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Francis Gary Powers

U-2 pilot whose 1960 shoot-down over the Soviet Union and subsequent capture the CIA initially denied any knowledge of, denying not only that he was CIA but that he was U.S. government at all, until trading him in a bridge-of-spies prisoner exchange. Buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Per John Kiriakou, after his U-2 career Powers ended up piloting a Los Angeles traffic helicopter, and was killed when it crashed.

Francis Gary Powers was the CIA U-2 pilot whose 1960 shoot-down over the Soviet Union and subsequent capture the CIA initially denied. Per John Kiriakou the agency “not only just denied that he was CIA, we denied that he was USG at all” — until trading him back in a “bridge-of-spies” prisoner exchange. Powers is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.[1]

Kiriakou: “This poor guy, after piloting the U-2, ended up piloting a traffic helicopter in L.A., and then he crashed that and was killed in the crash.”[2]

The traffic helicopter (Arlington tour)

Per John Kiriakou, Francis Gary Powers — shot down in his U-2 over the Soviet Union in 1960 — survived a parachute ejection that no one was sure was even survivable from that altitude, because U-2 pilots were expected to go down with their aircraft. Taken prisoner and paraded before Soviet media, he forced Eisenhower to admit the U.S. flew spy planes.[3][4][5]

When Powers returned home there was no hero’s welcome; many Americans felt he should have gone down with the plane rather than be taken alive and embarrass the country. Unable to find work, he was eventually hired as a traffic-helicopter pilot by a Southern California television station and was killed in a crash while reporting on traffic. Kiriakou’s assessment of his Arlington burial: “He is exactly where he belongs.”[6][7]

See also

See also

References

  1. Cleared Hot Podcast, 2026-05-041:49:42 on YouTube · Transcript
  2. Cleared Hot Podcast, 2026-05-041:50:12 on YouTube · Transcript
  3. Walk With History, 2026-05-0610:30 on YouTube · Transcript
  4. Walk With History, 2026-05-0611:00 on YouTube · Transcript
  5. Walk With History, 2026-05-0611:30 on YouTube · Transcript
  6. Walk With History, 2026-05-0612:00 on YouTube · Transcript
  7. Walk With History, 2026-05-0612:30 on YouTube · Transcript

Sourced from John Kiriakou's on-record public statements. See his profile for the full body of his interviews, podcast appearances, and short-form video.