Turkey/US: NASA covers U-2 shootdown as crash
NASA claimed a weather plane vanished north of Turkey, suggesting pilot unconsciousness and crash. They displayed a painted U-2 to media while Soviets announced shootdown.
Background
Background
On May 5, 1960, NASA issued a statement that a research aircraft gathering weather data had gone missing north of Turkey. Officially, the pilot might have lost consciousness, after which the aircraft would have crashed on its own.
Cover-Up Measures
On the assumption that pilot and aircraft had been destroyed, a U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was quickly painted in NASA markings. This photograph was presented to the public at the NASA Flight Research Center (today Armstrong Flight Research Center) at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The aim was to present the spy flight as a harmless accident.
Soviet Reaction
Premier Nikita Khrushchev revealed the shootdown on May 5 before the Soviet parliament, but at first concealed the survival of the pilot, Francis Gary Powers. The incident, which took place on May 1 near Sverdlovsk, escalated the Cold War and led to the collapse of the Paris summit.
Significance
The case points to CIA espionage operations with the U-2 over the Soviet Union. The NASA cover served as disinformation, but Khrushchev's revelation exposed it. Powers's capture and later testimony confirmed the reconnaissance flight from Pakistan. No UAP observations are documented; this was a purely conventional military incident.