ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 11, 1997 TAG: 9703110087
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LANGLEY
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
The son of U-2 spy plane pilot Francis Gary Powers has set up a display in CIA headquarters honoring his father, who was captured by the Soviets in a controversial Cold War episode.
Powers, the son of a Wise County coal miner, was imprisoned for 21 months in the Soviet Union after being shot down by a Soviet missile. He was widely criticized for his role in the encounter.
But the son, Francis Gary Powers Jr., said his late father and other Cold War warriors should be praised for their contributions in winning the ideological struggle against communism.
``He was just doing his job. He was first and foremost a pilot - a pilot who got caught,'' he said.
The younger Powers collected the memorabilia making up the display, which is for CIA employees and visitors only and is not open to the public.
The exhibition includes two small scraps of U-2 wreckage, letters Powers wrote from his prison cell to his mother, Powers' Distinguished Flying Cross and other items from the pilot's life.
Included in the collection is the poison pin some critics believe the pilot should have used to kill himself after he was shot down to avoid capture, interrogation and a public trial.
Powers said his father carried the pin to use in case he was tortured, but he was not. The pilot followed all CIA protocols after he was shot down, his son maintains.
A Russian missile shot down Powers' jet on May 30, 1960. He ejected from the plane and floated into the hands of waiting Soviet forces.
The U.S. government initially described Powers' flight as an off-course weather mission. But that story quickly unraveled, forcing the United States to admit to spy flights and giving the Soviets a propaganda triumph.
Powers was convicted by the Soviets of espionage and was sentenced to 10 years. He spent 21 months in prison before he was released in a Cold War prisoner swap.
When Powers came home, editorial writers charged that the pilot was a traitor or a coward or both.
The CIA eventually came to his defense, but his reputation had been tarnished. Powers eventually moved to California, where he worked as a helicopter pilot for a Los Angeles television station. He died in 1977 when the helicopter ran out of fuel and crashed. He was 47.
Today the CIA defends Powers' mission of aerial espionage as a Cold War necessity.
``The information these spy flights provided was invaluable,'' said CIA spokesman Midge Holmes. ``Without this kind of information, we could have easily miscalculated'' in frequently tense encounters with the Soviet bloc.
The National War College in Washington will show the exhibit next. In July, it will move to George Mason University. Those displays will be open to the public.
LENGTH: Medium: 60 linesby CNB