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U-2 Incident
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Francis Gary Powers U-2 Incident
Learn about the U-2 incident and the collapse of the 1960 Paris summit
Nikita Khrushchev smiling and wearing a suit with medals on the lapel, shown from the chest up in a black and white photograph. U-2 Francis Gary Powers
At a Glance
Wreckage of the U-2 spy plane shot down inside the Soviet Union in 1960. U-2 spy plane incident, U-2 affair, Cold War.
Comprehension Quiz: Cold War
Quizzes
Thermonuclear hydrogen bomb, code-named MIKE, detonated in the Marshall Islands in the fall of 1952. Photo taken at a height of 12,000 feet, 50 miles from the detonation site. (Photo 3 of a series of 8) Atomic bomb explosion nuclear energy hydrogen energy
Facts You Should Know: The Cold War Quiz
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U-2 Incident: References & Edit History

Article Contributors

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Article History

Type Description Contributor Date
Invalidated site: Air & Space Forces Magazine - U-2 Down. Nov 03, 2026
Add new Web site: Alpha History - Gary Powers and the U-2 incident. Aug 04, 2026
Anniversary information added. May 10, 2026
Add new Web site: The National Security Archive - The U-2, OXCART, and the SR-71. Apr 25, 2026
Add new Web site: BBC - 'The aircraft spiralled downwards, tail first': The CIA spy shot down over Russia in 1960. Sep 20, 2025
Add new Web site: Central Intelligence Agency - The U-2 Program: A Russian Officer Remembers (PDF). May 03, 2025
Questions and answers revised. Feb 21, 2025
Questions and answers added. Feb 20, 2025
Add new Web site: National Park Service - Eisenhower and the U-2 Spy Plane Incident. Dec 31, 2024
Add new Web site: Wilson Center - Mayday 1960: Reassessing the U-2 Shoot Down. Nov 07, 2024
Add new Web site: Air and Space Forces Magazine - U-2 Down. Jul 19, 2024
Add new Web site: University of Michigan Press - The U-2 Crisis. Jun 05, 2024
Add new Web site: Association for Diplomatic Studies & Training - The U-2 Spy Plane Incident. Apr 19, 2024
Add new Web site: Imperial War Museums - U-2 and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Feb 09, 2024
Add new Web site: CIA - The U-2 Program: A Russian Officer Remember. Oct 27, 2023
Add new Web site: U.S. Department of State - Office of the Historian - U-2 Overflights and the Capture of Francis Gary Powers, 1960. Sep 14, 2023
Add new Web site: Warfare History Network - The U-2 Spy Plane’s Cold War Missions. Apr 17, 2023
Add new Web site: American Heritage - The Day We Shot Down The U-2. Feb 10, 2023
Add new Web site: Yale Law School - Avalon Project - The U-2 Incident 1960. Dec 16, 2022
Add new Web site: Air & Space Forces Magazine - U-2 Down. Oct 10, 2022
Corrected display issue. Sep 10, 2020
Media added. May 21, 2020
Add new Web site: The South African Military History Society - The U-2 Incident. Feb 07, 2018
Media added. May 02, 2017
Changed article title from "U-2 Affair" to "U-2 Incident". Jun 22, 2016
Add new Web site: Fact Monster - History - U-2 Incident. May 09, 2011
Add new Web site: United States History - U-2 Incident. May 09, 2011
Add new Web site: The Cold War Museum - MAYDAY The 1960 U-2 Incident. May 09, 2011
Article added to new online database. Jul 20, 1998
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