Operation Overflight: A Memoir of the U-2 Incident

Francis Gary Powers · Curt Gentry

Mar 2011 · Potomac Books, Inc.

About this eBook

In this new edition of his classic 1970 memoir about the notorious U-2 incident, pilot Francis Gary Powers reveals the full story of what actually happened in the most sensational espionage case in Cold War history. After surviving the shoot-down of his reconnaissance plane and his capture on May 1, 1960, Powers endured sixty-one days of rigorous interrogation by the KGB, a public trial, a conviction for espionage, and the start of a ten-year sentence. After nearly two years, the U.S. government obtained his release from prison in a dramatic exchange for convicted Soviet spy Rudolph Abel. The narrative is a tremendously exciting suspense story about a man who was labeled a traitor by many of his countrymen but who emerged a Cold War hero.

About the author

Curt Gentry was born in Lamar, Colorado on June 13, 1931. During the Korean War, he served in the Air Force. He graduated from San Francisco State College. He wrote several books including Frame-Up: The Incredible Case of Tom Mooney and Warren Billings, The Madams of San Francisco: An Irreverent History of the City by the Golden Gate, and J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets. He and Vincent Bugliosi wrote Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders, which won an Edgar Award for best fact crime book in 1975. He also wrote a novel entitled The Last Days of the Late, Great State of California. He died on July 10, 2014 at the age of 83.