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U-2 Tested Lockheed presented the C.I.A. with a proposal for a high altitude spy craft. The C.I.A. accepted the proposal and, in eight months, Lockheed produced the "U-2." In its first flight, the lightly-loaded U-2 refused to land. Test pilot Tony LeVier made five attempts before succeeding. A U-2 was downed over the Soviet Union in 1960, and its pilot, Francis Gary Powers, was captured. The plane was key in discovering Russian missiles in Cuba. A new version of the U-2, known as the "TR-1," is still being flown by the US Airforce.