The wreckage of Francis Gary Powers’ U-2 spy plane
(top/bottom) on May 1, 1960.

An American U-2 spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers was
shot down while conducting espionage over the Soviet Union.

The incident derailed an important summit meeting between
President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Soviet leader Nikita
Khrushchev that was scheduled for later that month.   
     

After being shot down, Powers (right) appeared in the dock
of the Supreme Court of the U.S.S.R. and was tried by the
Soviet Military Board on August 19, 1960.

Francis Gary Powers holds a model of a U-2 spy plane as he testifies before the U.S.  Senate Armed Services Committee
after his release from Soviet prison in march 1962.

Francis Gary Powers (August 17, 1929 – August 1, 1977)

Powers was piloting a helicopter for Los Angeles TV station
KNBC Channel 4 over the San Fernando Valley on August 1,
1977, when the aircraft crashed, killing him and his cameraman
George Spears.

On March 1, 1932, in a crime that captured the attention of the
entire nation, Charles Lindbergh, Jr., the 20-month-old son of
aviation hero Charles Lindbergh, was kidnapped from the
family’s  new mansion in Hopewell, New Jersey. Lindbergh,
who became an international celebrity when he flew the first
solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927, and his wife
Anne discovered a ransom note demanding $50,000 in their
son’s empty room.

The Lindberghs were inundated by offers of assistance and
false clues. Even Al Capone offered his help from prison. For
three days, investigators found nothing and there was no
further word from the kidnappers. Then, a new letter showed
up, this time demanding $70,000.

Soon after an exhaustive search, the baby’s lifeless body was
discovered near the Lindbergh mansion. He had been killed
the night of the kidnapping and was found less than a mile
from home. The Lindberghs ended up donating the mansion
to charity and moved away.

The kidnapper used a ladder (above) to climb up to the open second-floor window and left muddy footprints in the room. 

Charles Augustus Lindbergh.

BRIAN THOMAS

Charles Augustus Lindbergh
(February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974)

In the first flight of its kind, American aviatrix Amelia Earhart
departed Wheeler Field in Honolulu, Hawaii, on a solo flight to
North America. Hawaiian commercial interests offered a $10,000
award to whoever accomplished the flight first. The next day,
after traveling 2,400 miles in 18 hours, she safely landed at
Oakland Airport in Oakland, California.

Amelia Earhart stands in the cockpit of her Lockheed Vega
5C (NR-965Y) surrounded by a large crowd after completing
her nonstop solo flight from Hawaii to Oakland, California,

Amelia Mary Earhart
(July 24, 1897 – disappeared July 2, 1937)

Near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright made the
first successful flight in history of a self-propelled, heavier-than-air aircraft on December 17, 1903. Orville piloted the gasoline-powered, propeller-driven biplane, which stayed aloft for 12 seconds and
covered 120 feet on its inaugural flight.

The Wright Flyer at Carillon Historical Park, Dayton, Ohio.