North Texas Section

AIAA NTX with the UTA AIAA Student Branch and
The Society of Experimental Test Pilots present

Spy Pilot: Francis Gary Powers, the U-2 Incident, and a Controversial Cold War Legacy
Presentation & Book Signing
by Francis Gary Powers Jr.
Wednesday, 29 July 2026
7pm
UT Arlington SEIR Bldg., Room TBD|
655 W Mitchell St, Arlington, TX 76010
Francis Gary Powers Sr. (pictured above) was an American pilot who served as a USAF officer and CIA employee. Powers was shot down while flying a secret CIA mission over the Soviet Union. He survived but was captured and sentenced to 10 years in a Soviet prison for espionage. Powers served 21 months of his sentence before being released in a prisoner swap in 1962, which was made into the 2015 Steven Spielberg thriller, Bridge of Spies, about the spy exchange between KGB spy Rudolph Abel and Gary Powers.  After returning to the US, Gary Powers worked at Lockheed as a test pilot for the U-2 and later as a helicopter pilot for Los Angeles news station KNBC. He died in 1977, when the KNBC helicopter he was flying crashed.

Francis Gary Powers, Jr. is the son of Francis Gary Powers, Sr. He lectures internationally and appears regularly on C-SPAN, the History, Discovery, and A&E channels. Gary is the author of Letters from a Soviet Prison (2017), Spy Pilot (2019), Enemy Territory (2022), The Berlin Airlift (2024), Cold War Virginia (2024), and Protecting America: Cold War Defensive Sites (2024). He is the Founder and Chairman Emeritus of The Cold War Museum located at Vint Hill, VA and was the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Cold War Theme Study which assisted the National Park Service to identify historic Cold War sites for preservation. In 2015, he consulted on Bridge of Spies. Gary is a past Board Member of the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace and an Honorary Board Member of the International Spy Museum. Because of his efforts to honor Cold War veterans the Junior Chamber of Commerce selected him as one of the “Ten Outstanding Young Americans” for 2002. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Philosophy and Master's Degrees in Public Administration and U.S. History.

2025-26 "Texy" Award Winners$500

High School Senior Scholarship
Awab Badawi, Trinity High school

$500 College Undergraduate Student Scholarship 
Deeva Khanuja, UTA

Dr. Don Seath Award for Outstanding University Faculty
Dr. Liang Sun, Baylor University 

Outstanding High School Educator
Mr. Bryan Harston, HEB Technology Center

High School Student of the Year 
Eugenia Jin, Grapevine High School

College Student of the Year
Austen Smith, UTA

Dr. Jack Fairchild Award for Best  AIAA North Texas College Event
UTA AIAA Student Branch 
Southwest Aerospace Symposium co-host

Dr. Don Wilson Award for AIAA North Texas Young Professional of the Year
Alex Doriski, L3 Harris

Outstanding Aerospace Achievement by a North Texas Individual
Stephen Atkins, UTA
1^st Place 2026 AIAA Region IV Student Paper Conference, Graduate Division 

Outstanding Aerospace Achievement by a North Texas Team
UT Dallas Design-Build-Fly Team
23rd out of 93 teams, only North Texas DBF Team

Outstanding AIAA Support Awards
AIAA North Texas Student Member 
Mi Vo, UTD Student Branch President
Student Branch Leadership 

Texas Young Professional Member 
Yen Pham
Luft Org App Team
North Texas Professional Member 
Michael Filippidis, Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control
AIAA HQ coordination

North Texas Company or Organization
SETP Southwest Section 
Southwest Aerospace Symposium co-host