The Case of the Missing U-2

Addressing the Supreme Soviet on 5 May, Premier Khrushchev stated that on 1 May, “the most festive day for our people and the workers of the world,” an American plane had crossed the Soviet frontier at 0536 Moscow time “and continued its flight into the interior of the Soviet land.” After “a report on this aggressive act to the Government,” the plane “was shot down. . . . An expert commission is studying data that fell into our hands.”

On the same day (5 May) a statement was issued from Washington ostensibly from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This declared that on the morning of 1 May one of its Lockheed U-2 high- altitude research planes (“flying weather laboratories”) had taken off from Incirlik air base, Turkey. At 0900 local time (i.e., 1000 Moscow time) the pilot had reported “oxygen difficulties over the Lake Van, Turkey, area. If the pilot had continued to suffer lack of oxygen . . . [and] if the airplane was on automatic pilot, it is likely it would have continued along its northeasterly course,” and thus have crossed the Soviet border.

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James Burnham

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Addressing the Supreme Soviet on 5 May, Premier Khrushchev stated that on 1 May, “the most festive day for our people and the workers of the world,” an American plane had crossed the Soviet frontier at 0536 Moscow time “and continued its flight into the interior of the Soviet land.” After “a report on this aggressive act to the Government,” the plane “was shot down. . . . An expert commission is studying data that fell into our hands.”

On the same day (5 May) a statement was issued from Washington ostensibly from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This declared that on the morning of 1 May one of its Lockheed U-2 high- altitude research planes (“flying weather laboratories”) had taken off from Incirlik air base, Turkey. At 0900 local time (i.e., 1000 Moscow time) the pilot had reported “oxygen difficulties over the Lake Van, Turkey, area. If the pilot had continued to suffer lack of oxygen . . . [and] if the airplane was on automatic pilot, it is likely it would have continued along its northeasterly course,” and thus have crossed the Soviet border.