The Moscow air show on June 24, 1956, foreshadowed the breaking of promises made to the president. In a show of ceremony, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev invited air force generals from twenty-eight foreign delegations, including General Nathan Twining, the U.S. Air Force chief of staff. For all the fanfare and bravado of the bombers and fighter jets sweeping across the skies, the more significant event occurred a few hours later, at a wooden picnic table in Gorky Park. There, General Twining and the leaders of the British and French delegations sat and listened to Khrushchev deliver a long-winded speech. Partway through, the Soviet premier raised his vodka glass and made a toast “in defense of peace.” Years later, retired Russian colonel Alexander Orlov related what happened next: “In the midst of his toast [Khrushchev] turned to General Twining and said, ‘Today we showed you our aircraft. But would you like a look at our missiles?’” Shocked by the offer, General Twining said, “Yes.” Khrushchev shot back, “First show us your aircraft and stop sending intruders into our airspace.” Khrushchev was referring to the bombers sent over the Arctic Circle by General LeMay. “We will shoot down uninvited guests. We will get all of your [airplanes]. They are flying coffins!”
It was a terribly awkward moment underscored by the mercurial Soviet leader’s abrupt shift in tone, from applauding peace to talking about shooting down American airplanes. General Twining had been set up for a confrontation. Things got worse when Khrushchev looked around the picnic table for reactions and saw a U.S. military attaché pouring his drink under a bush. “Here I am speaking about peace and friendship, but what does your military attaché do?” Khrushchev shouted at Ambassador Charles Bohlen, then demanded that the attaché drink a penalty toast. Once the man had swallowed his vodka, he got up and quickly left the picnic. If Khrushchev thought the Americans were trying to insult him in the park, he would be even more enraged two weeks later when he learned the CIA had sent a U-2 directly over the Kremlin to take photographs of the house in which Nikita Khrushchev slept.
Area 51 had a Washington, DC, complement for the U-2 program, an office on the fifth floor of an unmarked CIA facility at 1717 H Street. This served as the command center for Project Aquatone’s first, secret missions over the Soviet Union. It was from this clandestine facility that, shortly before midnight on July 3, 1956, Richard Bissell made a historic telephone call over a secure line. He reached the U-2’s secret base in Wiesbaden, West Germany, and gave the commander the authorization to proceed. There, in a nearby room, Hervey Stockman sat breathing pure oxygen from a ventilator as a flight surgeon monitored the levels of nitrogen in his blood. Outside the door, CIA men armed with machine guns stood guard. Given the time difference, where Stockman was sitting it was already the following morning, making it the anniversary of America’s independence. The nation was 180 years old. If all went well, Stockman was about to become the first pilot to penetrate the Iron Curtain’s airspace. He would fly all the way to Leningrad, around the coast, and back down, putting him forever in the record books as the first man to fly over the Soviet Union in a U-2.