RARE "U-2 incident" Francis Gary Powers Life Raft Remnant JG Autographs COA For Sale

Francis Gary Powers(August 17, 1929 – August 1, 1977) was an American pilot whoseCentral Intelligence Agency(CIA)U-2 spy planewas shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission in Soviet Union airspace, causing the1960 U-2 incident. He later worked as a helicopter pilot forKNBCand died in a1977 helicopter crash. Graduating with abachelor's degreefromMilligan CollegeinTennesseein June 1950, he enlisted in theUnited States Air Forcein October. He was commissioned as aSecond Lieutenantin December 1952 after completing his advanced training with USAF Pilot Training Class 52-H[4]atWilliams Air Force Base,Arizona. Powers was then assigned to the468th Strategic Fighter SquadronatTurner Air Force Base,Georgia, as anF-84 Thunderjetpilot. He married Barbara Gay Moore in Newnan, Georgia, on April 2, 1955.In January 1956 he was recruited by the CIA. In May 1956 he began U-2 training atWatertown Strip, Nevada. His training was complete by August 1956 and his unit, the Second Weather Observational Squadron (Provisional) or Detachment 10-10, was deployed toIncirlik Air Base,Turkey. By 1960, Powers was already a veteran of many covert aerial reconnaissance missions.Powers was discharged from the Air Force in 1956 with the rank ofcaptain. He then joined the CIA'sU-2program at thecivilian gradeof GS-12. U-2 pilots flewespionagemissions at altitudes of 70,000 feet (21km), 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 thestratosphereover hostile countries, including theSoviet Union. U-2 missions systematically photographed military installations and other important sites.