PHENOMENON RELATING TO DESTRUCTION OF THE U-2

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01676R002200020017-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 22, 2004
• Sequence Number: 17
• Publication Date: February 27, 1962
• Content Type: MF

Approved For Release 2005/0--i
27 February 1962
MEMORANDUM FOUR: Board of Inquiry in the Case of Francis
Gary Powers
SUBJECT. Phenomenon Relating to Destruction of the
U-2
1. Mr. Francis Gary Powers testified that while flying
towards Sverdlovsk at 70, 000 feet he felt something that appeared
to be an acceleration of the plane or a push from behind it
accompanied by a dull noise which did not have the characteristic
sharpness of a normal explosion. This caused him to look up
and he saw surrounding him, or possibly as a reflection on the
canopy, an orange or reddish glare which appeared to persist
and. not merely flash and disappear.
2. While the Board was not charged with attempting to
develop what the technical. causes of the U-2 destruction were,
the Board expressed concern as to whether Mr. Powers had
described a phenomenon which was cornpletely unacceptable
to current scientific knowledge and, therefore, his truthfulness
might be in question.
3. 1, therefore, discussed this point with Dr. Herbert
Scoville, Jr. , Assistant Director for Scientific Intelligence. I
specifically asked if a small nuclear warhead on a rocket could
have caused the effect described by Powers. Dr. Scoville said
that this possibility had been explored during the period after the
event occurred on 1 May 1960 with negative resnlts as to any infor-
mation on such a nuclear explosion. He further point~*d out that if
an explosion sufficient to send out a shock wave that would have
injured the plane had taken place at that altitude the radioactivity
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would have extended out in fatal form beyond such an effective
shock wave so it would seem certain that had such a nuclear
explosion taken place Powers would have been killed by the radio-
activity. However, Dr. Scoville further commented that if a
missile with a conventional warhead had reached that altitude
with a portion of its fuel unexpended and then exploded or dis-
integrated, fuel containing nitric acid could, under these circuzn-
stances, create a luminous cloud effect which might be consistent
with Powers' description. However, as to what actually happened
to Powers' plane on 1 May 1960, this, from a scientific point of
view, is still considered an unsolved matter.
J,AWRENCE R. HOUSTON
Counsel to the Board
10 P,
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 Approved For Release 2005/04/22 : CIA-RDP80BO1676R002200020017-0
Approved For Release 2005/04/22 : CIA-RDP80BO1676R002200020017-0