jan 2, 1960 - Soviets shoot down U2 spy planes

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On 1 May 1960, a United States U-2 spy plane was shot down by the Soviet Air Defence Forces while conducting photographic aerial reconnaissance deep inside and around Sverdlovsk and Plesetsk. The U-2 has a long and storied history when it comes to espionage battles between the US and China. In the 1960s and 1970s, at least five of them were shot down while on surveillance missions over China. The U2 was shot down near Kodulino, Ural Region, by the first of three S-75 Dvina surface-to-air missiles fired by a battery commanded by Mikhail Voronov. The original consensus about the cause of the U-2 incident was that the spy plane had been shot down by one of a salvo of 14 Soviet SA-2 missiles. Hopes for a successful summit were dashed when on May 1, May Day, an American U-2 spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers was shot down over Soviet airspace. On the first day of the Paris summit, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev stormed out after delivering a condemnation of U.S. spy activities.

U-2 Overflights and the Capture of Francis Gary Powers, 1960.
U-2 Spy Plane Incident | Eisenhower Presidential Library
1960 U-2 incident - Wikipedia
In-Depth | Pioneer 5

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