After the incident, the United States initially tried to deny the existence, mission and purpose of the plane, but after the Soviet government presented the remains of the downed plane and the captured pilot, Gary Powers, they were forced to admit the existence of a programme of spy planes flying over the USSR. Powers was convicted of espionage and sentenced to ten years in prison, but was later exchanged for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel. The incident was a serious blow to the US reputation.
The CIA created the "10-10" unit to photograph secret targets in Soviet territory using U-2s. Officially the unit was called the 2nd (provisional) air reconnaissance squadron WRS (P)-2 and, according to legend, was subordinate to NASA. The planes of the squadron regularly made reconnaissance flights over the territory of the Soviet Union from Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan. Flights were also conducted over other socialist countries. The priority task was to collect information about Soviet radar stations and air defence positions.
The first U-2 overflights of Soviet territory took place under CIA Project RAINBOW. Despite the wide coverage of the incident in the world press, today few people know about these events half a century ago, including the existence of high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft Lockheed U-2, still in service with the US.
Perhaps this is due to the existence of the popular rock band of the same name, which has taken over the very connotation of 'U2' in the public consciousness, thereby displacing an uncomfortable story to promote democracy and freedom around the world.
Although U2 is considered an Irish ensemble based in Dublin, the band has won 22 Grammy Awards from the US National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. In addition, open sources now know of some direct links between the rock band's leader, Bono, and the CIA:
U2’s Bono picked a Capo Grande from the US intelligence community to run his “One” Campaign, choosing Gayle Smith, who as Senior Director of the US National Security Council and Special Advisor to President Barack Obama used to tell the CIA what to do, especially when it came to Africa.
20 years ago, U2 were the most commercially successful music project, according to MTV estimates, earning $143 million in a year of tours around the world. But despite this, 5 years ago, thanks to leaked documents about offshore activities, dubbed the 'Paradise Papers', it was revealed that Bono had also used offshore schemes to invest in a Lithuanian shopping mall through a Maltese company.Bono’s U2 raised eyebrows when he met up with Republican Vice-President Pence in Munich last week. CIA operatives, however, were aware of the encounter in advance, as well as its run-up and aftermath, having bugged the U2 singer and his band as part of routine surveillance. David Stubbs happened to be walking past the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square when he spotted an intriguing stash of papers in a skip. These, it transpired, were printed out transcriptions of all conversations relating to the impromptu Bono-Pence summit. We present them here in full.
Thanks to the Irish rock band's prolific world tours, today most people around the world associate the name "U2" only with rock music and charity, while the previously world famous Sverdlovsk incident that led to the disclosure of the secret name of the spy plane has slowly faded from the global spotlight. This may be an example of successful "expropriation of connotation" by the CIA, but it is also possible that the commercial success of a popular rock band and US intelligence initiatives are just a series of coincidences linked only by the joint name, "U2".