Man, that's awesome, Mr. Davis. Thank you for your service and for sharing your stories with us.
WOW! What a great experience that must of been. I've been by Davis-Monthan AB a few times and never would of known what went on and by who 40 years prior. What a great story.
One question about the U-2 Jerry
> That is the reason the Russians got so much of the aircraft in tact.
"Intact" is a relative term:
One question about the U-2 Jerry
If the U-2 Powers was flying was actually hit by the SAM, then there would be just small parts of the aircraft recovered. If you flew over that site from several thousand feet and saw the aircraft looking down it would look intact indeed.
The one shot down over Cuba was actually hit by the SAM and of course not much of it was ever found.
In the summer of 1965 Life Magazine had a photograph of several U-2 aircraft shot down over China. Again they were relatively intact. The aircraft flown by the pilots from China reflected a high loss ratio by any safety standards. The USAF and CIA losses were just about as bad as the the China losses. The Powers plane and the Anderson plane over Cuba were the only losses due to being brought down by hostile fire that were flown by American Pilots.
Here is a little paragraph from an internet document about the Black Cat Squadron this squadron were operating from Nationalist China piloted by Nationalist Pilots that were trained in the US.
"During the squadron's 14 years of existence, five U-2's were shot down by PRC air defenses (using SA-2 missiles[2]), with three pilots killed and 2 pilots captured. One other pilot was killed while performing an operational mission off China coast. Seven other Black Cat U-2s were lost during training missions, killing 6 pilots."
By far more U-2 aircraft were lost in training accidents than from hostile fire. Most of the losses were due to going into uncontrolled fight at high altitude and landings.
All the pilots that I knew were aware of the high loss ratio of the U-2. But pilots are a weird breed. For some reason they always think it happens to the other guy, then one day they happen to be the other guy.
I never thought that the aircraft was dangerous to fly. I was completely aware of the accident ratio. When I went into training the Chinese pilots were in training also. They had two losses in training, both times the pilot survived. I was happy to fly the plane and still am amazed that I had the opportunity to do so and would do so again in a heart beat.
Operation Overflight
I read Power's book "Operation Overflight" when it came out in 1970 or so.
I'm shooting from memory here, but I don't think the Soviet SAM didn't hit him directly . It detonated in a fairly close proximity and rendered damage of some sort to his plane. I can't remember exactly how long he stayed with it before he bailed, but his U2 and its classified equipment's trajectory was on his mind. I also remember he related he was of the opinion that he probably wouldn't survive the parachute ride to the ground due to the altitude.
There was also a Soviet intercept fighter that was knocked out of the sky by the same salvo of missiles. Powers recounts seeing that pilot's chute on the way down and wondering who the heck it was.
It was apparently a surprise that the Soviet SAM could make it to his altitude. While in prison he worried his superiors would think he was at a lower altitude than planned. During an interview filmed by his captors (for propaganda purposed, no doubt) Powers repeatedly blinked his eyes in Morse code to indicate his flight altitude. This was an effort to let other U2 pilots know that the Soviet SAMs could reach altitudes higher than what was known to the US at the time.
It was a good read, I wish I could find my copy.
One question about the U-2 Jerry
Paden, I started flying Sailplanes in the spring of 1964 at Winfield, Kansas. I belonged to a Soaring Club there. My first flight was from a Winch Launch. It is quite a thrill. I flew winch launches several times then moved to airplane tows. Airplane tow is ok but I love the winch launches. With the airplane tow you get to sample a lot of are on the way to release, we usually released at 2,000 feet above ground level unless we ran into real good up air during the tow. If I get into real good air after 1200 to 1500 feet I'll pull the release, I much rather release in up air than go on to 2,000 feet and release in down air and have to find the up air again. I had probably over a hundred flights when I went for the U-2 interview. I will not say it got me the U-2 assignment but it sure didn't hurt. I purchased my first sailplane in June of 1964.
In February of 1966 I took a two week leave from the Air Force and went to Colorado Springs for some mountain wave flying in sailplanes. My best flight there I released near Pikes Peak in up air, made a rapid dive for about 200 feet to mark the recording Barometer and then slowed to minimum sink speed in a mountain wave off Pikes Peak, I had oxygen and was dressed for real a cold cockpit. Made a call to Denver Center and got the wave airspace opened to 25,000 feet, got past 20,000 feet rather quick, called Denver Center and got the wave airspace opened to 30,000 feet, going through about 29,000 feet I called again and got it opened to 35,000 feet. Approaching 34,000 feet I tried to call Denver Center to open the airspace to 40,000 feet but my radio batteries got so cold that my radio was dead. I made it to 34,200 feet and could not get any higher, I messed around for ten minutes or so and could not get any higher. If there had still been any up in the wave I would have continued higher than 35,000 feet radio or no radio. I pulled the spoiler lever and made a max airspeed dive back to Black Forest Glider Port. When I got on the ground I got out of the cockpit and scratched my sore rear and reached into the cockpit to turn off the recording barometer and in that short time about 1/4 inch of frost had formed on all the inside of the cockpit. My chest area had about the same level of ice on the outside of my arctic Parka, it was where the exhale valve from my oxygen mask had vented and frozen to the Parka.
I still have a sailplane and a J-3 Cub with a 90 Hp Continental engine airplane for tow and fun flying.
Little late here, I missed this post, but thanks for your service to this country!
