With the world s most precise navigation systems aboard, the EP-3 was certainly flying in international airspace. There is nothing new about electronic intelligence, which has been around at least since 1914, when German intelligence officers discovered that they could monitor field telephones by wrapping a wire around a cable. At that time, three decades ago, electronic intelligence routinely made a constructive contribution to the preservation of peace. Whenever a particularly bellicose statement emanated from the Chicoms, it was reassuring for the good guys to know that warlike words were not being matched by warlike actions. In the present environment, where the Chicoms are feeling increasingly threatened by the prosperity and liberty of Taiwan, it's very important that the Free World has accurate intelligence about Chicom military capacity and intentions.
Intelligence gathering can be a hazardous business.
My recollection of the speculation at the time is that Powers, operating his cameras at 70,000 feet, far out of the range of Soviet missiles, was assumed to have suffered a flame-out in his single engine, and was forced to descend below 20,000 feet to restart. Nikita Khrushchev skilfully exploited the U-2 incident, which took place a couple of weeks before a planned summit meeting between the big four leaders. Powers was sentenced to ten years imprisonment, but furious lobbying by his family and by several Congressmen led to his release in 1962. Lloyd M. Bucher was surrounded by North Korean patrol boats and boarded, while its crew of 83 worked furiously to destroy classified equipment and documents. In issuing an admission of guilt Comdr Bucher and his crew issued a statement incorporating the immortal clause any penetration, however slight, is sufficient to complete the act , which is of course an extract from the definition of rape in the Manual of Navy Law.