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t plane also has been used by NASA to obtain information © about cosmic rays, and the concentration of certain ele- ments in the atmosphere, including ozone and water Instrumentation carried includes: Angular velocity recorder, to measure the airplane's rate of pitch ; modified VGH recorder, to measure and record head-on gust com- ponents in flight; flight recorder Model BB, continuous recorder of indicated airspeed, pressure altitude and normal acceleration; airspeed and altitude transducer to moeasure pressure altitude and indicated airspeed; tem- perature and humidity measuring set AN/AMQ 7, to Measure indicated free air temperature and indicated relative humidity; and vortex thermometer system, to measure true free-air temperature within one-half degree Centigrade at high speeds, DEPARTMENT STATEMENT, MAY 5! The Department has been informed by NASA that, as announced May 3, an unarmed plane, a U-2 weather research plane based at Adana, Turkey, piloted by a civilian has been missing since May 1. During the flight of this plane, the pilot reported difficulty with his oxygen equip- ment. Mr. Khrushchev has announced that a U.S. plane has been shot down over the U.S.S.R. on that date. It may be that this was the missing plane. It is entirely possible that having failure in the oxygen equipment, which could result in the pilot losing consciousness, the plane continued on automatic pilot for a considerable distance and accidentally violated Soviet airspace. The United States is taking this matter up with the Soviet Government, with particular reference to the fate of the pilot. U.S. NOTE OF MAY 6‘ The Embassy of the United States of America by instruction of its Government has the honor to state the following: The United States Government has noted the statement of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, N. S. Khrushchev, in his speech before the Supreme Soviet on May 5 that a foreign air- *Read to news correspondents on May & by Lincoln White, Director of the Office of News. ‘Delivered by the American Embassy at Moscow to . the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs-on May 6. (press . release 249). 818 -Turkey, and piloted by civilian American has " excessive secrecy practiced by the Soviet Union in - weapons of mass destruction. f 7 — craft crossed the border of the Soviet Union on May 1 and that on orders of the Soviet Govern- ment, this aircraft was shot down. Inthissame — ~ statement it was said that investigation showed . ad that it was a United States plane. ; ae As already announced on May 8, a United =~ States National Aeronautical Space Agency . unarmed weather research plane based at Adana, ~ been: missing since May 1. The name of the American civilian pilot is Francis Gary Powers, born on August 17, 1929, at Jenkins, Kentucky. In, the light of the above the United States _. Government requests the Soviet Government to provide it with full facts of the Soviet investi- gation of this incident and to inform it of the fate of the pilot. DEPARTMENT STATEMENT, MAY 7! The Department has received the text of Mr. Khrushchev’s further remarks about the unarmed plane which is reported to have been shot down in the Soviet Union. As previously announced, it was known that a U-2 plane was missing. As a result of the inquiry ordered by the President it has been established that insofar as the authorities - in Washington are concerned there was no author- ization for any such flight as described by Mr. Khrushchev. WO Nevertheless it appears that in endeavoring to obtain information now concealed behind the Iron Curtain a flight over Soviet territory was prob- ably undertaken by an unarmed civilian U-2 plane. . | It is certainly no secret that, given the state of : the: world today, intelligence collection activities are’ practiced by all countries, and postwar history certainly reveals that the Soviet Union has not been lagging behind in this field. The necessity for such activities as measures for legitimate national defense is enhanced by the contrast to the free world. One of the things creating tension in the world today is apprehension over surprise attack with To reduce mutual suspicion and to give @ measure of protection against-surprise attack the "© Read to news correspondents on May 7 by Mr. White. --—- Department of State Bulletin