1 960 On May1,a U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance plane piloted by an American pilot entered the airspace of the former Soviet Union. Pilot Francis? Gary. Bowers casually went deep into the airspace of the former Soviet Union for 800 kilometers, then pressed the switch of the camera and began to shoot the targets of the former Soviet Union. Suddenly, the plane jumped with a jerk! Bowers knew that the plane was hit and immediately parachuted to escape.
Not long after, an American U-2 spy plane was shot down in the airspace of the former Soviet Union, and the news that the pilot was captured alive spread, and public opinion in the former Soviet Union was in an uproar.
The United States used U-2 aircraft to conduct high-altitude reconnaissance of the former Soviet Union from 1954. With the easing of the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union, Eisenhower once proposed to ban the flight of U-2 aircraft, but it was opposed by the Central Intelligence Agency and the Ministry of National Defense. So, reconnaissance activities continued.
Just before this incident, Khrushchev accepted the invitation of American President Eisenhower to visit the United States. The two men held a three-day meeting at Camp David, the presidential resort in Maryland, USA, and reached an agreement on a series of major issues. Eisenhower also accepted Khrushchev's invitation to pay an official visit to the former Soviet Union in the spring of 1960. Relations between the United States and the Soviet Union have eased.
But it didn't last long. Half a year later, the U-2 plane invaded the former Soviet Union, and the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union fell into a trough again.
On May 1 1 and 16, the former Soviet Union government submitted protest notes to the US government twice, strongly condemning the US aggression, but the US authorities described the invasion lightly as a weather reconnaissance plane strayed into the airspace of the former Soviet Union, saying that the United States did not intentionally violate the airspace of the former Soviet Union. Later, in the face of conclusive evidence, American President Eisenhower was forced to admit that the U-2 plane's "cross-border flight" was personally approved by the president, and the flight had lasted for four years, with the purpose of "understanding the troops and combat readiness in the world" to prevent the second "Pearl Harbor Incident" from happening again, but he said that there was no need to apologize to the former Soviet Union.
On May 16, the US-Soviet Anglo-French Summit was held as scheduled. Khrushchev first spoke at the meeting, denouncing the "robber" behavior of the US government, demanding that US President Eisenhower make a public apology and guarantee that similar incidents will not happen again.
But Khrushchev's request was rejected by Eisenhower. Angry Khrushchev immediately led the former Soviet delegation out of the meeting, and the four-nation summit aborted. Eisenhower's plan to visit the former Soviet Union also ran aground.
After the incident, Bowles was tried and sentenced to 10 years in prison. However, Bowles soon returned to the United States, because on February 1962, the United States and the Soviet Union reached an agreement to exchange imprisoned spies with each other.