skip to main content

U-2 Incident: The Cold War (May 1, 1960)

3 minutes 13 seconds

Videos are generally available for preview to non-members as short clips. Limited full-length titles are also available. Log In to view the full length title.

Browse Full-length Non-member Titles
Man wearing a white helmet parachutes in a clear blue sky. Text reads, "U-2 Incident. The Cold War, May 1st, 1960."

On May 1, 1960, a United States U-2 spy plane was shot down by the Soviet Air Defense Forces while performing photographic aerial reconnaissance deep inside Soviet territory. The single-seat aircraft, flown by pilot Francis Gary Powers, was hit by an S-75 Dvina surface-to-air missile and crashed near Sverdlovsk.

Media Details

Runtime: 3 minutes 13 seconds

Closeup of bronze medal with words National Geographic Society, 1888, appearing around a world globe. Caption. 1945-1989, The Cold War.
25 minutes
Grade Level: 9 - 12
Man holding a microphone lays on his side on a stage looking towards camera. Behind him, a few men play musical instruments.
57 minutes
Grade Level: 10 - 12
Black and white frame shows a man holding the shoulders of a young woman looking back up at him into his eyes. Caption. I was waiting for you.
1 hours 50 minutes 26 seconds
Grade Level: 12 -
Silhouette of a large stone statue of a man wearing armor and a helmet on a rearing horse against a cloudy sky backdrop. Caption with male narrator, "St. Petersburg was the vision of one man."
Around the World
Episode 39
2 minutes 46 seconds
Grade Level: 7 - 12
Animation of an area near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Leafless trees, homes, and power lines beneath an overcast sky. Caption. Everything is polluted and highly radioactive.
Butterfly Effect
Season 1 / Ep 8
25 minutes 59 seconds
Grade Level: 10 - 12
Animation of World War 2 Soviet commanders speaking in front of a battlefield map to a crowded room of officers. Caption. To fortify the Kursk region and to wait.
Butterfly Effect
Season 3 / Ep 13
26 minutes
Grade Level: 10 - 12
Title text reads, "Cold War Gadgets," against a background that shows a blurry briefcase.
3 minutes
Grade Level: 6 - 12
Digital map titled "Battle of Stalingrad." Germany and its occupied territories are green with red swastikas. The U, S, S, R is yellow with 2 red stars with yellow arrows pointing towards Germany's eastern fronts.
Command Decisions
Episode 10
20 minutes 25 seconds
Grade Level: 9 - 12
Black and white family photo of Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and 4 daughters. Caption. Thus ends 300 years of czarist rule.
10 minutes 20 seconds
Grade Level: 5 - 12
Digital illustration shows an angry Stalin speaking at a podium with the red flag of the USSR behind him. Text reads, “De-Stalinization: The Secret Speech. February 25, 1956.”
4 minutes 3 seconds
Grade Level: 6 - 12