Produced 1976 by Charles Fries Productions for television, color, mono sound
Directed by Delbert Mann Ê
Written by Robert E. Thompson and Curt Gentry, based on the book Operation Overflight by Curt Gentry and Francis Gary Powers
Produced by John B. Bennett Ê
Original music by Gerald Fried Ê
Cinematography by Vilis Lapenieks Ê
Film Editing by Sam E. Waxman
Technical Advisor Francis Gary Powers
Cast:
Lee Majors as Francis Gary Powers
Katharine Bard as wife Ida Powers
Noah Beery Jr. as father Oliver Powers
Brooke Bundy as mother Mrs. Powers
Lew Ayres as Allen Dulles
William Daniels as Richard Bissell
Thayer David as Nikita Khrushchev
James Flavin as President Dwight D. Eisenhower
James Gregory as James Donovan
Marcel Hillaire as Charles DeGaulle
Alf Kjellin as Ivan Vasilev
Biff McGuire as John McCone
Jim McMullan as Robert F. Kennedy
David Opatoshu as Grinev
Nehemiah Persoff as Rudenko
Charles Knox Robinson as Wheatley
Notes:
The U-2 airplane was developed by Clarence "Kelly" Johnson at the Lockheed "Skunk Works" in Burbank starting Dec. 1, 1954. Project Staff was budgeted at $35 million to develop 30 planes and sophisticated cameras developed by Edwin Land. Johnson's old boss Jimmy Doolittle at the Shell Oil Co. provided a special fuel that would not boil off at high altitudes, called "Kelly's Lighter Fluid No. 1." Johnson built the first U-2 plane in 88 days and the first U-2 test flight took place Aug. 6, 1955. In May 1956 the U-2 air wing of 4 planes and 6 civilian pilots was established by the CIA with Turkey providing an air base at Adana. The first U-2 flight over Russia from Adana to Bodo, Norway, a distance of 3788 miles at 80,000 feet, took place in June 1956 and was detected by Russian radar. The Russian spy Selmer Nielsen at the Bodo air base gave the Russians the time and routes of the U-2 flights. In the "Spirit of Camp David" Eisenhower had halted the U-2 flights in September 1959 but they were resumed April 9, 1960, to prepare for the Paris Summit Conference planned for May 1960. The U-2 flight of Gary Powers was shot down May 1 by a SAM-2 missle. Eisenhower leaned that Powers was alive May 7, and Khrushchev displayed the recovered parts of his U-2 plane Moscow on May 11. Eisenhower departed for Paris May 14 for the summit conference. On May 15 Khrushchev made a threat against U-2 bases and the U.S. went on DefCon 3 alert. On May 16, Khrushchev canceled Ike's Moscow visit and walked out of the Paris summit. On Aug. 19, Powers made his confession during his trial that he was "deeply repentant and profoundly sorry" for his actions. He was jailed in Russia until exchanged for Rudolf Abel in Feb. 1962. The U-2 production at Skunk Works was shut down in 1969 but was revived in 1978 to produce the updated TR-1 model.
Beschloss, Michael. MAYDAY: Eisenhower, Khrushchev, and the U-2 affair. New York: Harper, 1986. 494 p.
Cook, Fred J. ÊÊThe U-2 Incident, May, 1960: An American Spy Plane Downed over Russia Intensifies the Cold War. New York, F. Watts, 1973. 64 p.
Powers, Francis Gary, with Curt Gentry. Operation Overflight: The U-2 Spy Pilot Tells His Story for the First Time. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970. 375 p.
Wise, David and Thomas B. Ross. The U-2 Affair. New York: Random House, 1962. 269 p.
Cold War Museum from Francis Gary Powers, Jr., and John C. Welch
