U-2 INQUIRY FINDS POWERS DID BEST TO OBEY ORDERS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP64B00346R000200080018-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 23, 2002
• Sequence Number: 18
• Publication Date: February 28, 1962
• Content Type: NSPR

Wednesday - 28 February 1962
POWERS DID BEST
TO OBEY ORDERS
Officials Fail to Learn How
Plane Wa$ Felled-Doubt
Direct Hit by Rocket
By E. W. KENWORTHY
Special to the New York Times.
WASHINTON 'eb. 27--A
special board of inquiry has
concluded that p'rancis Gary
Powers, the U-2 pilot whose
plane was downed over the So-
viet Union May 1, 1960, did his
best to carry out his instruc-
tions and fulfill his contract
with the Central Intelligence
Agency.
The inquiry, together with
questioning by intelligence of-
ficials, has failed to determine
conclusively how the high-alti-
tude reconnaissance plane was
brought down over the Soviet
Union two years ago.
Officials are now' convinced,
however, that the plane was
not brought "down by a direct hit
by a Soviet rocket.
Baeked on Two Points
According to informed sotfrces,
the board o inquiry has satis-
fied itself t at Mr, owers has
told the truth on two key points.
Toe first of these is that he
U-2 which? was on a scr r-
connaissane" fligh far ino So-
vi rriory, was brown ou
of control by an explosion at
the e h . - - ~e Plane,
4` aoii ""is ' r ~u - t
ers' contention that he was ui-
aple t9 carry out his,instruc-
tionsw`to destroy"the plane be-
cause the force of the explosion)
and the subsequent centrifugal'
action` of the sinning plane
hurled him into positions where
he could not reach the "de-
pta ct" button.
The board is headed by Judge
Z. Bar ett Prettyman, who re-
~d .# 19 Q as rCh fudge
the Unite Mates Court o
Appeals for the District of Co-
lutnbia, but who continues to
the court:
It was created by President
Kennedy at thhe request of the
Cehtral Intelligence Agency to
examine whether Mr. Powers
had completed his contract and
thus was entitled to back pay.
Sa "ary Was Reid Back
As a` result ofJ the board's
finding tr dowers will pre=l
sumabl y `receive his back pay.
a'lis salary was $2,100 a month,
of whit Fi,,b was held to be
paid on successful completion
of his contract. The accumula-
Ction of-'the pay held in escrow
plus the $2, ff `monthly since
than $60,000.
The 'board's re ort was to
be delivered to John A. Me-
Cone, director of the Central
Intelligence Agency. Judge
Prettyman has retired as chief
Judge of the United States
Court of Appeals for the Dis-
trict of Columbia, but he con-
tinues to serve on the..coUrt.
On Capitol Hill today, a spe-
cial Senate subcommittee made
up of selected members of the
Armed hervices and Appropri
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NEW YORK TIMES
Wednesday - 28 February 1962
Francis Gary Powers
Continued :From Page 1, Col. 4
get both the board's report and
a report based on C. ,1. A. inter-
rogation of Mr. Powers from
Mr. McCone on Thurpday. How-
ever, White House sources said
Mr. McCone's appearance might
be postponed until early next
The subcommittee chairman
Is Senator Richard B. Russell,
Democrat of Georgia, who also
heads the Armed Services Com-
mittee. Senator Russell said
that the subcommittee would
study the reports of both the
C. I. A. and the board of in-
quiry before deciding whether
to conduct an independent in-
quiry.
President Kennedy has said
that Mr. Powers would be made
available both to Congression-
al committees and tale press.
Mr. Powers was captured
when his specially-built Lock-
heed jet aircraft was destroyed
near Sverdlovsk, 1,240 miles in-
,cide the Soviet Union, while on
khchev, in a three ssd;o*eiiaif,
tour speech to the Supreme
oviet, assailed the United
States for having violated So-
viet airspace. He said that the
Il-2 plane had been shot down.
-The next day Marshal Andrei
A. Grechko, commander of So-
viet ground forces, said that the
"'plane had been brought down
by a single rocket fired upon
Mr. Khrushchev's order.
After several weeks of in-
terrogation by Soviet officials,
he was tried in Moscow, con-
a,:t.ed of espionage and sen-
tE-need to ten years of deten-
tion.
lie was released on the bor-
der between West Berlin and
East Berlin Feb. 10 in an ex-
change for Col. Rudolf I. Abel,
a Soviet agent who was con-
victed of espionage in 1957 by
the United States and was sen-
tc.nced to thirty years' impris-
onment.
The story that Mr. Powers
tnld the Central Intelligence
Agency and the board of in-
e'ory, officials said, was es-
s.antially he same as he related
in is testimony at his trial in
Mr scow on Aug. 7, 18 nd 9,
I.960. It, was said, however, that
he has cleared up some point
that had aised some doubt here.
Soviet Version Doubted
The first of ese points was
whether the U-2 lane ad ac-
tually been hit at 68,000 feet
by an anti-aircraft rocket, s
The elief here had been that
the u-2 had probably "flamed
out"' r ost its power at that
altitude r omewhat higher,
that mr. Powers had come down
to heavier air o 'get his jet
engines started, and that he ad
been it-either y ocket or
a missile from n interceptor
aircraft.
In his trial testimony, Mr.
Powers had said he explosion
took place at about 67,000 feet
just fter he had finished mak-
ing turn. He ontinued:
"I was flying one minute
straight after the turn when i
saw, that is elt, ort of hol-
low-sounding xplosion. it
seemed to be behind me. I could
see an orange flash or an
orange-colored light behind me."
During his interrogation by
the C. I. A. and the board, Mr.
Cl'hoewst erad irepoarl tedde have given
tion 1s:
He was flying, he said, at the
altitude called for by his in-
structions, apparently at about
68,000 feet. He was on course
and was making notes, as he
was required to do.
Suddenly, he felt a jolt. Mr.
Powers compared it to the shock
a motorist would feel if his car
was suddenly hit from behind.
There was no way for him to
tell what has caused the jolt. He
did, however, then see an orange-
colored flash to the rear.
Government technicians have
taken this testimony and put it
together with one other bit of
evidence. The latter bit is that
the wreckage of the U-2 put on
display in Moscow did not show
any signs that it had been hit by
shrapnel or rocket fragments.
From this they have reasoned
that the plane was not actually
hit by a rocket.
It was also uncertain just
why Mr. Power's failed to press
the buttons that would have
blown up his plane. In his Mos-
cow testimony he said only that
he was "unable to use the ejec-
tor seat because of forces origi-
nating in the falling plane." at
30,000 feet, he said, "I realized
I could not use the ejection
seat" and "so I opened the cano-
py and loosened the straps."
The centrifugal force pressed
half of me against the instru-
ment panel," he said, "while
the other half, hung outside. I
had forgotten to disconnect the
oxygen hoses and they held me
in. I had to struggle to get
out. The parachute opened au-
tomatically immediately after
I left theairplane. By
that time, I was at an alti-
tude of 14,000 feet."
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tNjI;;I'
Wednesday - 28 February 1962
03 bcr;'.r 1 c'*ioilocr 11
lianiEC V144''.13,11 /
A` Judicial o yls
Elijah Barrett Prettyman
Special to 't he New York Times,
W ASHINGTON, Feb. 27 --
Nine months before Fran-
cis Gary Powers was downed
in his U-2 reconnaissance
plane over the Sovie,; Union,
Elijah Barrett Prettyman
wrote the following: "History
establishes that either the be-
havior or the predicament of
an individual citizen in a for-
eign country can
Man bring into clash... .
in the the powers of his
own Government
News and, those of the
foreign power."
The words were written by
Judge Prettyman as Chief
Judge of the United States
Court of Appeals for the Dis-
trict of Columbia in upholding
the State Department's right
to prohibit travel by an
American correspondent in
Communist China.
The words were prophetic.
The "predicament" of Mr.
Powers brought about the col-
1'apse of a summit conference, Associated Pass
the cancellation of a Presi.den- Recognized as an arbiter
tial visit to the Soviet Union, of delicate matters.
and a great increase in ten-
sions between the two coun-
tries.
It was to Judge Prettyman
that the Administration turned
turned to head an inquiry into
whether Mr. Powers, in his
predicament in the Soviet Un-
ion, fulfilled his contrace with
the Central Intelligence
Agency.
His Standing Reinforced
The appointment served
further to reinforce Judo
Prettyman's standing as an
arbiter of delicate matters
with strong emoticnal and
policy overtones.
E. Barrett Pretttyman-as
he prefers to sign his name---
has the reputation among
lawyers here as a jurist prone
to colorful statements from
the bench and to freewheel-
ing official activity off it.
Ile is also regarded as an
"undeviating middle of the
reader" on the bench, and at
the same time a fighter and
maneuverer in the Capital's
national and local political
arena. Ile is almost univer-
. wee
, c
en,
as
sally liked and admired.
His decision barring. a re- .--ident--Kennedy's- announce-
porter from going to Commu- ment of a group of "outstand-
nist China was criticized by ing citizens", headed by Judge
liberal lawyers. They also Prettyman, to examine the
were upset when lie upheld Powers case.
the constitutionality of the Formerly Taught Law
"ubversive Activities Control
'oard and when he required After undergraduate and
le registration of the Amer- law con studies e at in Virginia, Randolph-Mlia-
e
;e us, they party.
hail wiarty.m as Never- a taught law at the Georgetown
a e r e the y law" who is "fair University Law School in
lo
and ver reriabre." Washington. In 1933 he
He retired as Chief. Judge served a year as General
last December, but lie still Sits Counsel of the Internal Reve-
on the Appeals Court, where flue Bureau. Then followed
he has been since 145. When two years as corporation !
he stepped up to Chief Judge counsel of the District of
in 1958, the maze of Federal Columbia. He was in private
courts in the voteless District practice here in 1945 when !
of Columbia experienced what President Truman nominated
one official described as "a him for the Court of Appeals.
new phenomenon--a judicial Judge Prettyman married
lobbyist in Congress." the former Lucy C. Hill of
Baltimore in 1915, when he
Juvenile Court Expanded was barely out of law school.
A victory in Congress for He spent two years in the
which the city of Washington army, becoming a captain be-
owes him considerable grati- fore his discharge in 1919.
ture came in the House of Judge and Mrs. Prettyman
Representatives against seem- have two children-E. Barrett
ingly solid Southern opposi- Jr., a former clerk for Just-
tion, the House voted to ex- ices Felix Frankfurter and
pand the municipal juvenile John M. Harlan of the United
Approved t-a nove re ted b the States Supreme Court who
a i 6k41 : ISIAIRDP~4B8 200080018-7
six years, and pressed by Elizabeth Courtney re y -
Judge Prettyman for nearly man.
been a successful advocate of 1
judicial reform.
A soft - spoken, courtly ii
courtly Southerner-he was
born at Lexington, Va., Aug.
23, 1891-Judge Prettyman
has often been effective in
lobbying with the largely
Southern membership of the
House District Committee.
When he announced his im-
pending retirement as Chief
Judge in 1960, the Judicial
Conference of the United
States gave him a standing
ovation. Typically, however,
his announcement of what he
called "this terminal point of
a lifetime in the law" was
premature. Within months
former President Eisenhower
appointed him to head a re- j
constituted group known as,
the conference on adminis-
trative procedures to try to
reduce the administrative re-
strictions on the practice of
law before the Government's
regulatory agencies.
ame Pres-
k
Th
l
t