POWERS - - WITH ABEL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000400100042-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 8, 1999
• Sequence Number: 42
• Publication Date: May 5, 1965
• Content Type: PREL

UNITED PRESS
INTERNATIONAL
Sanitized - Approved Fkele~pjg~SCI
Al
POWli'1:3--WITH ABEL
BY PAUL CORCORAN
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
BUR13:A0K, CALIF., MAY 5 (UPI),,-FIVE YEARS AFTER FRANCIS GARY
POWERS WAS SHOT DOWN IN A U2 PLANE BY THE SOVIETS AND ACCUSED AS
AN ArERICAN SPY9 HE IS STILL A FIGURE OF SOME MYSTERY--A MAN WHO
'TREASURES THE PRIVACY THAT ONCE WAS DENIED HIM.
AS A CENTRAL FIGURE IN A SPY CASE THAT TOPPLED A 1960 SUMMIT
MEETING, POWERS RECEIVED INTERNATIONAL NOTORIETY. HIS PICTURE WAS
.ON THE FRO14T OF EVERY NEWSPAPER, AND HIS TRIAL IN NOSCOW ON CHARGES
OF ESPIONAGE ATTRACTED CORRESPONDENTS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD.
THE FLIER, NOW A TEST PILOT FOR LOCKHEED CALIFORNIA CO.,
WAS SENTENCED TO 10 YEARS IN PRISON BY THE RUSSIANS. BUT HE WAS
FREED.IN EXCHANGE FOR.MASTER RUSSIAN SPY COL. RUDOLPH ABEL IN 1962*
A HEWS RELEASE OUT OF MOSCOW YESTERDAY FOCUSED ATTENTION AGAIN
ON ABEL AND, COINCIDENTALLY, ON POWERS. THE RUSSIANS MADE A RARE
PUBLIC ADMISSION THAT ABEL DID-SERVE AS A SOVIET SPY AND WAS
DECORATED AFTER THE EXCHANGE FOR POWERS.
POWERS, NOW 34 AND. MARRIED A SECOND TIME, WASN'T AVAILABLE FOR
.COMMENT. AND THE ODDS ARE HE WON'T BE.
"HE'S NOT BEING MADE AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS," A LOCKHEED
SPOKESMAN SAID, REVIEWING AGAIN THE STATUS OF THE U2 PILOT DOWNED
OVER RUSSIA ON MAY 1, 1960. HE PREFERS TO BE AS MUCH OUT OF THE
P U.BL IC EYE AS POSSIBLE."
POWERS HAS NOT CONSENTED TO AN INTERVIEW SINCE HE CAME HERE AS
A TEST PILOT FOR LOCKHEED IN OCTOBER, 1962. THE LOCKHEED SPOKESMAN
WOULD CONFIRM ONLY THAT POWERS STILL FLIES REGULARLY, AND POSSIBLY
SAN U2 PLANES MAINTAINED AND OVERHAULED HERE FOR A VARIETY OF PUR
POSES.
BUT CONJECTURE REMAINED THAT HE HAD OTHER ASSIGNMENTS WITH LOCK-
HEED AIRCRAFT. THE LOCKHEED-CALIFORNIA DIVISION OF LOCKHEED AIRCRAFT
CO. ALSO BUILDS ANTI-SUBMARINE PLANES, THE F104, AND THE RECORD-
BREAKING HIGH-SPEED, HIGH-ALTITUDE YF12A (FORMERLY THE All).
NO ONE WILL SAY JUST WHICH PLANES POWERS IS ASSIGNED TO FLY.
ABOUT ALL THAT DS KNOWN IS THAT POWERS LIVES SOMEWHERE IN THE
GREATER LOS ANGELES AREA, PROBABLY NOT FAR FROM BURBANK-, AS THE
HUSBAND OF THE FORMER MRS. CLAUDIA EDWARDS DOWNEY.
IN OCTOBER, 1963, ALMOST A YEAR AFTER HIS MARRIAGE TO MRS.
BARBARA POWERS ENDED IN DIVORCE,'THE AIRMAN TOOK MRS. DOWNEY AS HIS.
BRIDE.
THE NEW MRS. POWERS WAS AN EX-EMPLOYE OF THE TOP-SECRET CENTRAL
INTELLIGENCE AGENCY (CIA) FOR WHICH POWERS FLEW HIS MISSIONS
IN THE U2.
POWERS, WAS 1,200 MILES DEEP IN SOVIET TERRITORY ON A CIA MISSION
WHEN HE WAS DOWNED BY THE RUSSIANS.
NEVER BEFORE HAD THE U.S. GOVERNMENT DISCLOSED THE FACT THE U2S
WERE MAKING REGULAR OVERFLIGHTS AS SUBSTITUTES FOR ON-SITE .
INSPECTIONS OR AN "OPEN SKY" POLICY THEN PROPOSED BY PRESIDENT"
EISENHOWER.
SOVIET PREMIER NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV TOOK ADVANTAGE OF THE POWERS
FLIGHT TO SCUTTLE THE SUMMIT MEETING AND.NOTICEABI.Y INCREASE
COLD WAR..ISIQ.NS:
CPYRGHTSanitized - Approved For Release :. CIA-RDP75-00001 R000400100042-7
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