U2 Incident The U2 spy plane was an ultra light glider-like pane designed to fly extremely high and take spy photographs. It was hoped that the plane would fly high enough that the Soviets could not detect it. For four years, valuable photos were taken. On May 1 st 1960, the USSR successfully shot down a U2 spy plane. The pilot, Gary Powers, was captured. According to the USSR, he admitted being on a spying mission. The USA strongly denied the claims. They publicly said no spying flights took place and that Powers had accidentally strayed into Soviet airspace while studying weather conditions. U2 Incident The U2 spy plane was an ultra light glider-like pane designed to fly extremely high and take spy photographs. It was hoped that the plane would fly high enough that the Soviets could not detect it. For four years, valuable photos were taken. On May 1 st 1960, the USSR successfully shot down a U2 spy plane. The pilot, Gary Powers, was captured. According to the USSR, he admitted being on a spying mission. The USA strongly denied the claims. They publicly said no spying flights took place and that Powers had accidentally strayed into Soviet airspace while studying weather conditions.