Francis Gary Powers (August 17, 1929 – August 1, 1977) was an American pilot whose CIA[1] U-2 spy plane was shot down while over the Soviet Union, causing the 1960 U-2 incident.

Powers was born in Jenkins, Kentucky, with Melungeon ancestry, and raised in Pound, Virginia, on the Virginia-Kentucky border. He was raised by his mother and father, Ida and Oliver Powers, and had five sisters Jean Goff (residing in Pound, VA), Joan Meade (residing in Norton, VA), Joyce (residing in Virginia) Janice Melvin (residing in Salt Lake City, Utah) and Jessica Hileman (residing in Mechanicsville, MD). After graduating from Milligan College in Johnson City, Tennessee, he was commissioned in the United States Air Force in 1950. Upon completing his training (B52-H) he was assigned to the 468th Strategic Fighter Squadron at Turner Air Force Base, Georgia as an F-84 Thunderjet pilot. He was assigned to operations in the Korean War, but (according to his son) was recruited by the CIA because of his outstanding record in single engine jet aircraft, soon after recovering from an illness.[2] By 1960, the 31-year old Powers was already a veteran of many covert aerial reconnaissance missions.

From Wikipedia