Francis Gary Powers

On May 1, 1960, Francis Gary Powers, the pilot of an American U-2 spyplane, was shot down while flying though Soviet airspace. Powers was convicted of espionage. In February 1962, however, he was traded for a captured Soviet spy, Rudolf Abel. This is a graphic Interpretation of those events.

The true story that inspired the feature film Bridge of Spies In this new edition of his classic 1970 memoir about the notorious U-2 incident, pilot Francis Gary Powers reveals the full story of what actually happened in the most sensational espionage case in Cold War history. After surviving the shoot-down of his reconnaissance plane and his capture on May 1, 1960, Powers endured sixty-one days of rigorous interrogation by the KGB, a public trial, a conviction for espionage, and the start of a ten-year sentence. After nearly two years, the U.S. government obtained his release from prison in a dramatic exchange for convicted Soviet spy Rudolph Abel. The narrative is a tremendously exciting suspense story about a man who was labeled a traitor by many of his countrymen but who emerged a Cold War hero.