Francis Gary Powers, Jr. is son of the famed U-2 pilot who was downed during a mission. Gary has spent years researching his father’s life and developing the Cold War Museum. We spoke about his new book that covers his father’s and family’s life and career. 1:06 – Gary explained why he wrote the book…


The post Cold War history book – “Spy Pilot” (Prometheus Books, 2019) – Francis Gary Powers, Jr. interview appeared first on WarScholar.


Francis Gary Powers, Jr. is son of the famed U-2 pilot who was downed during a mission. Gary has spent years researching his father’s life and developing the Cold War Museum. We spoke about his new book that covers his father’s and family’s life and career.


1:06 – Gary explained why he wrote the book on his father.


4:00 – Gary talks about he structured the book. He discusses who he interviewed for the book and FOIA requests.


5:53 – Gary talked about how he got the government to help him with his research.


10:18 – Gary talks about how the US government initially refused to believe that the Soviets had missiles that could have reached his father’s plane.


12:00 – Gary talks about how he got into this research.


15:50 – Gary talks about the various sections of the book.


17:01 – Gary talks about how his book adds to the history of this event.


18:40 – Gary talks about the Soviet pilot who was shot down chasing Gary Powers.


21:25 – Gary talks about how the Russians celebrated their pilots.


25:20 – Gary talks about his involvement with the movie “Bridge of Spies.”


28:56 – Gary talks about the Cold War Museum.


34:51 – Gary talks about some of the interesting spy and other items held at the Cold War Museum.


41:51 – Gary talks about the similarities between early NASA and the military.


44:00 – Gary talks about old audio recordings his father had made [that] years ago.


46:42 – Gary talks about the extensive physical and mental testing U-2 pilots went through.


53:58 – Gary has sites at coldwar.org for the museum. Gary has garypowers.com or spypilotbook.com.


Links of interest


https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/576973/spy-pilot-by-francis-gary-powers-jr-and-keith-dunnavant/9781633884687/


http://garypowers.com/


http://coldwar.org/


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Guests: Francis Gary Powers, Jr.


Host: Cris Alvarez


Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book, U-2, spy missions, cold war museum, Gary Powers, veterans, CIA, Air Force, medals, missiles, eisenhower, krushchev, latvian rugs, vladimir prison, bridge of spies, afghanistan


The post Cold War history book – “Spy Pilot” (Prometheus Books, 2019) – Francis Gary Powers, Jr. interview appeared first on WarScholar.

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