Operation Overflight: A Memoir of the U-2 Incident

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars | 257 ratings

Price: 19.69

Last update: 12-30-2024


About this item

U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is a central character in the movie Bridge of Spies starring Tom Hanks. In his classic 1970 memoir, Powers reveals the full story behind what happened in the most sensational espionage case in Cold War history. After his U-2 reconnaissance plane was shot down, Powers was captured on May 1, 1960 and endured 61 days of rigorous interrogation by the KGB, a public trial, a conviction for espionage, and the start of a 10-year sentence. After nearly two years, the US 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.


Top reviews from the United States

  • Mike Dismuke
    5.0 out of 5 stars I think it's time to come to grips with this "incident"...
    Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2024
    ...I think Francis Gary Powers was given a very short shrift by his country, and it's time to set the record straight. In light of everything that has happened since, I think most people have now come to the conclusion that their government will lie and deceive them, when it suits their purpose, so continuing this fiction about Powers must be stopped. The fact that this man faithfully fulfilled and carried out his duty, even when captured, interrogated, and imprisoned, must be proclaimed. He was made a scapegoat to cover those responsible for the piss-poor contingency planning and complete lack of SERE-type training for the "drivers" involved. Not to mention the misrepresentations given to Eisenhower and his advisors concerning the risks, including the false narrative that any plane going down would be completely destroyed, and the pilot most certainly would be killed, either in the course of the crash, or, by his own hand. These assertions are ludicrous, yet were proffered to "Ike" to assure his approval.
    This man was a genuine hero, by any standard, yet those in power chose to let him dangle, the rest of his short life, with his honor in question, rather than face the music themselves.
    I think the time has come, to clear this man's name, and put the blame, if any, squarely where it belongs. Francis Gary Powers was a true patriot, who did his duty, comported himself properly under enemy capture and imprisonment, and was used as a scapegoat by those in power in his own country. It is they who have disgraced themselves, not this man. It is only a shame that this man has not lived long enough to see enough info be de-classified so the whole rotten truth can be exposed.
    And we wonder why millennials do not want to serve their country. Here's one good reason. When I was with Lockheed, I belonged to the IAM, the aerospace union. We were frequently told "do not love the company; it will never love you back". To paraphrase, you might say "do not love your government; it will never love you back". Certainly in this man's case.
    RIP, Francis Gary Powers. You were a stud, and true patriot, regardless of what these people have said.
    This man's book is worth a read. His story needs to finally get out, and be acknowledged as the truth.
  • Cogent Shopper
    5.0 out of 5 stars An insightful autobiography
    Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2012
    that brought me a broadened look into a conflicted part of my own life. My husband was stationed at Incirlik Air Force Base in Adana, Turkey, when Francis Gary Powers was shot down. Frank was a friend/acquaintance, which is possibly the most accurate way you can describe any friend, but especially so in those times, and those circumstances. It's disconcerting when you have a cup of coffee at the Officer's Club with a friend who is a pilot, he says he has to "work tomorrow, but I'll see you in a couple of days," then the next thing you hear is his plane has been shot down over the Soviet Union, and he's now drinking all of his coffee in Labianka Prison in Moscow! Frightening times. Very frightening.

    I could not bring myself to read this book before now (2012). But having now read it, some questions are put to rest, and... are you ready for this? I miss the Cold War. There was a certain "balance of power" in those years when you could hope that "the other guy" (the Soviets) was smart enough not to push the button and send the world into nuclear conflagration, even when a spy plane was shot down in Soviet air space. In the world of 2012, I feel as if I'm living in ubiquitous quick sand: global warming, shaky financial situations at a global level, political bickering here in the U.S., and governments that aren't very good to start with (to the Western way of thinking) being toppled and too often, even worse powers taking over. Yes. The Cold War and James Bond novels are now important garments in my nostalgia closet.

    What seems incongruous is the way that such a vital and intelligent guy as Francis Gary Powers found his end at a young age by "falling from the sky" much like Icarus of Greek legend. Not from the incredible altitude of a U-2 spy plane at age 31, but in a low flying helicopter at age 47, when he was flying for KNBC in Los Angeles. His U-2 was shot down on May 1st, 1960 (May Day, as in "mayday" the traditional "big trouble" call of military pilots). Seventeen years and four months later, to the day, on August 1st, 1977 (just 16 days short of his 48th birthday) Francis Gary Powers experienced his final "mayday" when he gave up a survivable emergency landing and crashed in order to avoid the possibility of killing children dashing into his intended emegency landing spot.

    This book will rarely have the meaning for others that it has had for me, but it is an important book. If you are at all interested in "history" this is the real thing. Most of us read "history" from the invalid perspective of "historians" who write "history books." Here is a "You Are There" version of a critical event in the history of The Cold War and of the United States of America. Indeed, in the history of our "modern" world. It is well written and honest.
  • Colonel 1
    4.0 out of 5 stars The crash of the U2 and the capture of it's ...
    Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2017
    The crash of the U2 and the capture of it's pilot Gary Powers was a major event of the Cold War. It gave the Soviet Union a major propaganda victory of the US. I found the book reliable up to the take off of the U2 on it's fateful mission. The key question has always been was the U2 shot down at operational altitude or had flame out occurred that forced it to a lower altitude that brought within the range of the Russian missile. CIA elements claimed a flame out...thus overflights might safely continue. On this issue Powers pretends not to know. So be it! The contract period with the CIA for U2 pilots was eighteen months. Powers was the only pilot in the first group to renew. As the relatively short distance overflights continued to be successful the program grew arrogant and sloppy! The shoot down flight was the longest U2 flight ever tried, it would cross most of the USSR.
    Powers was going to meet his wife in Norway at the conclusion of the flight. He packed his passport, drivers license, civilian clothes etc. The reader just shakes their head in disbelief at the sheer stupidity! In view of pending meeting between Ike and Khrushchev why did Ike permit the flight to take place? He was assured by the CIA that nothing could go wrong. Why would Ike,the five star general, ever believe this....military operations always
    go wrong!
  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great Cold War History
    Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2024
    This book is a great read written by the pilot who flew the May 1, 1960 U-2 mission and was shot down over the Soviet Union. This autobiography is a firsthand account of what the pilot went though. Everything he writes about turns out to be true now that declassified files have been release that back up his account of the U-2 Incident.

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