Month: April 2019

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What is History Resolved?

I have found that many historical conclusions are wrong and are proven so by the passing of time and the availability of recordings after that historical event. In the last eighty years, historians and publishers have found themselves like-minded and have taken this opportunity to draw conclusions that are contrary to the facts. They do this to put forth “history” that agrees with their political views and not the facts; this is because the logical conclusions are embarrassing to their favored party. These political views are almost always liberalism and the home to liberalism – – the Democratic Party. Once history has been bent and published to suit their goals it is then deemed “settled” which means that every reporting of history thereafter must agree with them or they will be shouted down by the all-powerful media.

History must be recorded without political or other influencing traits; it shouldn’t take on the traits of propaganda. This is the reason that history must be resolved with logical and common sense conclusions: Thus, the need for HistoryResoved.com 

Currently, I have found myself joining the ranks of the elders. As such I have the opportunity to RESOLVE some of the many errors in the recording of historical events because I have first-hand contemporaneous knowledge of them. This means that I can meld historical events with my oral history and hopefully give them legitimacy My oral history will be much more accurate because it hasn’t been passed down the ages as if it is a game of Telephone (where a phrase is giving to one person who passes it to another, and another until it gets to the end where the original phrase has been totally destroyed). Of course, oral history is an oxymoron; history means recorded events, oral ones exist only briefly in the air and profits only each person that hears it. If the events are not set in stone, so to speak, then how do we know it is accurate?

Historians doubted the accuracy of the Bible until the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. They were a record of history that agreed with the previously recorded Bible. Whether the historians agreed with the Bible or not they had to concede that it was recorded accurately.

Today’s historians, propagandist, will try to disprove my conclusions using the overused tool of switch and bait. I can’t cover every little detail in my posts. The distractors will point out some point of minutiae that was not addressed adequately and say, “See he didn’t take that into account.” These are distractions and distortions and will not be a factor in the primary supposition.

A prime example is my essay titled; What’s wrong with the Republican Party: from Lincoln too (but not including) President Trump.

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Convicted Felon Elected Mayor of DC

Marion Barry was elected mayor of Washington DC in 1979. In 1991 he fell into an investigation of drug trafficking and prostitution and was eventually video recorded smoking crack while in the company of a prostitute. He was tried, convicted and removed from office. The trial turned from one about his breaking the law into one about racism. DC was about 66% black and heavily Democratic. The city’s government were also predominantly black, yet, somehow the jury was able to see racism as the basis for the charges against Barry. Despite being on trial for over ten felony counts he was found guilty of only one.

He served his time and returned to DC to run for mayor again. It wasn’t as If he was running on his impeccable prior service. When he was arrested the city was almost bankrupt. The city was in shambles. Pretty much every city department was in disarray and not functioning as it should. Despite this, he was re-elected mayor in 1995.

How was this possible? Only in a heavily Democratic demographic could a convicted, incompetent candidate be elected; solely to refute racism that didn’t exist. Now think of this: It is out of this jury pool that people on trial must choose their jury. How confident would you be in getting a fair trial if you are a known Republican? If you were a known white Republican?

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Little Big Horn – Colonel Custer

History has recorded that there were no US Calvary soldiers who survived the Battle of Little Big Horn. In truth there were several. There were no survivors of the battle and the torture that ensued afterward.

This isn’t white man’s hyperbole. Indians have recorded it themselves and don’t deny it. I watched and listened to an interview with a tribal historian who confirmed it. He said that there were troopers who had lost consciousness during the battle for one reason or another and were taken, prisoner. The Indians,
the Lakota, Sioux, and Cheyenne, had such hate for the white men that they let their women and children finish them off. They did this by cutting off his testicles, then slicing through the skin on his thighs about 10 inches long, head to foot. Then cutting horizontal ones about 5 inches long at the top and the bottom of the first slice. Then the skin would be peeled away. When the trooper was no longer fun he was killed.

This historian was quite sure that Colonel Custer shot himself when he realized there was no escaping. Custer knew what to expect and no doubt chose death over it.

At first, it sounds as if Custer was reckless for making the charge since he was outnumbered nearly 10 to 1 by the Indians. However, Custer expected about a tenth of the number of Indians to what was actually there. Custer didn’t know that white gun runners had sold the Indians repeating rifles. These were better guns than the single shot Sharps carbines Custer’s troops had. In the past, whenever charged in this way, the Indians fled. And, Custer was expecting that a detachment from his force that was nearby would join the battle. However, they encountered an attack by the Indians and they fled when able.

During the Civil War Custer rose to the battle rank of Major General. Those promotions went away after the war. They are to fill urgent shortages of officers and to reward officers who merited it. At the Battle of Gettysburg, Custer realized that the rebel cavalry of Gen Jeb Stuart was about to overrun the rear of the Union forces. Custer drew his sword and let a charge of about 400 union cavalry against about 2,500 confederates ones. Custer broke the attack by Stuart and this was one reason for the Union victory.

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Hostage-Active Shooter How to survive


Update: There have been two recent examples of the below course of actions that were very successful. See at the end of the article.

I wonder why authorities don’t give better instructions on what to do and how to act if they are involved in an active shooter situation. In nearly all (I think there is one exception) the shooting stopped as soon as a second gun arrives at the scene. In one case the shooter was killed by that gun but in most cases, the shooter commits suicide. Several years ago a man pulled a gun at a wedding being held in Temecula CA and started shooting. The men closest to him jumped on him and stopped the shooting before too much damage was done.

This may sound crazy, but the best response to an active shooter is to charge. The last thing the shooter wants is to be captured, thus, that’s why they commit suicide when the possibility of being captured or wounded and taken alive presents itself. At the infamous Vergina Tech shooting a lone gunman walked leisurely between rooms, even returning to some to kill the wounded. In one of those rooms, brave Air Force ROTC Cadet Matthew La Porte did charge and was promptly dispatched. Why? Because it takes more than one person. Usually. If everyone in each room (he entered and shot in several rooms) had the mindset that if a shooter enters their room, they will charge, there would have only been three to five persons shot. And some of those would have probably lived. That sounds bad but at Virginia Tech 32 persons died and 23 wounded.

It takes time for a shooter to fire at one person and then another. There is a good chance that the first person will block the shooter and the second one can reach the shooter. Then the third person and more can pounce on the shooter. Unless the shooter is several feet away, then it will take three or more bodies to block his aim until others arrive. Plus, use whatever is available. In the Virginia Tech instance, men and women could have picked up desks and hold them between them and the shooter as they charged. The desks won’t stop bullets but there is a very good chance the shooter will try to shoot around them, and thus, making him miss. Everyone else should yell as loud as possible. That will frustrate the shooter who may be trying to give orders, also, it has been shown that unexpected loud sounds can disorientate a shooter. Distance does play a part. If you charge someone more than ten feet away, and you are among the first one to five persons charging, things don’t look promising. In the Virginia Tech incident, he only had 15 bullets in his magazine. Worst-case scenario, 15 persons would have been shot. But again, most of them will survive with injuries. If there had been someone that could tell when the shooter’s gun is empty, it takes a few seconds to reload, and that would be a good time to charge.

The shooter entered and exited the same rooms multiple times. What happens when a gunman enters the room? His gun and hand enter first. Someone hiding at the door jam could just reach out and grab it as he stuck it through the door opening. That would have been completely unexpected and would frustrate the shooter. When all else fails and you can’t escape or hide, try playing dead. It has worked for several persons. Are Americans brave enough to make such an ad hoc action?

In nearly all active shooter incidents the incident ends when the second gun gets there. It forces the shooter to commit suicide or risk being wounded and taken prisoner. The one thing almost all shooters fear is having their face plastered all over the newspapers and TV.

Yes, look at the 9/11 plane hijackings. One glaring element that everyone has missed is, that the terrorist’s elaborate plan only worked for an hour and seventeen minutes. The first plane crashed into the World Trade Center at 8:46 am. By 10:03 am the plan fell apart and the brave passengers of United Flt 93 tried to take back their plane. From that time on a takeover would not work. Enlighted Americans would have pounced immediately. Americans as a society are very brave.

Hostage situations: If you can escape, escape. In one instant a teenaged girl didn’t want to leave her best friend behind, so, she returned and was killed. Her friend was left for dead but lived. Had the first girl escaped odds are that both would have survived. In a hostage situation, the best way to handle it is for a witness to escape. The hostage taker is much less likely to kill or otherwise harm the remaining hostage when there is a good chance of prosecution if caught. In several police departments it is taught that if someone attempts to take an officer hostage or kidnap the officer, the officer is to resist. Pull their gun and fight it out. History has shown that police officers do not fare well when someone is able to get them to an isolated place. They are killed and the suspect has the time to make sure the officer is dead, no playing dead here. And when officers pull their guns, even when the suspect has their gun pointed at the officer, the officer does much better. No one wants to kidnap a wounded officer. Too much trouble. And if the officer is shot and not able to resist, then play dead. Officers in these situations often survive their wound, when kidnapped not so much.

In Salt Lake City a man took an entire maternity ward hostage along with several newborns. He had several guns and had a bomb out in his truck. He took two hostages, nurses, out to get it. He told everyone that he was going to blow up the entire ward and all the babies with it. When outside one brave nurse tried to grab his gun, but, when that failed she tried to escape and was shot in the back and promptly died. Had the second nurse taken her cue and also attacked the man they probably would have been able to get the gun away. The two went back onto the ward without the bomb. The hostages included a woman in labor and her boyfriend. The man told the boyfriend to go outside and retrieve the bomb which was now in the bushes just outside the door. When he exited the building police ordered him not to go back inside. He yelled that his girlfriend was inside and he had to return. He picked up the bomb and took it to the man, thus, endangering many more persons than that were being held, hostage. It was, in fact, a very real and powerful bomb.


What should the boyfriend do? For one, if he didn’t want to abandon his girlfriend he should have refused to go outside and face the consequences. By doing the cowardly thing, the “touchy feely” thing, he endangered the entire ward with its ten or so hostages plus others that had not been evacuated. The man did not make demands that once met would result in the release of everyone. He made demands and stated he was going to kill everyone even if the demands were met. Once outside he should have stayed out, but again, if he didn’t want to abandon his girlfriend he should have returned without the bomb. The hostage-taker eventually gave up even though the police had refused all of his demands. This was probably the same outcome had the boyfriend also refused to do his bidding. We will never know, but, we do know that several additional persons were put at risk. Keep in mind that the hostage taker had already said he was going to blow up the ward which included his girlfriend and the boyfriend, so, nothing was gained by the bomb being taken inside, quite the opposite. The hostage taker would have been denied one additional threat for the negotiations.

If someone is trying to beat or choke you to death, die. At least play dead. If someone wants you dead give them what they want. This has happened several times. Most murderers don’t realize how hard it is to kill someone and they become satisfied that the deed is done well before it is and stops.

Recent Examples: On April 27, 2019, in Poway California and then again on April 30, 2019, at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte there were two active shooters.

In the CA instant, a shooter entered a synagogue and started shooting. A brave woman placed herself between the gunman and his intended target, the rabbi, disrupting his attack. Others then pressed an attack and chased the suspect away. One of those persons actually took a shot at him. The shooter quickly gave himself up to the police when they gave chase. As it turns out, the shooter’s gun jammed. Why it jammed we don’t know. It could be that the disruption by the woman caused him to unintentionally do something to the rifle, but what we do know, is that he was denied the pause he needed so he could put all his attention on the weapon so he could troubleshoot and clear the jam. Three others were wounded but survived. Had this action not been taken many more would have died. In another recent shooting at a synagogue, eleven persons were killed.

In the UNC shooting, it was another ROTC cadet who pressed the attack when a gunman entered and began shooting. He was able to knock the gunman down while others jumped on him and took him into custody. The cadet and one other died of their wounds. Four others were wounded, two severely, but as of this report all four have survived.

It’s impossible to measure how many lives were saved by these brave people. One thing we do know, there weren’t thirty persons killed; at each location.

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Are Immigrants law-abiding?

Liberal keep finding some obscure professor in some college who does a study and finds that illegal immigrants are more law-abiding than natural born citizens. This is ludicrous. We should not accept such statistics unless they are evaluated by someone trustworthy. It is in the liberal’s DNA to lie, steal, and cheat. Why is the CA prison population made up of 10% illegal immigrants?

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Trump’s Tax Returns. Why They Are important

The reason Trump’s tax returns are soooo important to liberals is that when you file a tax return that covers billions of dollars it is impossible for there NOT to be a mistake. Whether it is prepared by employees or not, the filer is ultimately responsible. Liberals will have every line scrutinized by tax specialists. Trump stands no chance of not being prosecuted for the most minor offense. In a normal tax audit, if there is an honest mistake, the taxpayer makes it good, along with penalties and that is it. Liberal will never let Trump off.

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Police Code of Silence? NOT!

All you need to know:
The disproportionate amount of attention given to law enforcement officers; which is almost always negative, by the news media gives people the feeling that more is “at play” than there is. The media is not hesitant to bait others into saying or doing what they themselves wish, usually to the detriment of the baitee. If the persons can’t be baited, then the media will twist their words.

The media wants to portray the police in a way that falsely gives the impression that police selectively enforce the laws and gives more attention to a crime if the victim is white and less attention if a prostitute or homeless person is involved. Especially if the suspect is not white. This is ridiculous. Officers are predominantly law-abiding, civic-minded soccer moms or dads. Their goal is to be happy and to be happy with their family and friends. It is not going to work to be evil and cruel; someone completely the opposite of when at home. It’s the news media, the reporters, the writers, and especially the producers who have much more in common with crooks than law enforcement.

Details:
The current prejudice against police officers is glaring. Just look around at current events. If someone makes an allegation against an officer it is assumed true by the weight of this prejudice. All one has to do is make an allegation against the police and the media instantly picks it up and reports it as true. And if it can’t be proven true then it must be because the officers are hiding behind a “blue wall of silence.”

There is no vast understanding among all officers to lie to defend other officer’s actions. In today’s world, police officers are the first to turn in dishonesty by fellow officers. Police officers are usually building their careers, ones that would include promotions. If a carpenter is arrested for shoplifting it isn’t news, if a police officer is arrested it is news. Police bad conduct is disproportionately reported.

If a police officer is making an arrest for some crime it goes to reason that that person would be willing to lie if it could help themselves.

Years ago individual police officers began audio recording their activities. This was after the advent of small recording devices. The reason was that if someone made a complaint against the officer there was an audio account. Once played in front of the accuser the complaint was usually dropped. Of course, there is police misconduct, but it is being addressed very aggressively as it should be. Officers should be held to a higher standard, just not the standard of perfection. There will always be those that become officers for the sole reason to do crime.

The public’s attention is naturally drawn to officers and their actions. When the Rodney Glen King (police misconduct was recorded by a private person, see that incident) incident occurred I heard more than one TV news report suggest that “If this was recorded by chance how often do they really occur?” Nearly everyone has a camera now and nearly everything an officer does is recorded. Where is the avalanche of misconduct by police officers?

Keep in mind that when someone makes a complaint against an officer it is often because the officer has been called there to keep the peace, settle a dispute, arrest someone, and/or protect the prey against the predator. There is almost always someone that infuriated by the officers and thus a possible complaint. Many times the person being preyed upon is black as well as the suspect. There is much more black on black and black on white crime than white on black.

Today, most agencies have a very good ratio of black officers to white ones. I’ve heard many complaints that an agency has placed too many black officers in their predominantly white sections and too few in the predominantly black one. FACT, many black officers don’t want to work in black neighborhoods. Why? Because they are treated very harshly in black sections.

Trivia time, just for fun:
An off duty LAPD officer went to a little bar in a medium sized beach town on the coast of Southern California. While there it became know to some drunk college types that he was a police officer. He judiciously left the bar. He was followed by five men who confronted him and threatened to beat him. (P.S. all involved were white) Knowing he was about to be beaten, he drew his weapon and warned the men. Being drunk, they ignored it. He fired a round into the parking lot pavement. Being drunk men continued toward him until he shot one of them.

The incident was investigated by the local police. The man who was shot died. The other men claimed that the officer shot without a warning and without provocation. The officer was arrested. LAPD Internal Affairs began an investigation. The norm in cases like this is for the police department to wait until the criminal complaint is adjudicated before starting their Trial Board. It was taking a long time for the criminal trial to begin; nearly a year. All-the-while, the officer was being held in jail because he couldn’t come up with the bail.

By law, LAPD has only one year to adjudicate their civil case and since that date was approaching they convened a Trial Board. The officer is allowed to have another officer to act as his representative during the board. That officer visited the scene in the beach town to search for the slug that should be in the parking lot’s pavement. The town’s homicide detectives searched and couldn’t find it and the LAPD Trial Board Advocate should have searched for it. Eventually, he found it. He called the local police to pry it out of the pavement so it could be compared to the officer’s gun, which was being held as evidence by them.

Ballistics proved that it was the warning shot fired by the officer, just as he claimed. When confronted with this finding the other men crumbled and admitted that they were lying. All criminal charges were dropped along with LAPD’s charges.

In recent times the best way to get ahead in a police department is to “burn” another officer. This is especially true in large agencies. It is because of this, and their discrimination against police officers that they didn’t find the evidence.

In another instance:
A woman was getting lewd phone calls, lots of them. She complained and a wiretap was placed on her phone. This was back in the day wiretaps were done. The phone number was traced to an LAPD officer that lived not far from her. He was arrested for the misdemeanor and the LAPD convened a civil Trial Board. His defense rep (an LAPD officer of his choice to serve as a pseudo attorney) was frustrated because it was an open and shut case, yet, the officer kept claiming his innocence. As time dragged on his wife divorced him.

During the trial board, the LAPD called the phone tech that did the phone trace. He confirmed that he did the trace and it was accurate. When it was the defense’s turn his rep ask the tech if he did a phone trace and was it traced to; and then he read the officer’s phone number. The tech replied no. He took out his notes and read off the number the trace was to. The trace was to a number similar to the officer’s but where the last two digits were transposed. No one had noticed this before. The officer was presumed guilty. Wrongly, he had been arrested, lost his family, and nearly lost his job over this prejudice and careless mistake by an advocate who wanted to help his career by burning a cop. As it turned out, the correct number belonged to a known sex offender.

Okay, just one more, even more serious:
At the outcome of the Rodney King incident, the sergeant in charge was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon and other add on charges. Stacy Koon, the sergeant, after serving most of his two-year sentence, was transferred to a halfway house. A normal procedure when releasing a felon back into the public. The transfer was published by local media. A black man armed himself and went to that house. Koon was not there. Not able to find Koon the man opened fire on two completely innocent white people killing them.

The modern media fans these inaccurate flames of hate. Any black person can attack an officer (white or black) and claim reverse racism. Many deadly attacks on police have been blamed on perceived racism. In Baltimore MD, when a black arrestee died in the back of a police van it was claimed to be because of racism by the officers. Yet, the arresting officer was black. The transporting officer was black. The police commissioner was black. The mayor was black. But the media allowed the thread of racism to mingle with the facts. And rap music stars, don’t get me started. NWA (_igge_ With an Attitude, today we can’t even mention their name) Tupac, Little Biggie, Snoope Dogg all admit they got their start by selling drugs to their neighborhood children and others. But if they claimed they were harassed and preyed upon by the police because they were black, not for being drug dealers. Even if the officers were black.

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Crash of Boeing 737 in Africa (Another) Update

Airplane

Just In: Okay, now we know what really happened.

RE: 737 Max 8 MCAS causes two airliners to crash.

France’s Airbus added new more efficient and powerful engines on their Airbus planes. Boeing didn’t want to be left behind so they did too. HOWEVER, the new engines were physically much larger, taller, than those already installed. Airbus had no problems, the engines easily fit under the wings. The Airbus planes set much higher off the ground than the 737s. So, Boeing mounted the engines farther forward and up, closer to the underside of the wing. But this changed the balance of the planes. Under acceleration, the planes would tend to rotate nose up (instead of up and straight ahead). This was compensated by using a software program (MCAS) to correct the nose up by inputting nose down trim. All this was supposed to be done without the pilot noticing, thus, no extra training and no extra expense would be needed.

It’s inconceivable that Boeing would only use one sensor for this, but that’s just what they did. Nearly every critical system has a backup. Even small private airplanes have TWO sparkplugs and TWO ignitions systems for EACH cylinder. Boeing offered a backup system but, offered as an option at additional costs to the buyer. This will come back to bite Boeing in the butt.

During hard acceleration, as when taking off, and when the single AOA (Angle Of Attack) failed, either by a bird strike or otherwise, the software kept trying to trim the plane nose down even though the pilots were trying to nose up, to climb. This confused the pilots. They didn’t know why the plane was trying to do the opposite of what they were trying to do. The nose down trim was stronger than the pilot’s physical strength, which was trying to nose up. The pilots would be taken by surprise and not have the time needed to sort out the problem before the plane struck the ground. In the U.S. pilots receive a lot of time flying in real planes, not just simulators, thus, out of instinct they would know how to turn off the software and override the trim using the manual trim control. Many foreign airlines didn’t have, or wouldn’t spend, the money to send their pilots overseas for training in real planes. It is costly.

In fairness, in 2008, twice in September and once in October, Qantas Airline (A330 Airbuses) had flights that suddenly nosed down. Each time they were approaching Australia from the ocean and near the coast. However, each occurrence had sufficient altitude for the pilots to recover. Several people sustained serious injuries. After exhaustive investigations the investigators discovered which erroneous command was sent to the plane’s main computer, but, they never learned why. The code would run thousands of times correctly and then send an erroneous command. Eventually, the plane’s software was changed so that when this illogical command was sent, the computer was to ignore it.

Original Post:
Just in case you didn’t see this, the crash in Africa was only partially the fault of Boeing.

Boeing’s MCAS stall-protection system was at fault in the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 on March 10, 2019, this, according to a preliminary report released early Thursday. An earlier report showed that the aircraft’s flight data recorder revealed that the crew initially followed procedures Boeing recommended to disable the system, but then inexplicably re-enabled it. (We understand now that they were using trial and error to try to correct the aircraft. They ran out of time.)

A friend of Boeing brought up the specter of training again. It is noted that there have been no crashes in the U.S.A. or other counties that have a reputation for doing good training that include much flight time in planes, not just simulators.

Of course, that can’t be a final answer. If I’m traveling and get on a plane in Africa I would expect that every possible circumstance is covered during training. The pilots of the doomed planes obviously had much-advanced training and to a level much higher than the ordinary general aviation pilots. In this age of advanced artificial intelligence, AI, it’s incumbent upon Boeing to be sure that the difficulty level of flying their planes should fall significantly below that.

Okay, a bit of trivia: When Airbus was first rolling out their new A320, it had the worlds most advanced avionics. They had their most experienced test pilot ferry the airplane to an air show elsewhere in France. It had several persons on board that were guests and traveling to the show. In route, there was a little airshow at a small airport, and Airbus asked the pilot to do a low-level flyby to wow the locals by the sight of the humongous plane. The plane had several guests on it who were traveling to the big airshow. The pilot flew by at a very low altitude. At the end of the runway, the A320 kept flying straight and level and into the forest and trees, it crashed. Two persons onboard the plane died but the others, including the pilots, survived. The pilot stated that when he attempted to increase speed and altitude, the advanced AI on the airplane refused to allow him to do so. Airbus could not have been more embarrassed.

But, just so you know, this wasn’t the last problem dealing with AI (artificial intelligence) that Airbus had–and is having–some exactly like these. It seems Boeing is bent on repeating Airbus’s sins. It is still true that humans make and will make mistakes far more often than computers, but, on this topic, we have to strive for and accept nothing less than perfect.

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U-2 Spy Over-Flights Of USSR

What you need to know: CIA pilot Frances Gary Powers was doing a top secret (spying) over-flight of the USSR in a top secret U-2 spy plane when he claimed to be shot down. He failed to follow any of the standing orders if shot down. He failed to push the destruct aircraft switch to keep the top-secret aircraft and just as valuable its top secret camera system from falling into USSR hands, and he failed to take the poison given him. Despite the claim that he was shot down, the top-secret aircraft was whole except for minor damage. He suffered even less damage. All this was after crashing from over 70,000 feet. The USSR did not have the ability to shoot down an aircraft at that altitude. He was a double agent for the USSR.

The Details: In the 1960s USA President Dwight D. Eisenhower needed to see what the Soviet Union’s military threat really was. He was frightened that they had the capability to do what they boasted of. Lockheed Aircraft was able to produce an aircraft that could overfly the USSR. It couldn’t fly high enough to evade radar but too high to be shot down, and that was good enough. The USSR would never publicly acknowledge that the USA could overfly their country and they could not stop it.

The U-2 can fly well over 70,000, feet AGL (above ground level) and the USSR had nothing that could fly that high, neither missiles nor planes, thus, they had to sit quietly and not say anything. They were unable to demand the USA to stop without having to admit to the rest of the world that they were not able to stop us.

Then came a mission flown by then CIA officer Francis Gary Powers on 1 May 1960. He was overdue. To the horror of the CIA and the president, the USSR announced that it had shot down a U-2, flight. There, on television, for the world to see was Powers, in remarkably good health for having been shot down and ejected from a disintegrated airplane. Well not quite. It seems that the aircraft didn’t disintegrate and was, in fact, in remarkably good condition. Nearly completely intact. Despite the plane freefalling for about 70,000, feet it crashed with no “crush” damage (caused by a falling plane hitting the ground at a high rate of speed) and nearly no other damage. And we had the images to prove this, on Soviet TV. The Soviets got a nearly intact airplane. The Soviets got a top-secret plane and top-secret photo and imaging equipment. Powers failed to initiate the self-destruct mechanism on the plane as he was ordered to do. Powers also failed to use the poison he was given to kill himself (yes, it’s true, these things do happen) before being captured. Powers stated that he didn’t use the poison because, “…had hopes of escaping from the USSR.” Yeah, an American deep inside the USSR would be able to make it a thousand miles without being captured.

I remember this incident very clearly. The fact is, our CIA was certain that Powers was a USSR spy even if they couldn’t admit it. One of Power’s stories was that he had some kind of engine troubles that caused him to lose enough altitude to allow the Soviet missiles to reach him. Then another one where he said the missile reached his altitude but just nicked the plane which then fell like a leaf over 70,000, feet to land with no “crush” damage, as would be expected. However, his injuries along with the damage done to the fallen U-2 plane did not ring true. The Soviets were broadcasting images of the pilot and plane that showed little damage. But, what could the CIA do? The USA would have to expose valuable intelligence assets to try to disprove the shoot down.

About five years later Powers was released back to the USA in a spy swap. He was not welcomed home as a hero. He was not treated the same as our shot down pilots of the Vietnam war. Nope, he returned and was not offered any position anywhere. Not with the CIA or any government vendor. His considerable abilities were not desired anywhere. Not by an airline or even by flying tours. He got the only job he could, and that was with the sympathetic news media. He became a helicopter pilot for a Southern CA news station.

Eventually, he met the same fate that all persons seem to meet when the Soviet Union is fearful that some embarrassing information might be made public. For instance, as in a bestselling book or autobiography. His chopper fell from the sky and he was killed. He ran out of fuel because “someone” had worked on the fuel gauge without telling him.

Of course, there are several cover stories manufactured by the media over time. Often they do more harm (for Powers) than good. For example, when Powers was debriefed by the CIA upon his return he proudly told them that he gave the USSR some misinformation. He told them that he U-2 could not fly over 68,000 feet while it can fly well above that. But, didn’t the Soviets see that he was flying at a higher altitude. This was a tacit admittance that he was not flying at the altitude he was supposed to. And then there is the one where the Soviets had an unarmed Su-9 fighter in the area and he was instructed to ram the U-2. (During WWII both British and Nazi pilots ramed planes when necessary) As the story goes, the Su-9 missed the U-2 because he was flying too fast to maneuver to the U-2. Really. Please note that the Su-9 can only fly to 55,000, feet altitude. Powers must have been well below where he was supposed to be.