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U-2 Spy Plane With Fictitious NASA Markings

After Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union during a CIA spy flight on May 1. 1960, NASA issued a press release with a cover story about a U-2 conducting weather research that may have strayed off course after the pilot reported difficulties with his oxygen equipment. To bolster the cover-up, a U-2 was quickly painted in NASA markings, with a fictitious NASA serial number, and put on display for the news media at the NASA Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base on May 6, 1960. In 1956, when the U-2 was revealed, the project was described as an NACA plane that would be used to conduct high-altitude weather research. But various observers doubted this story from the beginning. In May 1960, the NASA cover story quickly blew up in the agency's face when both Gary Powers and aircraft wreckage were displayed by the Soviet Union, proving that it was a reconnaissance aircraft. This caused embarrassment for several top US Government and NASA officials.

 

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Credit: NASA

Image Number: E-5442

Date: May 6, 1960

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Uploaded on May 6, 2025
Taken on May 6, 1960