Adrian Michael

America's spy plane

An American U-2 espionage plane was struck by a Soviet S-75 Dvina surface-to-air missile on May 1st, 1960, somewhere above the Sverdlovsk region. The US administration invented a cover narrative, stating the plane was a NASA research craft that went down after encountering difficulties, not wanting to lose face in front of the press or the Soviets. The pilot was said to have radioed in a problem with his oxygen supply just before communication with the jet was lost in an effort to make the deception seem as convincing as possible. They even went so far as to ground the whole fleet of U-2s used by the US air force, reportedly to check for problems with the oxygen delivery systems.