About that U-2 that was "shot down" by the Russians...

October 29, 2023

"Our best judgment is that it did not happen as claimed by the Soviets; that is, we believe that it was not shot down at its operating altitude of around 70,000 feet by the Russians. We believe that it was initially forced down to a much lower altitude by some as yet undetermined mechanical malfunction." -- Allen Dulles, former head of the CIA, in a statement made to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 31-May-1960

Leroy Fletcher Prouty Jr. lived a very interesting life spanning multiple professions including 20+ years in the U.S. military. This fascinating man possessed a wealth of knowledge about many notable historical events regarding the military and CIA operations. Having become disillusioned with the CIA, he began talking and writing about its activities. An interesting side note is that Prouty's boss at one time was General Victor 'Brute' Krulak who served in several wars including Vietnam. Krulak is featured in Neil Sheehan's book, A Bright Shining Lie, which is an important book for anyone wanting to better understand the United States' involvement in the Vietnam war.

The public has always been told that the Lockheed U-2, piloted by Francis Gary Powers, was shot down by the Russians over Russia on May 1, 1960. Wikipedia, the 'ministry of truth', also repeats this nonsense, as does Oliver Stone in his film, JFK, which is a limited hangout in that it ignores the key role which Israel played in the assassination. Fletcher was portrayed as the memorable "Mr. X" in the film. JFK was financed by Arnon Milchan's production company, Regency Enterprises. Milchan was one of Israel's most prolific arms dealers and he played an important role in Israel's theft of nuclear materials used to build the nuclear weapons which the Jewish state refuses to declare.

Fletcher worked at the Pentagon at the time of Power's U-2 flight which he states was unauthorized at a time when no overflights over the USSR were to be taking place. Fletcher's comments about this event, along with statements made by Allen Dulles, tell a very different story regarding the termination of Gary's U-2 flight over Russia. Prouty's department at the Pentagon was adjacent to the department that oversaw U-2 operations and he was responsible for supplying military support for CIA clandestine operations, including its U-2 flights.

It is interesting indeed that Lee Oswald, who had apparently worked with radar technology, possibly specific to the U-2, may have held intimate knowledge of certain aspects of U-2 flight operations. It is also interesting that Oswald's "defection" to Russia placed him there during the flight of Gary Powers' U-2. We can be pretty damned certain that Oswald did not defect to Russia as the official narrative claims and, in fact, he almost certainly had ties to the CIA and/or the ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence). Prouty's statements in the interview below, if accurate, seems to make it clear that Oswald's presence in Russia at the time of the U-2 incident was deliberately timed to assist the Russians in the acquisition of the aircraft, a top secret technology transfer plan which was hatched by four men who Prouty knew, but chose not to name.

Oswald's presence in Russia coinciding with Power's U-2 flight is mentioned in passing in the 1973 film about the John Kennedy assassination, Executive Action.

Following are some of the key points made by Prouty in the interview, Col L. Fletcher Prouty - the circumstances surrounding Gary Powers U2 shot down over Russia in 1960

the Powers U-2 flight was not authorized by the military or Washington
four men were responsible for the flight - Prouty does not reveal their names
the Russians did not have the capability to shoot down a U-2 at its cruising altitude of around 80,000 to 90,000 ft. (U-2 flights had been taking place over Russia for 4 years previous to the Gary Powers incident)
given the low oxygen environment at its cruising altitude, the U-2's engine could not be restarted if it "hiccuped", thus the plane was equipped with a hydrogen tank which mixed hydrogen with the jet fuel in order to make it more combustible (not even the U-2 pilots were initially aware of this)
the U-2 was purposely supplied with an insufficient amount of hydrogen needed to complete its flight, thus ensuring the flight would terminate over Russia
Prouty's department supplied the hydrogen bottles for the CIA's clandestine U-2 flights, but he doesn't know who was responsible for supplying an insufficient amount
after running out of hydrogen at an altitude of around 80,000 to 90,000 ft., Powers was forced to descend to an altitude at which he could have restarted the engine (around 30,000 ft.), however by that time the plane was intercepted by a "merry-go-round" of Russian MiG's which forced Powers to land in a field (he did not bail out)
the massive and highly valued Lundahl camera which was "a bigger secret than the U-2", and which the plane typically carried, was swapped out with a lessor camera when Lockheed repaired the aircraft due to an earlier mishap
Powers did not know about the plan, nor the various items in the 'defection kit' hidden in the ejection seat
for security reasons regarding these clandestine CIA U-2 missions, 3 pilots would be chosen to fly one of 3 planes, none of them knowing which one would be chosen nor which plane they would fly - furthermore, each pilot would be stripped and provided with a pocket-less flight suit, thus Powers would not have been able to conceal anything in his flight suit, nor bribe anyone to hide it on the plane beforehand

Following is an excerpt regarding the U-2 incident from Prouty's book, The Secret Team: The CIA and Its Allies in Control of the United States and the World, in which we learn that the possible reason for the forcing down of the plane in the Soviet Union at that particular time was to sabotage peace negations.

As 1960 began, two great pressure groups collided. President Eisenhower was steering his Administration to the climax of its final term in office. Everything done during the early months of 1960 was dedicated to the task of establishing a foundation for an era of peace and prosperity. The ultimate summit meeting was to be the prelude to his tour, his visit to Moscow and to other capitals of the world on his crusade for peace.
Although all mankind hoped for peace and few would oppose the noble objectives of the aging President, there were still those of the "fear Communism" school who believed that the Kremlin could never be trusted, in spite of its public willingness to join with President Eisenhower and other leaders. Elements of this underground faction not only raised the banner of anti- Communism, but lived by it and traded upon its power. They played upon the baser motivation of fear that is in all elements of human society. For them it is easier to move men by that method than to attempt it by more noble means. This under ground faction gained strength from three major areas. The Maxwell Taylor school of Army dissidents, along with their powerful industry collaborators, openly opposed the Eisenhower doctrine of military and foreign policy supported by "massive retaliation," and they distrusted the peace offensive.
Another group--ostensibly Army, Air Force, high-level Office of the Secretary of Defense and Executive Office Building (White House) personnel--was working quietly on a vast education and reorientation program of civic action, nation-building, and such other ideas, which were in reality a cover for the extension of covert activities of the ST into the countries served by the Mutual Security Program and such other assistance projects. The regular military assistance program countries were the primary targets. The military cover personnel and their civilian disciples worked on this project with the zeal and energy of dedicated missionaries in support of a new and vital religion. (This is the subject of the following chapter.)
The third group was made up of the hard-core CIA and ST elite activists who were increasingly prepared and able to wage clandestine counterinsurgency anywhere in the world with forces of any size, at any time, and in response to intelligence inputs of all kinds and characteristics. For example, the inputs did not have to be anti-Communist when it did not suit the team. They could see danger to this country in almost any situation. The sudden dislike of the Latin dictator Trujillo certainly had nothing to do with anti-Communism, but he went the way of all "enemies" on charges of a special nature, just as Ngo Dinh Diem did in 1963.
Over the years this group had begun by defining the Soviet Union and World Communism as the enemy. Then it had pressed the idea of global containment of the world of Communism. Having built the wall from Norway on the North Sea to Turkey on the Black Sea, and from Iran on the northeast slopes of the Gordian Knot to India and Pakistan on the high Himalayas, and then on along the tenuous northern borders of Burma, Laos, and the 17th parallel in Vietnam, it began the cultivation and indoctrination of the idea that the real danger lay in the spread of Communism into the peripheral countries by means of subversive insurgency and support of wars of national liberation. To complete this fear-of-Communism syndrome, this movement contained a strong element that saw Communism and Communist subversion seeping into and permeating almost every area of the United States.
One of the greatest nonelective, nonruling power forces of all time is this anti-Communist fanatic group, which rips through to the very heart and soul of the nation, playing upon fear and ignorance for its own selfish and in many cases ignorant, fear-crazed interests. More harm has been done from 1947 through 1972 to the United States and the world by this rabid and ruthless element than the Kremlin could have hoped to have accomplished itself by any other means short of nuclear war.
This combination of power elites did win its tremendous underground struggle against the peacemakers led by President Eisenhower when the U-2 reconnaissance spy-plane flown by Francis Gary Powers crash-landed in the heart of the Soviet Union only two weeks before the Paris summit conference. Powers' flight was a most unusual event. It was not part of the regularly scheduled series of routine U-2 operations. It was launched and directed by a small cell of inner elite for reasons which may never be possible for anyone to determine. If by any chance the thought had ever occurred to the four men who launched it that the failure of this relatively unimportant flight would completely wreck and vitiate all of the hopes and plans of the Eisenhower Crusade for Peace, they could not have chosen a more effective method or time to have done it. The very fact that what was done could have been done so easily according to a sinister plan, not an accident or Soviet act, serves only to fuel the thought that it might have been done on purpose. Such a simple thing as failure to supply the plane with sufficient hydrogen for the flight could have resulted, just as it did, in the certain flame-out of the engine and the subsequent failure of the mission--or success of the mission, depending upon the secret intent of those who dispatched it.
This trend of thought is intriguing, because scarcely had the U-2 crashed into the daisy fields of central Russia than all three power groups mentioned above leaped into the void created by the demise of the Eisenhower initiative, to power a ground-swell upon which the Nixon campaign foundered and the Kennedy team rode to victory. The interesting part of all of this, even the ominous part, was that the groundswell had started even before the collapse of the peace crusade and the summit conference. It would lead an observer, at least one who was very close to the inside activity, almost to believe that there is a great force somewhere that does not want to see a peace crusade succeed; or, to put it in active terms, that wants to promote professional anti-Communism and all that the term has come to mean during the past inglorious decade in Vietnam.

For more information about this fascinating man, see The Col. L. Fletcher Prouty Reference Site.