a) Operation Overflight

Operation Overflight involved secret U-2 spy plane flights over Soviet territory during the Cold War. These high-altitude reconnaissance missions were carried out by the United States to gather intelligence on Soviet military capabilities. The operation came to a dramatic head in 1960 when a U-2 piloted by Francis Gary Powers was shot down over Soviet airspace, leading to an international incident that heightened Cold War tensions.

The 1960 U-2 incident was a significant Cold War event where a U.S. U-2 spy plane was shot down by Soviet Air Defence Forces on May 1, 1960. The plane, piloted by Francis Gary Powers, was conducting aerial reconnaissance deep within Soviet territory when it was hit by a surface-to-air missile and crashed near Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg). Powers parachuted to safety but was captured by the Soviets.

The incident occurred under the presidencies of Dwight D. Eisenhower (USA) and Nikita Khrushchev (USSR), shortly before a planned east-west summit in Paris. Initially, the U.S. claimed the aircraft was a civilian weather research plane, but was compelled to admit its true purpose after the Soviet government presented the captured pilot and parts of the U-2’s surveillance equipment.

The incident damaged U.S.-Soviet relations, leading to the cancellation of the Paris summit and significantly embarrassing the U.S. Powers was convicted of espionage in the USSR and sentenced to prison but was released in February 1962 in a prisoner exchange for Soviet intelligence officer Rudolf Abel.