Francis Gary Powers (Spy Plane Pilot)

If you were around in the 1960s you would remember the U-2 Spy incident. If not, you probably heard about it in school. Francis Gary Powers was an American pilot whose CIA U-2 spy plane was shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission in Russian airspace. Powers received the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, and Prisoner of War Medals. Later he became a helicopter traffic reporting pilot for KGIL radio and a news reporter for KNBC-TV in Los Angeles. While reporting on brush fires in Santa Barbara County his aircraft crashed, killing him and his cameraman.