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In the early morning of May 1, 1960, less than three hours before the May Day International Labor Day military parade in Moscow's Red Square, Khrushchev, who had just gotten up and was preparing for the parade, suddenly received a call from Marshal Malinovsky, the Minister of Defense of the Soviet Union, reporting to him that the U2 reconnaissance plane of the United States had once again crossed the border to reconnoiter the depths of the Soviet Union.
The U2 reconnaissance aircraft is an all-weather high-altitude manned reconnaissance aircraft developed by the Lockheed Company of the United States, nicknamed "Black Widow". The U2 is 15.11 meters long, 3.96 meters high, has a takeoff weight of 7384 kg, a maximum flight speed of 804 km / h, a maximum ceiling of 27,000 m, and a range of 4180 km.
In 1956, U2 reconnaissance aircraft began to equip the U.S. military, when it flew at an altitude beyond the effective range of all Soviet interception tools and could evade Soviet radar systems, rendering the Soviet surface-to-air missile forces ineffective.
It was equipped with cameras and sensors, but it could collect soviet intelligence information in detail at an altitude of more than 20,000 meters. For the world, where satellite technology is just beginning, no country except the United States has such a powerful means of reconnaissance. As a result, since the U2 entered service, it has been frequently used to reconnoiter highly valuable strategic targets such as the Soviet Union and its allies.
U2 was designed specifically for the Soviet Union, so U2 was put into reconnaissance of the Soviet Union as soon as it entered service. Initially, the U2's reconnaissance route took off from Wiesbaden Air Base in West Germany, crossed Poland into Soviet airspace, and after crossing Soviet airspace in Belarus and Leningrad, returned to Wiesbaden Air Base from the Baltic Sea.
U2 reconnaissance aircraft have frequently flew over Soviet airspace since June 20, 1956, but at that time the Soviet Union had no way to do anything, ordinary radar found U2, missile guidance radar was powerless, and the lift limit of missiles and fighters was not enough. The Soviet Union had no choice but to protest to the United States through unofficial forms, but the United States has been prevaricating that U2 is performing an atmospheric sampling mission.
In the early hours of May 1, 1960, U2, which had been harassing the Soviet Union for four years, again took off from Peshawar Air Base in Pakistan to reconnoiter the depths of the Soviet Union. The U2 was piloted by Bowers, whose planned flight route was from Afghanistan into Soviet airspace, then flying over Yekaterinburg and Plesetsk to reconnoiter the Soviet Union's intercontinental ballistic missile bases, and finally landing at Bode Airport in Norway.
In the face of the continuous provocations of the United States in the past few years, the Soviet Union has increased its investment in scientific research in the field of air defense, rapidly upgraded the relevant equipment, radar can long track U2, and according to the tracking of U2 travel routes many times, the fixed reconnaissance route of U2 has been determined, and once U2 enters the territory of the Soviet Union, the radar stations throughout the Soviet Union can track it uninterruptedly.
In addition, the Soviet Union also developed the SAM 2 surface-to-air missile specifically for high-altitude targets. This missile is the first generation of the Soviet Union's medium-range all-weather high-altitude air defense system, with a maximum range of 48 kilometers, a maximum combat altitude of 32,000 meters, and a speed of up to Mach 4, which can be said to have been developed for U2.
Sam-2 missiles were finalized in December 1957, and large quantities began to be deployed, and by 1960, more than 1,000 missiles had been deployed. A large web woven to capture U2 has opened.
When the U2 reconnaissance plane invaded Soviet airspace again at such an important time, Khrushchev, who had been smiling for the upcoming military parade, immediately became serious, and the political and provocative significance of the U2 intruding into soviet airspace at such a special time was far higher than the actual reconnaissance significance.
The United States humiliated the Soviet Union so much, and the Soviet Union, from ordinary soldiers to Khrushchev, was saddled with heavy pressure and great shame, and this U2 had to be beaten down. So Khrushchev immediately ordered on the phone: "At all costs, one hundred percent assurance, to beat it down for me." ”
After the order was given, the Soviet Union first sent a Su-9 interceptor to intercept it, because in a previous operation to intercept the U2 in early 1960, the launched Sam 2 failed to shoot down the U2, so the missile attack was placed in the second option.
The su-9's ceiling is only 17,000 meters, in order to reduce the weight and increase the lifting limit, this Su-9 does not carry any weapons, in order to hope that the Su-9 can rise to the same altitude as the U2, and then the pilot plane crashed the U2, so that the way to figure it out, it can be seen that the U2 brought great shame to the Soviet Union, this time the Soviet Union vowed to shoot down the U2.
But the Su-9 ultimately failed to intercept because the U2 was not found at all. Fortunately, the ground radar has been tracking the U2, and after learning that the interceptor interception failed, the surface-to-air missile unit immediately entered the battle, firing 14 missiles in the first round of launches.
The SAM-2 surface-to-air missile had a single-shot hit rate of 70%, the three-round missile had a hit rate of 95%, and 14 rounds were fired in one go, which showed the Determination of the Soviet Union to take down the U2.
At this time, Bowers was driving the U2 through Sverdlov, and when he flew over the Salt Lake region before that, he actually found the Su 9 that had come to intercept him, but he proudly believed that the Soviet Union was unable to shoot him down, and the Su 9 sent could not even see his own shadow.
However, it was not long before an orange light illuminated the cab, and then the plane shook violently and entered a tail spinning state. A Sam 2 missile successfully hit the tail wing of the U2, and the pilot Bowles did not inject the poison needle to kill himself as required, but chose to open the hatch and parachute.
After the hatch opened, the fierce air currents blew Bowles out of the airport, and before they could start blowing up the U2 button. Eventually the U2 wreckage was captured by the Soviets, and Bowers, who had escaped by parachuting, was also captured by the Soviets.
At this time, the military parade had just ended, and a grand celebration parade was taking place on Red Square. At this time, Marshal Bilyuzov, commander of the Homeland Air Defense Force, boarded the review platform and told Khrushchev the good news about the shooting down of the U2 reconnaissance aircraft and the capture of american pilots. Khrushchev was overjoyed: "I will personally celebrate the merits of the air defense forces!" ”
The Soviet Union successfully shot down the American reconnaissance plane that invaded its own airspace and captured the American pilot, the evidence was conclusive, and it really grasped the handle of the United States, and at the subsequent four-nation Paris summit, Khrushchev issued a fierce rebuke to Eisenhower, putting the entire United States in an extremely embarrassing situation.
The Soviet Union was humiliated, but the United States refused to apologize to the Soviet Union for this, and Khrushchev left the scene in anger at the four-nation summit, and the us-Soviet relations fell to a freezing point, but since then U2 has not dared to enter Soviet airspace. The captured pilot, Bowers, was released by the Soviet Union on February 10, 1962, during a spy exchange program between the United States and the Soviet Union.
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