BOARD OF INQUIRY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84B00459R000100190001-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
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• Document Page Count: 32
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 29, 2003
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: February 20, 1962
• Content Type: TRANS

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SC No.02565/62
DATE Pages 26 through 56
20 February 1962
Copy No.
5
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BOARD OF INQUIRY
19 February 1962
MR. HOUSTON: If the Board is ready to proceed, if its aW
agreeable with the Board we would like now to go into the actual recruitment of
Mr. Powers in some detail, and the approach, and as a first witness I'd like to
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Iwas then duly sworn as a
witness by Judge Prettyman . . . .
MR. HOUSTON: Would you identify yourself and your position?
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I am presently Chief of the Personnel
Branch in the Development Projects Division which has developed out of what was
originally Project Aquatone. And I am the gentleman who originally recruited Mr.
Powers from the Air Force for the Project.
MR. HOUSTON: Will you tell the Board what your relationship was to
the recruitment of Mr. Powers?
25X1A9A
Well, for each of the pilots who was recruited there
was a team - a recruiting team, which consisted of a Personnel Officer, a Security
Officer, and a member of the Air Force -- an active duty Air Force officer. I
happened So to be the Personnel Officer involved in the actual recruitment of Mr.
Powers.
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categories: the criteria used in the recruitment, the evaluation of the individual,
and what the final selection consisted of.
The criteria -- I think was first of all done with some
pre-screening by the Air Force representatives who had been fully briefed and
cleared for the Project. They jwmM preceded t 1 *t the recruiting team to each
of the air bases we visited. It so happened that the base from which Frank Powers
was recruited from that base, one of the two officers who was cleared and briefed
him -- a Major Horton -- he had been -ought into Washington and told the complete
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story of the project. I think
was involved in his briefing. He proceeded
bringing the team back to the Air Base, and when he arrived, through his knowledge
of what the requirements were he had available for us to interview a number of pilots.
We were interested primarily in recruiting good airplane drivers at that time.
Several of the necessary requirements to be eligible for recruitment were a technical
proficiency, which I believe consisted of a thousand total hours' flying time and about
500 hours of jet flying time. The individuals must have had a reserve Air Force
status -- in other words, they could not be regular Air Force members. The age
limitation -- the desired limitation was from 25 to 35. It had to be, of course, a
voluntary acceptance on the part of the individual. And then there was a certain
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MR. HOUSTON: If you will just give the steps chronologically that
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amount of personality assessment done on the spot by the recruiting team as
well as by the individual on the Base -- the Air Force contact who knew the individual
being recruited. This I think was aimed more at whether the interviewee had the
capacity to get along with people well, to live in small, tightly--controlled,
close knit groups, to test be isolated from his family for long periods of time,
etc. This was the extent of the personality evaluation. So with this in mind, as I
said, on this particular recruiting trip we interviewed 18 pilots, of whom 12 indicated
sufficient interest to hear more of the program. Pursuing that just a little further,
of these 12 we ultimately rejected one for personal reasons -- he had a child with
leukemia and we felt it wasn't wise to take him away from his home, two subsequently
changed their minds after we left the Base, and one was later rejected medically.
So that from this trip we ended up with eight pilots -- Frank Powers and seven others --
eight as prospects.
Now the evaluation of pilots once they were identified,
interviewed, and indicated sufficient desire to see further into the program, consisted
first of all in about a week long medical evaluation at the Lovelace Clinic and Foun-
dation in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This was quite a thorough physical examination.
I happened to accompany Frank Powers along with four others to Albuquerque for
this phase.
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May I ask what the Lovelace Clinic is?
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It's a private clinic and foundation. I think it's
probably recognized -- this is my opinion, or what I believe -- to be perhaps the
leading civilian evaluator of aero-medical points--
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The primary purpose was aero-medical research.
I Dr. Lovelace has had much experience in this thing.
That included psychological examination?
Psychological medical checks -- there was no
psychological assessment done, that I was aware of. I think throughout the examin-
ation the various physicians and specialists who checked the boys probably
had this in mind, although not many of these doctors knew precisely what these people
were going to be doing. They knew they were required to meet certain standards,
such as high altitude flights, etc. There was always one doctor out there --
usually a Dr. Secrest -- who sort of was in charge of the whole physical examination.
He did a summary wrap-up, I believe, on each individual in which he indicated in most
cases -- and I think this was probably true in Frank's case -- what he felt their
psychological capacity for this sort of thing was. But as far as I know there was not
a psychological examination as such. Now there was one later by an Agency psychologist,
but this was not part of the Lovelace examination.
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The Agency psychologist is here an. -v 11'be here
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JJpon successful completion of the examination
the individuals were returned to Washington, all this time under the care of a case
officer - myself, usually - with Frank Powers, and they were returned to Washington
where they were polygraphed, where they were interviewed by the Agency psychologist,
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Upon successful completion of these three phases they then were
given, usually immediately following this trip to Washington, a trip through the
altitude clinic or chamber at Wright Patterson Air Forc e Base. Again ammX g
assuming they passed all these successfully and continued to be interested in the
program, although since the initial interviews they were told no more about what
the program consisted of, but if at any time they felt they were losing interest
because of what they imagined the program to be, or anything, they could drop out.
They had at this point committed themselves in no way whatsoever. They were
reminded frequently, I believe, that this was still quite a voluntary thing -- they
had signed no contract. Now if they passed all these evaluation standards that
I have just mentioned, the medical, security, and psychological, then the next thing
to do was to get them out of the Air Force, which we did through the good auspices
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application for discharge as reserve officers--
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I hey were conducted in two meetings.
MR. HOUSTON: Would you outline just what was discussed with Mr.
Powers at the first meeting?
25X1A9A
Yes. In fact, I should say that the first group of
pilots had been recruited by the time I got into the act, so that I sort of inherited
the procedures which had been put in effect with the first group, and we followed
them right on through. I understand when they recruited the first group a
stenographer was taken along who actually typed on the spot a recap of the points
discussed with the pilot, and he signed it indicating these points had been covered.
Well, in order to avoid the inconvenience, I suppose, of taking the stenographer
along, we typed ahead of time certain points that we knew would be covered, and we
made it a point to cover these. And again, Frank Powers signed two pieces of
paper indicating these points were covered. I'll just go through these very quickly.
The first point was -- this was the first interview with Mr. Powers on the 17th of
March 1956 -- the first point covered was identification of what the group represents,
namely, an organization to form an international group of volunteer pilots. At the
present time the sponsorship of this organization and the participants will remain
anonymous. Then we went over the factors affecting the candidates' assignment to
this program -- background, character, personal conduct, etc. Then, and this was
the main point that was stressed in the first interview, we covered the restrictions
on his personal life -- for example, living under an alias, possibly, controlled
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communications, mail censorship, possibility of an 18 month separation from family.
This we considered the first big hurdle to get over in the first interview. We
described the nature of the work to be performed as that of flying of a hazardous
nature, with commensurate pay, further details of which would be furnished at a
later date if the candidate indicated interest. It was explained to the candidate
the contact with him had evolved from a list of persons recommended as possessing
the qualifications desired, that the Air Force recommended these officers. At all
times during each interview we had an Air Force officer present who vouched fdr
the civilian doing the interview. The necessity for resigning from the Air Force
for the duration of the contract with reinstatement rights and no loss of longevity,
promotion rights, etc. , was explained, and we irriicated that a letter signed by
high authority would be shown him guarantying this at some later date. Then the
candidate was asked to think over what we had told him, come back, and at a
later date -- which date we would advise him -- let us know his decision. In some
instances the individual said, "I've heard enough -- I don't think I'm interested" --
and they signed a secrecy agreement, were debriefed by the Security Officer, and
proceeded on their way with the assurance this would have no adverse affect on
their Air Force career. Other s indicated on the spot at that time that they either
had no wife to discuss it with or whatever decision they made their wife would .*
go along with, and in some cases we gave them the second interview immediately --
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they said, "I have nothing to think over. " In Frank's case we talked to him on
the 17th, then we went back and talked to him two days later - on the 19th.
JUDGE PRETTYMAN: Does your record show what his response was
at the end of the first interview?
25X1A9A
No, not as such -- no, sir. I recapped this with
a Memorandum for the Record and an interview report after I returned from the
trip -- oh yes, and that does indicate he wanted permission to discuss--
MR. HOUSTON: Would the Board like to have those points brought
out in that interview made a part of the record?
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That is merely a statement of the topics discussed?
Yes. And it's signed by Mr. Powers.
I That these topics were discussed?
(Reading from Exhibit 2) "The following points
were briefly discussed with the subject individual this date" -- now I must explain
to the Board we were busier than heck trying to interview 18 people, but this is
covered by a subsequent--
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JUDGE PRETTYMAN: Would you let us have a copy of this.
. . . . This Memorandum for the Record was then introduced
into the record as EXHIBIT 2 . . . .
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This is signed by Powers in his true name?
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JUDGE PRETTYMAN: Your record shows what his response was at
the end of the first interview when you asked whether he wanted to think it over
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the record as EXHIBIT 3 . . . .
MR. HOUSTON: Would you tell us what occurred at the second
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first three or four lines. (Reading) "Lt. Powers is 26 years of age, married,
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no children. He has been married for one year. Was not sure at time of first
interview just how wife would feel about the separation and he asked permission
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reappeared for second interview and informed us that both he and his wife had
agreed that separation in military service was something to be expected and he
indicated to us that he would like to continue into second interview. "
JUDGE PRETTYMAN: I would like to have a carbon of that.
The second interview took place two days later.
Again I have an acknowledgement of points covered, signed by Mr. Powers. The
first paragraph says: The candidate was questioned as to his acceptance and
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understanding of all conditions outlined in the first interview. An affirmative
answer was given. The need for security and restriction of all information given
at any time relative to this project was reiterated. Then the third point on this
is that a hypothetical mission was described involving deep penetration overflight
of Soviet Bloc countries in single engine equipment superior to any with which the
candidate is now familiar.
MR. HOUSTON; And this was the first time it involved Soviet
ove rf lights ?
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JUDGE PRETTYMAN: Was that signed by him?
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JUDGE PRETTYMAN: Would you put a copy of that in the record?
....... This Memorandum for the Record was then entered
in the record as EXHIBIT 4 . . . .
25X1A9A
What was the date of that Memorandum?
19 March 1956 -- which was two days after the
Then another point covered in this second interview
was the terms of the contract were outlined - the monetary advantage. With an
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affirmative reaction from the candidate, the problem of developing anoc explanation
for his employment during the period of the contract was briefly explored, and we
agreed to pursue it further at a later date. The candidate was advised that
through -- and here again I failed to write in the name, but it was Major Horton
at his Air Base - he would be notified of the date, time and place for physical
examination, and that official orders would be provided to cover it. It was outlined
to the candidate that steps designed to examine his background and personal reputation
will have to be undertaken, and the candidate agreed that this was acceptable to him.
Now I might point out that back here when we outlined
a hypothetical mission part of this paragraph states that: "A discussion of
capture or non-return from mission ensued, with the understanding that the candidate
would at a later date be more able to evaluate for himself the risk involved. " It
goes on to say that all people connected with this felt that the risks involved were
of reasonable proportion. The candidate was assured that he was not being
required to accept or sign a contract at this time but would have at least two or
three more weeks to consider our proposition. Those were the points covered
in the second interview. Again he was receptive to these points and we considered
him an applicant.
JUDGE PRETTYMAN: And the original of this paper that remains
in your file, that is signed by him personally?
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You indicated in that paper that the terms of
the contract were discussed only insofar as pay was concerned. Was the contract
read to him?
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$775 a month in general duty status, and $1500 a month in operational duty status,
with a bonu-- (ff $1, 000 per month accruing after arrival at the operational site --
KdbX accruing to his benefit, etc. , and the terms of the insurance coverage
and leave arrangements were explained. This was about it.
MR. HOUSTON: And after that what was the procedure leading up
to the actual signing of the contract?
25X1A9A
Again I have Memorandums for the Record which
were written -- and incidentally, I also have something here which was a Memorandum
of Understanding which he signed at this time -- the date of the first interview --
which is referred to as the secrecy agreement -- (Reading) "By virtue of my
signature below I -- and it looks like F. E. but I think it's F. G. Powers affirm
that I will not discuss or otherwise disclose without prior authorization" etc. , etc.
and this is signed by Mr. Powers and signed by myself as witness. I don't know
whether you want a copy of that or not.
JUDGE PRETTYMAN: Yes I think we might as well have it in the record.
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This Memorandum of Understanding dated X(X. (
3/17/56 was then entered in the record as EXHIBIT 5 . . . .
25X1A9A
That signature covered the security matters
you had raised up to this point?
25X1A9A
That is right.
Now in answer to your question, Mr. Houston,
following this I have a memorandum dated 20 April 1956 which says that on the
2nd of April, that is, after this 19 March irterview, I met with Mr. Powers and
four other pilots and proceeded to the Lovelace Clinic. Following completion
of the physical examination we returned to Washington where the pilots were
measured for pressure suits bya gentleman from the Clark Company. Later on
this same date -- the 7th of April -- the remaining pilots - meaning Powers -
completed personal history statements and psychiatric tests and were interviewed
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that afternoon byl
"psychological".
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l I said "psychiatric" here -- I should have said
JUDGE PRETTYMAN: Who was
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JUDGE PRETTYMAN: Then do you have or will
material that was developed in that interview?
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(will present that information.
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On 10 April they were polygraphed by Mr.
JUDGE PRETTYMAN: What was the purpose of the polygraph at
that point -- just testing their account of their own personal history or something?
25X1A9A
I am going to be followed by some Security people, and I defer to them, with your
permission.
MR. HOUSTON: Yes -- the theory and practice of the polygraph
was required in the security presentation.
JUDGE PRETTYMAN: Was it to test the information that he had
I think so. We were working on a pretty tight
schedule, and I think this probably -- and I'm guessing -- helped to guide us whether
we should pursue these particular individuals further -- buying suits, etc.
On 11 April the pilots departed D. C. for Omaha and
return to Turner Air Force Base.
JUDGE PRETTYMAN: Was the one visit to Lovelace Clinic the
only visit they made there?
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At that time. He subsequently has been back
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JUDGE PRETTYMAN: But incident to recruitment just this one
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trip to Lovelace and then the one interview by
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D
That is right. Now the Lovelace trip, incidentally,
I believe took five days -- it's that thorough.
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Should we have a copy of that?
. . . Memorandum for the Record dated 20 April 1956
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the Record dated 7 May in which I report that on the 4th of May I received a
telephone call from Major Charles Horton, Turner Air Force Base, informing me
that letters of application for discharge had been received from, among other pilots,
Mr. Powers. The rest of this Memorandum indicates a schedule, as closely as we
could gauge it at that time, for their actually getting out of the Service -- which I
personally -don't think is terribly pertinent to it all.
MR. HOUSTON: What did Powers do next, and when did you next
hands on him. He signed his original contract on the 28th of April 1956 -- again,
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this was because we physically had possession of him for signing it. He read it,
and at this time he had had a full operational briefing -- prior to signing this
contract, I should say, he had had a full operational briefing by one of our senior
operations people. I don't have on record who it was -- I'm inclined to think it
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-- but I really don't know. But before they
signed the contract they had the complete picture of what the airplane was, what
its capabilities were, the organization -- a rough sketch of the organization, of
the detachments. I don't think at that time we were able to tell them what their
probable base location would be. But anyhow, suffice it to say that any questions
that had gone unanswered in their minds up to that point were answered for them
before they signed the contract. So he signed on 28 April and the effective date
was 14 May 1956, which follows by one day his discharge from the Air Force.
JUDGE PRETTYMAN: How long is that contract -- how many pages?
25X1A9A
It's three pages plus less than a half page, legal
size paper, single spaced, typewritten.
JUDGE PRETTYMAN: Have you got a copy of that?
25X1A9A
MR. HOUSTON: I suggest we put one in the record as Exhibit 7.
. . . . Copy of aforementioned contract was then entered
in the record as EXHIBIT 7 . . . .
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operational briefing before he resigned his commission in the Air Force?
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application for resignation.
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That is right.
That was subsequent to the time he put in his
But he had full knowledge of the vehicle and the
purpose of the Project before he resigned from the Air Force?
25X1A9A
That is right. It had to be that way to accommodate
the dates he signed, etc. Again, it almost had to be that way also, I think, before
they could make up their minds -- knowing everything -- to resign from the Air Force --
this was a point, of course.
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Did that particular full operational briefing cover
the question of possible penetration of the Communist Bloc -- which was mentioned
previously as a possibility or probability?
25X1A9A
I would say it did. At that time it was made
abundantly clear to him, as I recall, that this was the whole purpose of the whole
thing . They were shown schematics of flight plans, aircraft performance, etc.
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he signed?
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is that the original contract that
This is the original of the first contract.
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MR. HOUSTON: There were subsequent amendments when it was
renewed?
25X1A9A
MR. HOUSTON: Can we have copies of the cortract effective 1 May 1960?
25X1A9A
1(X 16 December 1957 and signed that same date, which really-xxx superceded
this one because there had been some substantive charges made in salary, etc.
Then I have an extension of an amendment to the second contract which extended
the ostmmo& contract period from 16 December 1957 through 31 October 1960 --
which would cover the May 1st date, of course.
MR. HOUSTON: You have the originals of those?
25X1A9A
MR. HOUSTON: And they are executed by Mr. Powers?
25X1A9A
They are, yes -- in each case he signed these.
MR. HOUSTON: Would the Board like to inspect those?
JUDGE PRETTYMAN: Have you copies of them?
25X1A9A
JUDGE PRETTYMAN: I think we ought to have copies in the record.
Let's get them in order. Let the record show EXHIBIT 8 is the second contract
signed by Powers, dated 16 December 1957. And EXHIBIT 9 is the third contract
signed by Powers, dated--
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Here is the original -- there is no date of the
signing of it. This was done in the field. There is an effective date on it.
JUDGE PRETTYMAN: Effective date is 16 December 1959. Let
the record show that this contract, EXHIBIT 9, contains no date of the signing.
25X1A9A
These contracts, incidentally, are signed in
pseudonym -- which pseudonym for him I have here.
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JUDGE PRETTYMAN: Let's take the pseudonym.
25X1A9A
The pseudonym of Francis G. Powers is
MR. HOUSTON: Was that pseudonym acknowledged by Powers?
25X1A9A
Yes, signed and his thumb print. The true
name is up here and the pseudonym is downhere.
JUDGE PRETTYMAN: Now the pseudonym is used on all three
of these contracts?
25X1A9A
JUDGE PRETTYMAN: I think pmxslk perhaps a description of that
in the record--
MR. HOUSTON: This is an acknowledgment of pseudonym
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stating: I do hereby declare that my true and legal signature is Francis G. Powers --
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with the thumb print described as the right thumb print.
And below attached to but separable from that first identified paper, pagx paper
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No. SD22879B, states: I do hereby acknowledge in my relations with the United
States Government I will use the following signature where required -- signed
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right thumb print.
with the print identified as the
JUDGE PRETTYMAN: That original is retained by
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And it's -- it looks 25X1A2E
like an "L" but it's a "T".
MR. HOUSTON: Were there any further negotiations or dealings
with Mr. Powers that you had?
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No. Upon his effective date of saq atba separation
from the Air Force - 13 May 1956 - he then was given whatever time he felt was
necessary and we felt was reasonable to relocate his family and proceed to the
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MR. HOUSTON: Then from then on you still had general personnel
responsibility for the pilots as a group, in case questions came up?
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MR. HOUSTON: Do you remember any significant interviews or
meetings.with Mr. Powers?
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No, I do not, except that prior to his departure
for overseas he along with three or four others proceeded to the Agency training
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site for approximately one week of escape and evasion and survival training. But
then this was about, I believe, the last processing type contact I had with him.
MR. HOUSTON: Does the Board have any questions?
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Somewhere in the early part of your
testimony, after I think your first interview with him you told him there would be
some inquiry into his personal background--
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JUDGE PRETTYMAN: That of course took place. Do your records
show whether that data was gathered from him or was there any independent inquiry
made as to his personal background?
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My records do not show that. As a part of
the processing here in Headquarters he was required to fill out what we call a
Personal History Statement -- a rather all-inclusive statement of background. I
believe this went to our Security people for the necessary security clearances.
JUDGE PRETTYMAN: Can we get a copy of that?
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MR. HOUSTON: This is a standard operating procedure in the Agency -?
the individual gives quite complete information about his background, which is then
checked.
JUDGE PRETTYMAN- I thought if we could get a copy of it, that might
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You accepted without any question at all
the SAC rating of the man as one desirable for this Project -- you didn't go
back of the administrative work which SAC had done?
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0
No, sir. I can perhaps amplify on that a
I think a little bit. Did you evaluate that?
people had preceded me and made certain people available, and I had nothing to
do with the initial choosing of who was interviewed. As a matter of fact, our
primary concern was, I think, with the individuals, is they were recommended
to us as being very competent pilots, and I have in a Memorandum of Interview
a very high recommendation from Major Horton as to Mr. Powers' proficiency
as a pilot, which made him particularly attractive.
MR. HOUSTON: Any other questions? We can always get
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has personal krowledge of the Air Force
portion of the screening in this. Would you like to hear from him in this connectioi
JUDGE PRETTYMAN: As far as I am concerned I don't want to
interrupt the thread of your presentation.
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MR. HOUSTON: Any other questions?
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MR. HOUSTON: We maybe should have hadi on prior to
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here is the original Personal
History Statement filled out by Mr. Powers, and we have a true copy of this.
JUDGE PRETTYMAN: And that will be EXHIBIT 10. And
it's a copy of the original -- it's called "PERSONNEL QUESTIONNAIRE"-
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dated 9 April 1956. It's a personal history statement. It's a four and a half
page form with space for writing answers about relatives, background, schools,
references, training, experience, etc. , and it's signed by Francis g. Powers
at Washington D. C. on 9 April 1956.
JUDGE PRETTYMAN: Ard that was the persomel statement to
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made reference a little while ago, that he filed with the
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here in Washington, which was subsequent to the Lovelace trip and all that--
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MR. HOUSTON: I would like to note for the record that on the
original there is written in in pencil one item that does not appear on the copy --
it's written on the back of one page, and does not appear on the copy of that page --
which gives residences as follows: Nov 50 - May 51 - Lowry AFB, Denver, Colo. ,
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Oct 50 - Nov 50 - Lackland AFB, Texas; 1946 - Oct 50 - Box 66, Pound, Virginia.
Otherwise, this copy is a machine copy of the face of those other pages.
JUDGE PRETTYMAN: Maybe we will want to pick up some of that
information -- couldn't we have it just copied on the back of one of those pages,
or one of you put it on and initial it?
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I'll write it on the back and initial it.
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to describe the Air Force part of it, and then we will have
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on for a few minutes
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. .
I was then sworn as a witness
by Judge Prettyman . . . .
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in the Air Force screening?
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I believe you personally participated
That is correct. I can explain how this thing was
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set up. Happily, I can be very brief - -
points. I can corroborate his points, which I do, and amplify a few points, and
answer any questions. The way we set this thing up, first of all we were
interested primarily in experienced pilots--
JUDGE PRETTYMAN: i When you say "we" - you are speaking
from the standpoint--
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t011 515GRET
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I'm speaking from the standpoint of the
Air Force, speaking in this particular case for the Chief of Staff of the Air Force,
who had been directed to help this Project in any way requested. What we did --
we were primarily interested in getting ourselves good solid pilots. Well, the
requirements -- first of all we had to modify them. We initially wanted people
who had at a thousand hours of jet time. Well, we subsequently found out, with the
age limitation set on these pilots to find a pilot with a thousand hours single engine
jet time he was pretty much of an old man by that time, relatively speaking, so w:
modified that to a thousand hours total time, of which 500 was to have been single
engine jet time. He was to have long-range over water experience, in other words
celestial navigation experience. And then the other point we put in was to have
someone we knew from the x records was an inherently stable individual. When
we figured out these requirements we felt the best source of our pilots wv uld be SAC -
Strategic Air Command -- SAC strategic reconnaisance wings. They still had single
engine fighter aircraft that they were using at the time for strategic reconnaisance.
Rather than have the headquarters per se have a direct interest in the program,
since my interest was to be a continuing one we felt the best thing to do was to put
a drop between my office, Headquarters USAF, and the pilots, and at the same time
bring into the situation people familiar with the requirements and with the people
we might be recruiting. So we happened to bring in Major Horton, who was Powers'
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squadron commander. He was completely briefed, given the requirements, and
told basically the type of individual we wanted -- a stable individual, primarily, one
who would indicate he would hold up well under stress and who had the ability to
get along in various and sundry areas or elements that would not always be limited
to the military family. In other words, could he move into a unique unit and get
along with civilians and other types of people in the same organization. It was on
this basis, then, that Major Horton in this particular case went back and ;NKK went
through the files of all the pilots attached to the wing and came up with for the first
screening about 20-odd pilots he thought would fulfill this requirement. This then
is basically how Powers was chosen -- Powers and the rest. We were looking for
good airplane drivers, stable individuals -- with no thought as to their intelligence
capability - no thought given to these people as spies . We never looked upon them
as spies -- we looked upon them as airplane drivers. That was how the basic
choice was made.
JUDGE PRETTYMAN: Now, Major Horton -- you called upon him
for such men meeting that description?
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JUDGE PRETTYMAN: He went back and came up with 20 names?
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JUDGE PRETTYMAN: Those were from his personal estimate -
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His personal estimate was based on the fact of how
much experience they had, primarily, and what their record indicated as to
stability, etc. -- and the fact he knew them pe rsonally was a big help. So that
is the way the initial choice or screening was made, and then it was brought to the
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point that
phases of information.
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I
served under Horton before the selection?
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I think at least a year, As a ratter of fact, if
I'm not mistaken -- I don't think so -- I believe Horton was his rating officer on
his effectiveness reports. Horton knew him reasonably well. As a matter of fact,
Horton pointed out that Powers was one of the better pilots.
JUDGE PRETTYMAN: Generally speaking what would enter into
the commanding officer's mind -- Major Horton's -- in making that evaluation?
How would he judge as to whether a fellow would stand up under stress? Would
he just guess at it, or go through some tests?
You will have to forgive me, sir, but I think I can
say this, and I'm sure General LeMay would back me up. If this man was a member
of a SAC striking wing at that time he was considered a damn competent pilot, an
individual who could stand up better than average under any circumstances.
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JUDGE PRETTYMAN: How would they know that?
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From the training he went through, for one thing.
The fact that -- I think in Powers' case, for example, Powers had had one bail
?out. -- although I'm not sure of this -- he had one emergency whereby he had to
bail out of his airplane. This I would want to corroborate -- but this was an
example of how he would react in an err:rgency -- what does he do if he has a flame-out
etc.
JUDGE PRETTYMAN: I just wondered what sort of test they put
them through . My acquaintance is with the Infantry and doe sn't extend to the
Air Force--
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That is a little difficult to answer, sir, as far as
giving any specific tests to figure how they would stand up Xx under any given
stress or strain -- I can't answer that--
JUDGE PRETTYMAN: You mean putting him in what he thinks
is a normal flight and then somebody pulls a button on him -- and how he acts?
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I wish I could put it in Infantry terms, but I can't.
But these lads at the time they were flying -- they were flying at the time a
Republic F84F, which was probably as mean an airplane to fly as has ever been
built. It had all the mean characteristics of any airplane you could think of, and
any man, as far as I'm concerned -- in my limited jet experience, and I must confess
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nzy jet experience is quite limited -- any man who could master that airplane and
come out alive over a certain period of time would have to be a little better than
average.
JUDGE PRETTYMAN: For our purposes, then, we can sum it up
this way, that Major Horton's recommendation of the man to you was sufficient
for us to assume that the man had through tests or experiences or activities, or
what have you, demonstrated he was the kind of man you were looking for. You
didn't just say, "I'11 take Joe, and George, etc. "
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Oh no, sir. I think this was perhaps borne out in
Powers' particular case, for example, that Powers was one of the better pilots
that we had in the entire group.
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Was it true in the normal process of selection
within SAC the personnel of the air wings had gs gone through a process of selection
and were rated very highly?
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Right. These people were very carefully chosen.
I
with. Is that why you looked into this--
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Yes. This is the reason we sought out the SAC wings
as the best source of our pilots. They were we felt the best qualified for what we
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MR. HOUSTON: How large a group was this ?
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somewhere in the kff neighborhood of a hundred pilots.
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of the SAC organization ?
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MR. HOUSTON: And were Major Horton's instructions -- granting
this was thought to be a good group in the first place -- to pick the best ones?.
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a
the requirement, pick the best possible people to do the job.
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MR. HOUSTON: Shall we go on now to
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You mean the entire wing?
I would say the selection was probably made from
Were any of those pilots from other categories
All from within that wing.
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left the meeting at this point . .
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