DAYTON — The July Living History Series event for 2022 will feature guest speaker Francis Gary Powers Jr., on July 21 at 6:30 p.m. at the Air Force Museum Theatre, located inside the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force™.

Tickets are only $12 ($10 for Friends and Military) and can be purchased at afmuseum.com/livinghistory. Doors open at 6 p.m.

Join author and historian Francis Gary Powers Jr. for a presentation on one of the most talked-about events of the Cold War — the downing of an American U-2 spy plane over the Soviet Union. Based on newly available information, the son of famed U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers presents the facts and dispels misinformation about the Cold War espionage program that his father was part of and was featured in Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies.

Gary Powers Sr. was the U-2 pilot whose plane was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960, triggering an international incident. Delving into old audio tapes, the transcript of his father’s debriefing by the CIA, other recently declassified documents about the U-2 program, and interviews with his father’s contemporaries, Powers sets the record straight in his latest book Spy Pilot.

The presentation will be followed by questions and answers and book signing. Gary Powers Jr. is the author of numerous books including Letters from a Soviet Prison (2017) and Spy Pilot (2019).

The Foundation’s Living History Series brings aviation history alive through guest speakers, films and events. The Living History Series is made possible by generous donors and Friends of the museum. Tickets are available at the theatre’s ticket counter, can be ordered online through the website at afmuseum.com/livinghistory, or by calling 937-751-1550.