Operation Overflight; The U-2 spy pilot tells his story for the first time

New York: Tower Publications, Inc, 1970. Presumed First Paperback Edition, First printing. Mass market paperback. Good. 379 [5] pages. Cover has wear and soiling. Stamp on first page. Francis Gary Powers (August 17, 1929 - August 1, 1977)-often referred to as simply Gary Powers-was an American pilot whose Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) U-2 spy plane was shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission in Soviet Union airspace, causing the 1960 U-2 incident. He later worked as a helicopter pilot for KNBC and died in a 1977 helicopter crash. Powers was discharged from the Air Force in 1956 with the rank of captain. He then joined the CIA's U-2 program at the civilian grade of GS-12. U-2 pilots flew espionage missions at altitudes of 70,000 feet, supposedly above the reach of Soviet air defenses. The U-2 was equipped with a state-of-the-art camera designed to take high-resolution photos from the stratosphere over hostile countries, including the Soviet Union. U-2 missions systematically photographed military installations and other important sites. Derived from a Kirkus review: On May 1, 1960, Francis Gary Powers was shot down over Russia in a U-2 surveillance-equipped aircraft, captured and served up by Khrushchev in some elaborate summitry complete with trial, sentencing and imprisonment. Powers still smarts from what he considers to be a scapegoat's burden. What apparently rankled others was that Powers turned up alive and did not "self-destruct" and that he confessed his sins at the trial. "Confession" was the primary defense in the Soviet court system, and Powers faced possible execution. Powers recalls the events from his capture through his release and interrogation at home, where he was a political untouchable, with considerable bitterness. He has a good deal to say about messes in high Washington places. These revelations, skillfully transmuted by Mr. Gentry, are a moving study, with some pathos, of an earnest, unsophisticated, honest and wounded man who had been expected to perform as something more than human.