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U-2
After Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union during a CIA spy flight on 1 May 1960, NASA issued a press release with a cover story about a U-2 conducting weather research that may have strayed off course after the pilot "reported difficulties with his oxygen equipment."

To bolster the cover-up, a U-2 was quickly painted in NASA markings, with a fictitious NASA serial number, and put on display for the news media at the NASA Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base on 6 May 1960. The next day, Soviet Premier Nikita Kruschev exposed the cover-up by revealing that the pilot had been captured, and espionage equipment had been recovered from the wreckage.

DFRC Photo # Photo Date Image Description
  Skip links in main table U-2 Photo Collection Contact Sheet
E-5442 6 May 1960 U-2 with fictitious NASA markings to support CIA cover story for pilot Gary Powers, shot down over Soviet Union

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