Friday, February 25, 2011

Changing History Willy-Nilly

Fast and Loose

U-2 Shoot Down, ver2.15

Some years ago I read an article claiming  that the U-2 was not shot down from an altitude of 70,000 feet - by a Russian SAM.  This of course was at odds with the story that Soviets used SAM technology we didn't know they possessed.  This article claimed that, most probably, his engines shut down, and he was brought down only after descending to denser air at a lower altitude. I read it and moved on.

A few days ago the Hitler Channels ran a documentary about the Cold War.  One that, out of the blue, included that very Gary Powers-U2 scenario. The Soviets had Powers tracked from the moment he entered their air space, but had no way of shooting him down from 70,000 feet.  Powers suffered a flame-out.  He descended to 60,000 feet, then 50,000, until finally getting a restart at 30,000 feet.  Bam. He was nailed by a Russian SAM.

So much for the stories that turncoats, like Lee Harvey Oswald, or John Walker, had given the Soviets information that allowed the shoot-down.  What's nagging me is how this new "history" is being released.  Willy-nilly.  No explanation for why they, the government, allowed the public to believe that the Russkies had more advanced technology than they actually did (wink-wink). Nope, just drop that turd on the bridle path, and canter off. Very untidy, that.

11 comments:

toadold said...

The thing is Powers wrote a book about what happened. The press pretty much ignored the revalations in it and as a historical event by the 1990's there was a generation of people who didn't know his name or of the incident. The myth that others had generated that he was taken down by a missle from his cruising altitude had both ideological and financial aspects to it. Supposed Soviet missle capability was used to take down the XB70 programs and etc. yada, yada. Farking home grown commies. Of course certain amateur aspects displayed by the CIA wonks who were running the program also came out in the book.

Anonymous said...

An irony is that Powers in later years was a helicopter newsie for an LA radio station. One day his engine failed, he crashed and was killed. Regardless of the manner in which his U-2 was downed, he survived and later died while broadcasting traffic information.

Brigadier Major Mike

OldTexan said...

I had a college professor who was a WWII vet who went nuts in class talking about how Powers let his country down by not destroying his plane and himself. The prof thought it was a given that folks doing that sort of work were not supposed to embarrass their country by getting caught.

I tended to agree with him.

Rodger the Real King of France said...

Me too. Still do. Obama, the ball is in your court.

DougM said...

Engine, singular.

Around that time ('60), the US was developing satellite recce systems that would be able to see a whole sh*tpot more than U2s could, and without the repercussions of manned overflight. If your story is true, perhaps there was a budgetary consideration (See? We gotta have the funding nowwww!)
See also: SR-71

Rodger the Real King of France said...

wink-wink Doug. Wink-wink

Anonymous said...

BTW, there's alot of cool stuff over at the Cold War Museum, coldwar.org thanks to Gary Powers Jr.

olds-mo-william

Anonymous said...

I was living in L.A. when Frank Powers (as he was then known) was flying the news helicopter. He and his camera operator were following a large brush fire out on the west side and simply lost track of how much fuel was in the chopper. L.A. being L.A., there weren't many places to set down when the engine was on fumes.

As to the U-2 incident, I stand neutral. Based on his later life, he was a good man and a tragic loss.

Hairy Nosed Wombat

Kristophr said...

The Soviet fighter that could supposedly shoot down an SR-71 or a U-2 could only make the altitude required by destroying its own engine, operating it past its design limits.

Usually killing the pilot by requiring an ejection in near vacuum afterward.

Hell_Is_Like_Newark said...

Didn't a SAM also take out a U2 over Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Anonymous said...

I think it was an RF-101 making one of those suicide low-level recon runs that got the really good low-level pictures of the missile sites.
-Braz

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