young American citizen who lived up to
your instructions and who did the best you could under very difficult
circumstances.
Mr. POWERS. Thank you very much.
Chairman RUSSELL. Senator Byrd?
Senator BYRD of Virginia. The chairman has very ably covered the
ground, and I will not ask any questions.
I do want to say I join with Senator Saltonstall in expressing my
opinion that the witness, Mr. Powers, has made an excellent presenta-
tion. He has been frank, and I am also very much gratified that Mr.
McCone has testified before the committee that so far as lie knows no
action has been taken by you which was contrary to your instructions
or contrary to the interests of this country.
Chairman RUSSELL. Senator Smith.
Senator SMITH of Maine. Mr. Chairman, my questions have been
covered, thank you.
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Chairman RUSSELL. Senator Stennis.
Senator STENNIS. Mr. Chairman, I think you have covered this
matter fully. I want to ask one question.
Mr. Powers, I understand you had an attorney appointed for your
trail.
Mr. POWERS. Yes, that is right.
Senator STENNIS. Did he work with you and freely advise you and
counsel with you, give you advice?
Mr. POWERS. Yes. We had several meetings before the trial.
But I didn't get to see him until, I would say, about 2 weeks before
the trial.
Senator STENNIS. He rendered you a valuable service, did he?
Mr. POWERS. Well, I really don't know. I never did trust him
any more than the rest of them.
Senator STENNIS. I mean by that that lie gave you information
and talked to you and you think you were better off at the trial than
you would have been without his aid. What about that?
Mr. POWERS. I really don't know.
Senator STENNIS. You have understood, I suppose, that at the
time this occurred there was some publicity here, not a great deal, but
some that was not altogether favorable to you.
Did you know about that?
Mr. POWERS. I have heard about this since I
Senator STENNIS. That is just a prelude for my saying this-that it
is with satisfaction to me that I learn that you have been fully exon-
erated by the men who most know how to judge what you did, what
the facts were, by your superiors and those who employed you. Not
only that, but they found that you have discharged all of your obliga-
tions to your country, and it is with satisfaction to us here and I think
to the American people to learn that, to know it is true.
I know it makes you feel mighty good.
Me. POWERS. There was one thing that I always remembered
while I was there and that was that I am an American.
Senator STENNIS. You are an American.
Mr. PowERs. Right.
Senator STENNrs. And proud of it?
Mr. POWERS. Right.
Senator STENNIS. That is fine. [Applause.] You felt that the
American flag would finally find you and follow through and do what
was good for you?
Mr. POWERS. Yes, I did.
Senator STENNIS. That is all, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman RUSSELL. Senator Case.
Senator CASE of South Dakota. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Powers, did you have any opportunity to see the plane or any
part of it on the ground after you landed?
Mr. POWERS. Yes, I did. They took me out somewhere around
the middle of May to a building in a park in Moscow. The plane
was on display there.
Senator CASE of South Dakota. Was there any evidence visible
or evident to you that the plane had been tampered with or changed
in any way after it had been brought there?
Mr. POWERS. Well, there was quite a bit of damage. Some parts
were missing completely. There were a few things that .1 was very
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FRANCIS GARY POWERS
interested in looking at myself. I was particularly interested in the
tail section, because I though it might be possible that the tail of the
aircraft came off and this caused the accident, but on looking at that
there were no scorch marks. The paint was still intact. So I could
only assume that while the engine was running the tail was on the
aircraft. But as far as anything else, there was no way that I could
tell whether it had been tampered with or not. There was a lot of
damage to everything I saw.
Senator CASE of South Dakota. Was the tail on the plane when you
saw it?
Mr. POWERS. No. It was sitting in one place by itself.
Senator CASE of South Dakota. You have referred to the incident
as an explosion. Was there anything visibly noticeable about the
plane that helped to form that opinion that it was an explosion, or
was that simply the fact that at the time you felt the incident you
were impelled forward?
Mr. POWERS. Well, I heard and felt something, and it sounded like
a very dull explosion, like something "whoomp," not a real sharp
sound, but dull. Then the light after this. ]Looking at the aircraft
I noticed on one of the wings that there were holes on one side of the
wings, but I don't know whether this was caused by a fragmentation
or maybe when it hit the ground.
Senator CASE of South Dakota. How long were you in the Air
Force?
Mr. POWERS. A little more than 5 years.
Senator CASE of South Dakota. During that time did you receive
any indoctrination, so to speak, with regard to communism?
Mr. POWERS. This was really a long time ago. I have seen some
films while I was in the Air Force. I think I had attended a lecture
where a list of Communist organizations was pointed out. There
might have been others, but I can't remember.
Senator CASE of South Dakota. Was your service in the Air Force
during wartime?
Mr. POWERS. No. Well, I entered the Air Force during the Korean
war, but never did get to Korea.
Senator CASE of South Dakota. With respect to this particular
flight, did you have anything to do with the selection of the date for
the flight?
Mr. POWERS. No.
Senator CASE of South Dakota. Do you know whether or not the
timing of the flight was primarily a matter of the selection of weather
and favorable atmospheric conditions or anything else?
Mr. POWERS. I would assume that it depended primarily on
weather. I really don't know.
Senator CASE of South Dakota. You really don't know, but that
was your assumption?
Mr. POWERS. Yes.
Senator CASE of South Dakota. There was nothing in your experi-
ence that would indicate anything other than that it was a timely
flight because of the weather conditions?
Mr. POWERS. That is what I would think, yes.
Senator CASE of South Dakota. Did you learn from your cellmate
anything about the economic or political conditions in Russia?
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FRANCIS GARY POWERS 19
Mr. PowERs. We discussed quite a few things there. He seemed to
be more interested in the West than I was in Russia. and we primarily
talked about that.
Senator CASE of South Dakota. What was his original nationality?
Mr. POWERS. Latvian.
Senator CASE of South Dakota. Latvian.
Are you still in the employ of the Central Intelligence Agency?
Mr. POWERS. Yes, I am.
Senator CASE of South Dakota. That is all, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman RUSSELL. What was your rank when you separated
yourself from the Air Force, Mr. Powers?
Mr. POWERS. First lieutenant.
Chairman RUSSELL. Senator Symington.
Senator SYMINGTON. Mr. Powers, what do you think hit you, or
nearly hit you?
Mr. POWERS. I really don't know. I just know that there was an
explosion, but how it got there-I feel sure that it was external to the
aircraft, but how it got there or what it was, I have no idea.
Senator SYMINGTON. Has anybody given you an opinion as to what
that orange glow was?
Mr. POWERS. Well, they stressed many, many times that they got
me on the very first shot of a rocket, but they stressed it so much that
I tend to disbelieve it.
Senator SYMINGTON. Is there any possibility that you were hit
twice, once at a higher altitude, say, a near miss, and again at a lower
altitude?
Mr. POWERS. No.
There was only one explosion that I know of, and they would have
had to have been excellent shots to hit that thing as it fell.
Senator SYMINGTON. In the Red Star it said that-
Major Varanoff ran out and saw in the rays of the day's sun fragments of the
foreign plane falling down and not far from it the pilot himself.
That could not be true if you were hit at anything like 67,000 or
68,000 feet; could it? You would be behind the pieces of the plane;
would you not?
Mr. PowERS. Well, while I was descending in the parachute, I saw
one piece of the plane fall. It was a flat piece. It may have been a
wing or it may have been something smaller. But it was falling like
a leaf falls, flipping and turning, and fairly slow, but it passed me.
I have no idea of how far away it was.
Senator SYMINGTON. Could it have been another plane that had
been hit?
Mr. POWERS. No, I assumed at the time that it was part of my
aircraft. If it was a wing, it was a long distance off. If it was a
smaller piece, it was closer. That is all I can say about it.
Senator SYMINGTON. You did your best to destroy the plane, but,
because of the g.'s on you at the time, you were just unable to reach
the controls; is that correct?
Mr. POWERS. Yes, that is right.
Senator SYMINGTON. Mr. Chairman, I would like to join you and
other members of the committee in commending Mr. Powers for the
way he handled himself in this unfortunate episode. I . have no
further questions.
Chairman RUSSELL. Senator Bush.
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GO FRANCIS GARY POWERS
Senator BUSH. Mr. Chairman, I have no questions, but I also
would like to say, having heard Mr. McCone's report today and
having listened to Mr. Powers' remarkable story, that I am satisfied
he has conducted himself in exemplary fashion and in accordance
with the highest traditions of service to one's country, and I con-
gratulate him upon his conduct in captivity and his safe return to
the United States.
Mr. POWERS. Thank you.
Chairman RUSSELL. I think I should say to the members of the
committee that Mr. Powers has not yet completed his entire state-
ment.
He stopped for a period of questions, as I understood, and then
you will tell us more about your trial before you conclude, will you
not, Mr. Powers?
Mr. PowERs. Yes, I will go right on until I got back, if you want
to listen to it.
Chairman RUSSELL. Senator Jackson.
Senator JACKSON. Did they indicate to you whether the plane,
your plane, came down near where you landed?
Mr. PowERS. No.
At one time during the investigation they showed me some kind
of a map that had indicated on it where different parts of the aircraft
fell, but I didn't recognize any of the landmarks that I could see on
this map.
Senator JACKSON. And while you were in this particular village and
later in Sverdlovsk, did they indicate at that time that they had
located the plane?
Mr. POWERS. Well, people kept brining in small pieces, pieces
that could be carried, but, as far as indicating to me that they had
located the main parts of it, no.
Senator JACKSON. Did they indicate later that Mr. Khrushchev
had personally ordered the shooting down of your aircraft by a rocket?
Mr. POWERS. I don't think so. I don't remember that his name
entered into it.
Senator JACKSON. I asked that because the story was carried, I
believe, in the American press, based on, of course, a story out of
Moscow from one of the official Soviet news agencies.
But they did not indicate that to you?
Mr. POWERS. No, sir.
Senator JACKSON. Do I understand after the trial you were removed
to Adema? That is out about 100 miles; is it not?
Mr. POWERS. I would say about 100 or 150 miles.
Senator JACKSON. East of Moscow?
Mr. POWERS. Yes.
Senator JACKSON. Did they attempt, while you were there, to in-
doctrinate you at all into communism?
Mr. POWERS. No.
Senator JACKSON. Did they attempt to indoctrinate you into the
Soviet system?
Mr. POWERS. No.
There were no lectures, no political sessions that I had to attend,
but the only news source I had was communistic. There was a loud-
speaker in the cell that was tuned to one of the Moscow radio stations.
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I didn't understand very much of what went on, on this. But there
was no direct attempt for someone to come in and talk to me about
any of this.
Senator JACKSON. Did they indicate that you might be let out
earlier than your sentence provided for?
Mr. POWERS. No.
Sometime-I think right after the trial-someone mentioned that
there might be such things as exchanges, and I said, "Is that right?"
And he said, "Yes, but we don't have any Soviet spies in the
United States."
But that is the only indication I had.
Senator JACKSON. When did you first get an idea that they had
changed their mind about that?
Mr. PowNns. The first I knew about it was about 7:30 at night on
the 7th of February.
Senator JACKSON. This year?
Mr. POWERS. This year, yes.
I didn't know what was going on, but I knew that something was
going on. Some men came in with an interpreter and asked me if I
would like to accompany them to Moscow tomorrow, and added,
"Without any guards," so I immediately assumed something was
going on. I didn't know what.
We got to Moscow, spent the night there, and they told me that
night that we would go to Berlin the next morning. I still didn't
know what was happening.
Senator JACKSON. At least you were moving west, though?
Mr. PowNns. Yes, and I was very glad to take this trip. Actually,
they never did tell me that Colonel Abel was involved in this. .
I am sure they knew that I would find out the minute I stepped
across the line, but, up until that time, it was just the goodness of
their hearts and not anything else.
Senator JACKSON. Just a voluntary act on their part?
Mr. POWERS. Yes.
Senator JACKSON. They did not indicate that anyone else was
being exchanged?
Mr. POWERS. No.
Senator JACKSON. Mr. Chairman, I want to conclude by saying
that I associate myself with the remarks previously made here. I
think it is quite clear from what we have heard this morning and now
that Mr. Powers has lived up to his contract.
Chairman RUSSELL. Senator Beall.
Senator BE ALL. Mr. Chairman, I have no questions. I do want to
associate myself with you and the balance of the committee in com-
mending Mr. Powers for the very intelligent way he has handled
himself.
I was at the hearings this morning, and I am convinced that he
has been very frank with us and I congratulate him.
Chairman RUSSELL. Senator Thurmond.
Senator TnURMOND. No questions, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman RUSSELL. Senator Goldwater.
Senator GOLDWATER. I have no questions.
Chairman RUSSELL. Mr. Powers, you might give us a brief resume
of your trial now. Senator Jackson has already covered the exchange,
but you might give us a brief resume of the trial.
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22 FRANCIS GARY POWERS
Mr. POWERS. I don't remember the exact date that they told me
when the trial would take place, but when they did tell me I was
very curious to know why the first day of the trial fell on my birthday,
and I asked them about this. They said that it was just a coincidence.
Somewhere around the 1st of August, I met the Soviet-appointed
defense counsel for the first time. I had three or four sessions with
him, not very long ones.
He made a lot of suggestions of things I should do. Actually it
didn't seem that he did too much work or didn't seem to be extremely
interested in the case, or this was my impression.
I guess most everyone here knows about the trial.
I think that has been fairly highly publicized. It was a very tense
time for me.
The only good part about the whole thing was the last day, when
I was allowed to see my relatives for the first time.
Chairman RUSSELL. Do you feel that you were treated harshly by
the Russians, Mr. Powers?
Mr. POWERS. No, I was treated much better than I expected to be
treated.
Chairman RUSSELL. How about the sentence that was imposed
on you at the conclusion, after you pled guilty?
Mr. POWERS. I expected much worse.
Chairman RUSSELL. You expected a more severe sentence than you
received?
Mr. PowERS. Up until the time of the prosecutor's speech where he
only asked for 15 years, I expected death, but after he had asked for
that I thought it would be 15 years or just a little under, maybe 12
to 15 years.
Chairman RUSSELL. I believe they don't have a jury in Russia.
Mr. POWERS. No. It was three judges and that is it.
Chairman RUSSELL. They have three judges who sat on the case?
Mr. POWERS. Yes.
Chairman RUSSELL. Did your lawyer make any argument to the
judges?
Mr. POWERS. I don't think he argued with anyone. He asked a
few questions, but I brought up family background.
Chairman RUSSELL. Did the prosecutor make any argument to
the judges?
Mr. PowERS. It seemed to be that his case was against the United
States and not against me. That is the impression I got there. He
had a long speech at the end, but I don't recall what all he said.
Chairman RUSSELL. He denounced the imperialists and things of
that kind more than he did you?
Mr. POWERS. Yes.
Chairman RUSSELL. You were rather fortunate in being put in the
place of an unwitting pawn of these imperialists rather than being
responsible for all of it yourself?
Mr. POWERS. Well, that might have helped; I don't know.
Chairman RUSSELL. After your conviction, was there any difference
in the treatment that you received prior to your trial?
Mr. PowERs. Not until I changed prisons, and then the food was
worse. The bed was much better, though.
Chairman RUSSELL. That was in Moscow?
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FRANCIS GARY POWERS 23
Mr. POWERS. In Moscow this bed wasn't fit to sleep on, It was
iron straps welded together with a very thin mattress on it, and it
was almost impossible to sleep on it.
Chairman RUSSELL. I hope I never visit Russia under the circum-
stances you did, Mr. Powers. At the time I was there I found Moscow
to be exactly different. I got a good bed and very poor food, and out
in the country the bed was terrible but the food was edible, so my
experience was exactly the reverse of yours. I don't think I would
try to visit your way, though.
Any further questions by any member of the committee?
If not, I will ask all the policemen to please see that Mr. Powers
and his CIA escort are able to get out before the rush.
Will all of you please keep your seats.
(Whereupon, at 3:30 p.m., the committee recessed, subject to the
call of the Chair.)
(The following is an unclassified summary of the results of the in-
terrogation by the Central Intelligence Agency of Francis Gary
Powers since his release by the Soviet Union:)
STATEMENT CONCERNING FRANCIS GARY POWERS
Since his return from imprisonment by Soviet Russia, Francis Gary Powers
has undergone a most intensive debriefing by CIA and other intelligence specialists,
aeronautical technicians, and other experts concerned with various aspects of his
mission and subsequent capture by the Soviets. This was followed by a complete
review by a board of inquiry presided over by Judge E. Barrett Prettyman to
determine if Powers complied with the terms of his employment and his obliga-
tions as an American. The board has submitted its report to the Director of
Central Intelligence.
Certain basic points should be kept in mind in connection with this case. The
pilots involved in the U-2 program were selected on the basis of aviation pro-
ficiency, physical stamina, emotional stability, and, of course, personal security.
They were not selected or trained as espionage agents, and the whole nature of the
mission was far removed from the traditional espionage scene. Their job was to
fly the plane, and it was so demanding an assignment that on completion of a
mission physical fatigue was a hazard on landing.
The pilots' contracts provided that they perform such services as might be
required and follow such instructions and briefings in connection therewith as were
given to them by their superiors. The guidance was as follows:
"(a) If evasion is not feasible and capture appears imminent, pilots should
surrender without resistance and adopt a cooperative attitude toward their
captors.
"(b) At all times while in the custody of their captors, pilots will conduct
themselves with dignity and maintain a respectful attitude toward their superiors.
" (c) Pilots will be instructed that they are perfectly free to tell the full truth
about their mission with the exception of certain specifications of the aircraft.
They will be advised to represent themselves as civilians, to admit previous Air
Force affiliation, to admit current CIA employment, and to make no attempt to
deny the nature of their mission."
They were instructed, therefore, to be cooperative with their captors within
limitations, to use their own judgment of what they should attempt to withhold,
and not to subject themselves to strenuous hostile interrogation. It has been
established that Mr. Powers had been briefed in accordance with this policy and
so understood his guidance. In regard to the poison needle which was prominently
mentioned at the trial in Moscow, it should be emphasized that this was intended
for use primarily if the pilot were subjected to torture or other circumstances
which in his discretion warranted the taking of his own life. There were no
instructions that he should commit suicide and no expectation that he would do
so except in those situations just described, and I emphasize that even taking the
needle with him in the plane was not mandatory; it was his option.
Mr. Powers' performance on prior missions has been reviewed, and it is clear
that he was one of the outstanding pilots in the whole U-2 program. He was
proficient both as a flyer and as a navigator and showed himself calm in emergency
situations. His security background has been exhaustively reviewed, and any
circumstances which might conceivably have led to pressure from or defection to
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24 FRANCIS GARY POWERS
the Russians have also been exhaustively reviewed, and no evidence has been
found to support any theory that failure of his flight might be laid to Soviet
espionage activities. The same is true of the possibilities of sabotage.
Accordingly, Mr. Powers was assigned to the mission that eventually occurred
on May 1, 1960, and accepted the assignment willingly. It was a particularly
grueling assignment across the heart of Soviet Russia and ending on the north-
west coast of Norway. It was necessary to maintain extreme altitude at heights
at which no other plane but the U-2 had steadily flown. So far as can be ascer-
tained Mr. Powers followed the scheduled flight plan, making a prescribed turn
to the northwest when nearing the city of Sverdlovsk where he was directly on
course. According to his statement, he had settled on his new course and had
Sverdlovsk in sight, perhaps 20 or 30 miles away, when he felt and heard some-
thing he describes as a push or feeling of acceleration on the plane accompanied
by a dull noise unlike the sharp sound of a high explosive. This caused him to
look up from his instruments, and he saw surrounding him, or perhaps reflected
in his canopy, he is not sure, an orange or reddish glare which seemed to persist.
He felt this phenomenon to be external to the plane but says he cannot be sure.
For a moment the plane continued to fly normally, then it dipped to the right
but he found he was able to control this dip and level the plane with his normal
controls. Shortly thereafter, however, the plane began to nose forward, and
Mr. Powers states that as he drew back on the stick lie felt no control as if the
control lines had been severed. The plane nosed sharply over and went into
violent maneuver, at which point he believes the wings came off. The hull of
the plane then turned completely over and he found himself in an inverted spin
with the nose high revolving around the center of the fuselage so that all he could
see through the canopy looking ahead was the sky revolving around the nose of
the plane. This motion exerted g. forces on him which threw him forward and
up in the cockpit. At this point he states he could have reached the destruct
switches which would have set off an explosive charge in the bottom of the plane.
However, he realized that this charge would go off in '70 seconds and he did not
yet know if he could leave the plane. He stated that he tried to draw himself
back into the seat to see if he could activate the ejection mechanism, but the g.
forces prevented him from recovering his position. Being forward and out of the
seat, even if he could have used the ejection mechanism, which was below and
behind him, it would have seriously injured him if activated. He recalled that
it was possible to open the canopy manually, and shortly thereafter he was able
to do so and the canopy disappeared. His last recollection of the altimeter was
that he was at about 34,000 feet and descending rapidly. To see if he could get
out of the cockpit, he released his seat belt and was immediately thrown forward
out over the cowling of the cockpit to a position where he was held only by his
oxygen tube. He tried to pull himself back in the cockpit to the destruct switches
which take four separate manipulations to set and found himself unable to do so
because of the g. forces, the inflation of his pressure suit, and the fogging up of
his face mask which totally obscured his view. By pushing he tore loose the
oxygen tube and fell free, whereupon his parachute opened almost immediately,
indicating that he was probably at 15,000 feet or below at this time since the
automatic mechanism was set for this height. In connection with Powers' efforts
to operate the destruct switches, it should be noted that the basic weight limita-
tions kept the explosive charge to 2% pounds and the purpose of the destruct
mechanism was to render inoperable the precision camera and other equipment,
not to destroy them and the film. After he landed he was taken by commercial
plane to Moscow the same day.
In the processing into the prison he was given a hypodermic injection which
may well have been a general immunization, and there is no evidence of the use
of truth serums or other drugs. From then until the time of the trial, about 100
days, he was kept in solitary confinement and subjected to constant interrogation,
sometimes as long as 10 or 12 hours a day, but on the average considerably less
than this. He had no access to anyone but his Russian guards and interrogators
despite repeated requests for contact with the U.S. Embassy or his family and
friends. He states that the interrogation was not intense in the sense of physical
violence or severe hostile methods, and that in some respects he was able to resist
answering specific questions. As an example, his interrogators were interested
in the names of people participating in the project, and he states that he tried to,
anticipate what names would become known and gave those, such as the names
of his commanding officer and certain other personnel at his home base in Adana,
Turkey, who would probably be known in any case to the Russians. However,
they asked him for names of other pilots and he states that he refused to give
these on the grounds that they were his friends and comrades and if he gave their
names they would lose their jobs and, therefore, he could not do so. He states
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they accepted this position. It is his stated belief, therefore, that the information
he gave was that which in all probability would be known in any case to his
captors.
At his trial he had only the advice of his Russian defense counsel to go by,
and he advised that unless Powers pleaded guilty to what the Russians considered
a clear violation of domestic law and expressed penitence, matters would go hard
for him, including a possible death sentence. These actions were consistent with
his instructions from CIA. After the trial and sentencing, Mr. Powers states
that there was only intermittent interrogation of little importance and that on
the whole he was well treated, adequately fed, and given medical attention when
required.
All the facts concerning Mr. Powers' mission, the descent of his plane, his
capture, and his subsequent actions have been subjected to intensive study. In
the first place,. Powers was interrogated for many days consecutively by a debrief-
ing team of experienced interrogators, one of whose duties was to evaluate Powers'
credibility. They expressed the unanimous view that Powers was truthful in his
account. Secondly, an intensive inquiry was made by Government officials into
the background, life history, education, conduct, and character of Powers. This
team included doctors, specialists in psychiatry and psychology, personnel officers,
his former colleagues in the Air Force and on the U-2 project. All these persons
were of the view that Powers is inherently and by practice a truthful man.
Thirdly, Powers appeared before a board of inquiry and testified at length, both
directly and under cross-examination. The board agreed that in his appearance
he appeared to be truthful, frank, straightforward, and without any indicated
attempt to evade questions or color what he was saying. In the board's judgment
he reflected an attitude of complete candor. In the fourth place, when during
his examination before the board a question was raised as to the accuracy of one
of his statements, he volunteered with some vehemence that, although he disliked
the process of the polygraph, he would like to undergo a polygraph test. That
test was subsequently duly administered by an expert and in it he was examined
on all of the factual phases which the board considered critical in this inquiry.
The report by the polygraph operator is that he displayed no indications of devia-
tion from the truth in the course of that examination. In the fifth place, a study
of the photograph of the debris of the plane and other information concerning
the plane revealed in the opinion of experts making the study no condition which
suggested an inconsistency with Powers' account of what had transpired. The
board noted the testimony of Russian witnesses at the trial in Moscow which
dealt with the descent and capture of Powers and with technical features of the
plane and the incident.
The testimony was consistent with the account given by Powers. Powers was
able to identify a spot near a small village where he thought he had landed.
This location checked with prior testimony given by Powers as to physical
features, directions, and distances and also corresponded with earlier independent
information not known to Powers that certain of the persons who captured him
lived in this same small village. Some information from confidential sources was
available. Some of it corroborated Powers and some of it was inconsistent in
parts with Powers' story, but that which was inconsistent was in part contra-
dictory with itself and subject to various interpretations. Some of this infor-
mation was the basis for considerable speculation shortly after the May 1 episode
and subsequent stories in the press that Powers' plane had descended gradually
from its extreme altitude and had been shot down by a Russian fighter at medium
altitude. On careful analysis, it appears that the information on which these
stories were based was erroneous or was susceptible of varying interpretations.
The board came to the conclusion that it could not accept a doubtful interpreta-
tion in this regard which was inconsistent with all the other known facts and
consequently rejected these newspaper stories as not founded in fact.
On all the information available, therefore, it is the conclusion of the board
of inquiry which reviewed Mr. Powers' case and of the Director of Central
Intelligence, who has carefully studied the board's report and has discussed it
with the board, that Mr. Powers lived up to the terms of his employment and
instructions in connection with his mission and in his obligations as an American
under the circumstances in which he found himself. It should be noted that
competent aerodynamicists and aeronautical engineers have carefully studied
Powers' description of his experience and have concluded on the basis of scientific
analysis that a U-2 plane damaged as he described would perform in its descent
in about the manner he stated. Accordingly, the amount due Mr. Powers under
the terms of his contract will be paid to him.
0
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