Francis Powers - Operation Overflight

These concerns out of the way, I had to concentrate on my own fate.

The session began promptly at ten A.M. Grinev asked half a dozen more questions, then turned me over to Rudenko for reexamination.

This time there was no question what he was attempting to establish.

Q. When you took off from Peshawar on May 1 for your flight, what countries did you fly over?

A. A part of Pakistan, a small part of Afghanistan—I do not know how much—and the Soviet Union.

Q. In other words, you violated the airspace of Afghanistan?

A. If there were no permission obtained by the authorities, then I did.

Q. No Afghan authorities gave you their permission?

A. They did not give me permission personally.

Q. Your superior officers did not say anything?

A. No.

Q. You thereby violated the sovereignty of the neutral state of Afghanistan?

A. If no permission was given to my detachment, then yes.

Q. But did your detachment ever get any permission to make flights along the borders of the Soviet Union?

A. I have no idea.

Still not a single objection from Grinev, though the introduction of such evidence was damning.

During the interrogations I had felt safe in mentioning the bordersurveillance flights. Presuming there was nothing illegal about them, I had even emphasized them, to take attention off my “oneoverflight” story. Now I could see this had been a mistake. If no permission had been obtained from the countries overflown, these flights were also illegal. And this being the case, I was not a “first-time offender,” but a man guilty of a number of previous “crimes.”

The dialogue immediately following was ridiculous enough to bring laughter from the spectators. But it was important to Rudenko’s case.

Q. And did your detachment ever get any permission to make penetration flights over Soviet territory?

A. I would assume not.

Q. You assume. Perhaps you can tell us something more definite?

A. If any permission would have been obtained, it would have concerned higher authorities, and I would not have known anything about it.

Q. If there would have been such permission, you obviously would not be in the prisoner’s box today.

A. That is why I assume we had no such permission.

Again Rudenko established my altitude as sixty-eight thousand feet, then asked, “It was at that altitude that you were struck down by a Soviet rocket?”

A. It was at that altitude that I was struck down by something.

Q. You say you were struck down by something?

A. I had no idea what it was. I didn’t see it.

Q. But it was at that altitude?

A. Yes.

The report of a Major Voronov, said to have been in charge of the rocket crew, was read. According to the report, “As the plane entered the firing range at an altitude of over twenty thousand meters, one rocket was fired and its explosion destroyed the target.”

Rudenko and I then reached a draw on the subject of my radio, his contention being that I didn’t use it because of fear of detection, mine because of its limited range.

Then my maps got a going-over, the alternate routes through Finland, Sweden, and Norway drawing extra attention.

With the mention of Bodö came a special pleasure, one of the few thus far, the “black flag.”

Q. Before your flight on May 1, 1960, Colonel Shelton handed you a piece of black cloth. For what purpose was this cloth?

A. I don’t know. I was already in the airplane when I got it from Colonel Shelton. He ordered me to give this piece of black cloth to the representatives of the 10-10 detachment who were to meet me in Bodö.

Q. In the event of your successful flight over the Soviet Union?

A. At that time he thought it would be successful.

Q. This was your point of destination, and you were to have been met by representatives of the 10-10 detachment?

A. Yes.

Q. And you were to have handed them this piece of black cloth which was given to you by Shelton before your flight to the USSR?

A. Yes.

Q. In other words, this cloth was something in the nature of a password?

A. I have no idea.

Q. But what do you think?

Thus far I had resisted the temptation to get smart with Rudenko, knowing it could be held against me. But he had led himself up this blind alley.

A. I did not think I would need a password; the plane itself was proof who I was.

Q. The plane itself and Powers himself. But why this piece of cloth?

A. I don’t know. This was the only instruction I received on this. Plainly exasperated, Rudenko said, “Let’s leave this subject.”

Unimportant though it seemed, this exchange marked a turning point. Realizing that I could occasionally shake up Rudenko, I was no longer completely on the defensive. From now on I was determined to make him work doubly hard for his answers.

He immediately stumbled into another thicket, with the duplicate maps.

As noted earlier, I had been given a set of survival maps, which, in the event I went down, were to enable me to find the borders of the USSR. These had originally been stamped “Confidential” and “U.S. Air Force,” but someone had thoughtfully scissored out the words. Someone else, however, had stuck a second set in the plane, words still intact. A typical service snafu. But Rudenko was incapable of seeing that. He had to provide an explanation.

Q. This is quite clear, Defendant Powers. The two maps with these identifications cut out were in your possession and were to assist you, as you said, in getting out of the Soviet Union, but the other two maps were in the plane which you were to have destroyed on the orders of your masters.

That the explanation was nonsensical did not seem to occur to him. Apparently I had brought along an extra set of maps just so I could destroy them.

We came now to the watches and gold coins: Q. All these things were for bribing Soviet people?

A. It was to help me in any way to get out of the Soviet Union.

Q. I ask, for bribery?

A. If I could have done it, I would have resorted to bribing. If I could have bought food with the money, I would have bought it, for I would have had to make a fourteen-hundred-mile walk. In other words, the money and valuables were to be used in any way to aid myself.

Q. But you, of course, found that you were unable to use the money for bribing Soviet citizens. The very first Soviet citizens whom you met disarmed you and handed you over to the authorities.

A. I didn’t try to bribe them.

Rudenko had no further questions. I was not finished testifying, however. It was now the turn of the presiding judge to examine me. I was getting a course in Soviet courtroom procedure, one which I could very well have done without.

PRESIDING JUDGE VIKTOR V. BORISOGLEBSKY: Defendant Powers, I ask you to answer my questions. What was the main objective of your flight on May 1?

A. As it was told to me, I was to follow the route and turn switches on and off as indicated on the map.

Q. For what reason?

A. I would assume that it was done for intelligence reasons.

In the transcript this was edited to remove Borisoglebsky’s second question and revise my reply as follows: “As it was told to me, I was to follow the route and turn switches on and off as indicated on the map. It stands to reason that this was done for intelligence reasons.”

Q. You testified in this court yesterday that Colonel Shelton was particularly interested in rocket-launching sites.

A. Yes, he did mention one place on the map where there was a possible rocket-launching site.

Q. Would it be correct to say that the main objective of your flight on May 1 was to discover and register on the map all rocketlaunching sites?

A. I can only express my opinion on this matter. I feel sure that the experts who studied the film from my camera know what interested the people who sent me, but in my own opinion Soviet rockets interest not only us but the whole world as well. And I assume a flight like this would be to look for them, I suppose. But I repeat, I do not know, and I’m only expressing my own opinion.