A Tribute to Francis Garry Powers
04-19-2010, 09:32 PM
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04-22-2010, 06:44 PM
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The unproven backstory in intelligence circles is that he probably did not set the destruct mechanism because he might have been afraid that it would explode before ejection so that there would not be a captured live pilot to tell the tale. In his book he said he did not eject, rather he could not reach the ejection handles because of g forces so he openned the canopy and pushed his way out. there is also a theory that on those flights the plane was rigged to explode on any ejection attempt before the pilot went out. Interesting conjecture. Could be why he did not eject.
04-26-2010, 05:16 AM
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Originally Posted by FightingFalconI
The unproven backstory in intelligence circles is that he probably did not set the destruct mechanism because he might have been afraid that it would explode before ejection . . . there is also a theory that on those flights the plane was rigged to explode on any ejection attempt before the pilot went out. Interesting conjecture. Could be why he did not eject.
The pilots knew their systems in detail. An " immediate ejection aircraft destruct system" could not have been kept a secret from them.
Destruct mechanism was for cameras only.
Centrifigual force pined him against canopy - no ejection
Manually released canopy and seatbelt
Separated from acft after "02 hoses broke."
Could not reach manually operated camera destruct switch
Source: https://www.cia.gov/library/center-f...1974/index.htm pages 176, 177
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