A Brotherhood of Spies by Monte Reel

Author:Monte Reel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2018-05-08T04:00:00+00:00

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THE AIR COMMAND CENTER was a short car ride from the Kremlin. Inside, Biryuzov had spent much of the morning staring at a floor-to-ceiling map of the Soviet Union printed on a partially translucent screen. Behind that screen, an air defense sergeant held a toylike airplane icon against the back of the map. Every few minutes the sergeant, holding a telephone receiver in his other hand, was fed updates on the plane’s coordinates, and he’d reposition the icon against the back of the screen. On the other side of the map, Biryuzov and the commanders sitting beside him at a large table watched the icon inching toward Sverdlovsk.

For the past couple of hours the commanders had been trying to harass the plane with both MiG-19s and ground-based missile fire, without success. But as the U-2 neared Sverdlovsk, where a battery of S-75 Dvina missiles were positioned, they knew they’d have their best chance yet. A commander ordered another formation of MiG-19s to try to chase the U-2 down as ground crews readied the missiles for launch.

The commanders in Moscow couldn’t appreciate how confused the situation was at the missile stations in Sverdlovsk, where everyone labored frantically amid shouts and curses. Only one of the three guided missiles successfully fired; as the other two revolved on their bases to take aim at the U-2, a parked truck blocked their paths, causing the launches to automatically abort.

As chaos reigned, the Soviet radar operators monitoring the U-2 noticed that the image of the plane on their screens seemed to disappear, replaced by green “snow”—scattering flecks of light. This could signify that the pilot had ejected chaff to confuse the Soviet radar systems, or it could mean that the plane had been hit by the missile and was breaking into pieces.

Meanwhile, up in the air, the MiG-19s continued their pursuit of the U-2, trying to visually track it above them. One of the Soviet pilots, Captain Boris Ayvazyan, saw something explode in the sky and watched debris shower down around him. It didn’t look like the parts of an airplane. He assumed the missile had self-destructed, and he believed the debris was its shattered remnants. He radioed to his commanders on the ground, telling him what he’d seen.

A senior Soviet radar officer got his message and telephoned a report to his superiors in Moscow, updating them on the U-2’s status. “The target has discharged chaff and is performing an evasive maneuver,” he said. He was mistaken.

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