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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
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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