They are an affordable gun and popular with collectors at all levels. In 1955, production of the H-D ceased and it was replaced by the very similar Olympic series, which in turn was itself replaced by the Victor. CollectabilityĪfter WWII, High Standard kept the basic H-D in full production for a decade and it experienced good commercial sales. Others were reportedly made without any markings whatsoever to be ‘sterile’ and thus deniable. The serial number is not listed in High Standard’s books and it has commonly been surmised that it was sold on spec to the CIA for operatives in the 1950s. In the trial, the Soviets produced a silenced Hi-Standard model USA-HD caliber. Placed on public trial in Moscow, Powers admitted that his craft was in fact a CIA operated top-secret spy plane. His plane, the U-2 recon aircraft was shot down over the Ural mountain city of Sverdlovsk in the Soviet Union. Gary Powers was somewhere that never existed in a plane that wasn’t on the official record.
