Spy Pilot / U-2 Presentation, March 16, 2024

Thank you for coming out to see our recent presentation.

The son of famed U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers presents the facts and dispels misinformation about the Cold War espionage program that turned his father into a Cold War icon, having been shot down in a U-2 spy plane over the Soviet Union in May 1960. On his return to the United States, Powers was exonerated of any wrongdoing while imprisoned in Russia, yet a cloud of controversy lingered until his untimely death in 1977. On Saturday March 16th the Commemorative Air Force Southern California Wing at the Camarillo Airport is hosting the son, Francis Gary Powers Jr., who has written a new account of Powers’ life, delving into old audio tapes, letters his father wrote and received while imprisoned in the Soviet Union, the transcript of his father’s debriefing by the CIA, other recently declassified documents about the U-2 program, and interviews with the spy pilot’s contemporaries. Come hear about this and the son’s journey to understand his father, pursuing justice and a measure of peace. Almost sixty years after the fact, this is a fascinating piece of Cold War history.

We are working on the video replay, but for now please check out his website at: http://garypowers.com/