The U-2 was amazing for many things, the most stunning was its unprecedented capability to gather military intelligence, photos infiltrating deep into Soviet territory with impunity by virtue of flying beyond that which Soviet missiles were capable. Until, shot down as reviewed here with incredible images, history
Amazing we could [produce such planes in the ‘50’s
Interesting to read some of the article comments from idiots espousing moral equivalency between Soviet Union and USA and how evil we were to use the A-bomb.
Turns out they shot down one of their own in addition to Powers:
The marshal was debating whether to go home to change his clothes or go straight to Red Square when another call came from Sverdlovsk on the special phone. The general haltingly reported that the second parachutist had been found and that unfortunately he was one of ours, Senior Lieutenant Safronov.“What do you mean, one of ours?” The marshal barely kept from shouting. “How many planes did you shoot down? Can’t you tell the difference between ours and theirs?”
“His transponder wasn’t working,” lied the general. That lie was repeated many times later, until Igor Mentyukov cleared up the matter: The transponders were operating, but on the code for April, not May. In the preholiday flurry of activities, service personnel had not yet changed it. So not surprisingly, the radars perceived friendly as foe.
“How many missiles did you fire?” asked Biryuzov, gradually calming down.
“One, three, and then two more.” The general in Sverdlovsk began counting. “Fourteen in all,” he said, sounding depressed.
“And which one brought down the plane?”
“The first.”
Interesting story and photos, but not all the links on there are safe, so be careful...