page_title: Francis Gary Powers
section_title: Education and service
hierarchical_section_title: Francis Gary Powers / Education and service
caption_attribution_description: Model of U2 flown by Gary Powers. This wooden model was one of two used by Powers in March 1962 when he testified at the Senate Armed Services Committee about the downing of his aircraft. The wings and tail are detachable to demonstrate the aircraft's breakup upon impact. From https://www.cia.gov/cia/information/artifacts/model.jpg
context_page_description: Francis Gary Powers was an American pilot whose Central Intelligence Agency U-2 spy plane was shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission in Soviet Union airspace, causing the 1960 U-2 incident.
  He later worked as a helicopter pilot for KNBC in Los Angeles and died in a 1977 helicopter crash.
context_section_description: Graduating with a bachelor's degree from Milligan College in Tennessee in June 1950, he enlisted in the United States Air Force in October. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in December 1952 after completing his advanced training with USAF Pilot Training Class 52-H at Williams Air Force Base, Arizona. Powers was then assigned to the 468th Strategic Fighter Squadron at Turner Air Force Base, Georgia, as an F-84 Thunderjet pilot.
  He married Barbara Gay Moore in Newnan, Georgia, on April 2, 1955.
  In January 1956 he was recruited by the CIA. In May 1956 he began U-2 training at Watertown Strip, Nevada. His training was complete by August 1956 and his unit, the Second Weather Observational Squadron (Provisional) or Detachment 10-10, was deployed to Incirlik Air Base, Turkey. By 1960, Powers was already a veteran of many covert aerial reconnaissance missions. Family members believed that he was a NASA weather reconnaissance pilot.
caption: Wooden U-2 model – one of two used by Powers when he testified to the Senate Committee. The wings and tail are detached to demonstrate the aircraft's breakup.
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