Because his Sukhoi Su-9 was in ferry configuration, it carried no armament. Seemingly, Captain Igor Mientiukov’s task was impossible to fulfill, but the order was an order, and he scrambled in great haste.
The Lockheed U-2 is perhaps the most famous spy plane ever built, remembered for the daring missions its pilots flew over or near hostile airspace. The CIA-operated U-2 reconnaissance flights over the Soviet Union came to symbolize the Cold War rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union in the early and middle years of that conflict.
Much has been written about these overflights, especially the May 1, 1960, mission that ended with the shootdown of U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers. Far less familiar, however, is the Soviet side of the story—the effort to detect, track, intercept, and ultimately destroy Powers’ high-altitude aircraft.
According to Krzysztof Dabrowski’s Hunt for the U-2, the Soviets detected the intruder at 05:36 local time. By 06:00, the HQ and main air defense post of the V-PVO in Moscow had taken over coordination of the interception effort, and an hour later Marshal Siergiey Biryuzov arrived to oversee operations. Khrushchev was soon informed and, as might be expected, was furious, believing the May 1 reconnaissance mission was a deliberate provocation. He ordered the intruder destroyed at any cost and complained bitterly about the V-PVO’s failure to stop it. In response, Marshal Biryuzov said that if he could, he would turn himself into a missile and knock down the “damned intruder.”
At the same time, air defenses across southern USSR were placed on full alert, and civilian aircraft were ordered to land at the nearest airfield. With the skies cleared, the Soviets focused on how to deal with the intruder. The longer it remained airborne, the better it could be tracked by radar, and it soon became clear that it was heading toward Sverdlovsk. That was encouraging for the Soviets, since the city was covered by SAM batteries and had fighter units nearby, giving them a real chance of bringing down the American aircraft.
Because there was no guarantee the U-2 would enter the SAM engagement zone, the V-PVO decided to launch interceptors first. Acting on Khrushchev’s order to destroy the target at all costs, General Yevgeny Savitskiy, commander of fighter aviation in the V-PVO, ordered all alert flights along the intruder’s route to engage it—and ram it if necessary.
That grim assignment fell to Captain Igor Mientiukov. By pure chance, on April 30, 1960, he had stopped at Kolcovo air base outside Sverdlovsk to refuel while ferrying a new Sukhoi Su-9, NATO reporting name Fishpot, from the factory to an operational unit. Instead of continuing his flight the next day, he was ordered to scramble against a high-altitude target. But his Su-9 was in ferry configuration and carried no weapons: it had no guns and no air-to-air missiles, since none were available at Kolcovo. Mientiukov’s task seemed impossible, but the order stood, and he took off at once. Once airborne, he contacted ground control, received target information, and was explicitly ordered to ram the U-2. The mission was effectively suicidal, since even surviving the collision might not have spared him from the effects of a high-altitude ejection.
Ground control guided Mientiukov onto a rear-chase intercept course. When he was about 25 km from the target, he was told to jettison his external fuel tanks and light the afterburner. His Su-9 accelerated quickly to Mach 1.9-2.0 and climbed to 20,000 meters. But when the distance to the U-2 closed to 12 km, the American aircraft turned, and the Soviet pilot—still without visual contact—was ordered to follow.
At such extreme speed and altitude, however, the Su-9, like most interceptors of the period, was not especially maneuverable. Mientiukov overshot the target by 8,000 meters. At that speed, the error was less dramatic than it might sound, but he was now ahead of the U-2 and out of position to turn back for another pass. Ground control then ordered him to cut the afterburner and reduce speed. But just as he complied, he received another command: disengage immediately and leave the area. By then, Powers’ U-2 was about to enter the SAM engagement zone protecting Sverdlovsk, and the first missile salvo was already in the air. It was now safer for friendly aircraft to clear the area.
Hunt for the U-2 is published by Helion & Company and is available to order here.
Top Image: From the Powers Family Collection
Photo by Alan Wilson from Stilton, Peterborough, Cambs, UK via Wikipedia
