Peace time arial incidents during the COLD WAR

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Pilotless Soviet Jet Crosses Europe Before Crashing July 1989

A Soviet pilot ejected from his MiG-23 thinking engine trouble. His jet kept flying and eventually crashed in Belgium escorted by 2 F-15s

Pilotless Soviet Jet Crosses Europe Before Crashing - NYTimes.com

Wikipedia Link

Computer Rendering

 

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Cornfield Bomber

The "Cornfield Bomber" in 1958 was a Convair F-106 Delta Dart, operated by the 71st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron of the United States Air Force, that made an unpiloted landing in a farmer's field in Montana, suffering only minor damage, after the pilot had ejected from the aircraft. The aircraft, recovered and repaired, was returned to service, and is currently on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

 

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Mathias Rust's flight to Moscow

Mathias Rust (born July 1968 in Wedel, Schleswig-Holstein, West Germany) is a German aviator known for his illegal landing on May 28, 1987 near Red Square in Moscow. As an amateur pilot, he flew from Finland to Moscow, being tracked several times by Soviet air defence and interceptors. The Soviet fighters never received permission to shoot him down, and several times he was mistaken for a friendly aircraft. He landed on Vasilevski Spusk next to Red Square near the Kremlin in the capital of the USSR.

His plane in Moscow

 

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1960 U-2 Incident

The 1960 U-2 incident occurred during the Cold War on May 1, 1960, during the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower and during the leadership of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, when a United States U-2 spy plane was shot down over the airspace of the Soviet Union.

The United States government at first denied the plane's purpose and mission, but then was forced to admit its role as a covert surveillance aircraft when the Soviet government produced its intact remains and surviving pilot, Francis Gary Powers, as well as photos of military bases in Russia taken by Gary Powers. Coming roughly two weeks before the scheduled opening of an East–West summit in Paris, the incident was a great embarrassment to the United States and prompted a marked deterioration in its relations with the Soviet Union.

Khrushchev Examining the wreckage

 

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Defection of a Soviet pilot to Japan

Viktor Belenko

His name became known worldwide on September 6, 1976, when he successfully defected to the West, flying his Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 "Foxbat" jet fighter to Hakodate, Japan. This was the first time that Western experts were able to get a close look at the aircraft, and it revealed many secrets and surprises. His defection caused a lot of damage to the Soviet Union Air Force. Belenko was granted asylum by U.S. President Gerald Ford, and a trust fund was set up for him, granting him a very comfortable living in later years. The U.S. Government interrogated and debriefed him for five months after his defection, and employed him as a consultant for several years thereafter.

The MiG was disassembled, examined, and returned to the USSR in thirty crates. Belenko had brought with him the pilot's manual for the MiG-25 "Foxbat", expecting to assist American pilots in evaluating and testing the aircraft.

 

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1964 T-39 shootdown incident

The 1964 T-39 shootdown incident occurred on January 28, 1964, when an unarmed United States Air Force T-39 Sabreliner on a training mission was shot down over Erfurt, East Germany by a Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 fighter aircraft.The occupants of the aircraft were Lieutenant Colonel Gerald K. Hannaford, Captain Donald Grant Millard and Captain John F. Lorraine. All three died, becoming some of the few direct casualties of the Cold War.

 

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November 28, 1973:
Soviet MiG-21 pilot Gennadii N. Eliseev intercepted an Imperial Iranian Air Force RF-4E Phantom II in Soviet airspace. After an unsuccessful attempt at firing a AA-2 Atoll missile at the Phantom, Eliseev destroyed the Phantom by ramming it.

The Phantom's crew of IIAF pilot Major Shokouhnia and USAF backseater Saunders parachuted to safety and were captured by Soviet border guards. They were released 16 days later.The flight was part of a secret joint United States-Iranian reconnaissance operation known as "Project Dark Gene" and the Phantom being used had been heavily modified for ELINT purposes. The Soviet pilot Eliseev was posthumously awarded as a Hero of the Soviet Union.

 

[Chogy]

1964 T-39 shootdown incident

The 1964 T-39 shootdown incident occurred on January 28, 1964, when an unarmed United States Air Force T-39 Sabreliner on a training mission was shot down over Erfurt, East Germany by a Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 fighter aircraft.The occupants of the aircraft were Lieutenant Colonel Gerald K. Hannaford, Captain Donald Grant Millard and Captain John F. Lorraine. All three died, becoming some of the few direct casualties of the Cold War.

Lots of the cold war stuff is still classified, but I can say safely that the death tally on both sides was in the hundreds, if not thousands.It included aircraft, ships, subs, and ground troops.

Post WW2 Germany, NATO and Warsaw Pact forces often engaged each other in small fights, and there were many casualties.

Right or wrong, these men stood guard against a perceived foe, and should be honored, IMO.

 

[Chogy]

I flew many missions over West Germany during the Cold War. We were warned about East German attempts to lure NATO aircraft.

There is a device called a TACAN that is a military equivalent of a VOR... a radio navigation aid. The East Germans replicated more than one, and occasionally they would turn them on. This would make you think that you were flying home to your base, when in reality, you were flying east, into danger.

There were also a large number of SA-2 and SA-5 batteries along the border. They's often practice by locking us up. It was a pretty disturbing thing to see a live missile battery tracking you on your RWR. We gave the border area plenty of space.

The supplies and facilities in place in West Germany to counter the Soviet threat was astonishing. There were VAST underground bunkers that were WMD-proof, with filtered air and backup generators, and living facilities for thousands. Also underground were gigantic warehouses with tens of thousands of iron bombs, missiles, tanks, vehicles, food, ammunition, and fuel. If WW3 had kicked off, it would have been unbelievably brutal.

 

[notorious_eagle]

The supplies and facilities in place in West Germany to counter the Soviet threat was astonishing. There were VAST underground bunkers that were WMD-proof, with filtered air and backup generators, and living facilities for thousands. Also underground were gigantic warehouses with tens of thousands of iron bombs, missiles, tanks, vehicles, food, ammunition, and fuel. If WW3 had kicked off, it would have been unbelievably brutal.

I agree Sir

A full on shooting war between the US and USSR would have made World War II look like a play fight. The Soviets were also equally if not better prepared in East Germany for a duel against the US, unfortunately this cost them their economy and their empire.

 

[blackops]

I agree Sir

A full on shooting war between the US and USSR would have made World War II look like a play fight. The Soviets were also equally if not better prepared in East Germany for a duel against the US, unfortunately this cost them their economy and their empire.

I dont know if the fall of soviets was good or bad on a bright side it bought down on of the parties of cold war which ended this fight on the other hand it lest usa as the only king maker in the ring

 

[TehS4rge]

Great story man...Thanks!

 

[Chogy]

NATO Europe in the 1980's had a thing called "free flight", which was a form of training that was superb. Essentially, if you were airborne, you could be attacked (or attack yourself) any NATO aircraft you encounter. So on any given day, you could get jumped by Canadian F-18's, Luftwaffe aircraft, British Harriers and Tornados, Belgians, Danes, etc. It really kept you on your toes... no lollygagging to and from the military working areas.

It's hard to describe how absolutely STUNNED we were when the Berlin wall fell, and over the months to follow, the USSR giving up the "game." We had all grown up in the cold war environment, and it was genuinely frightening. THOUSANDS of nuclear missiles poised to take flight at any moment... we'd imagine the re-entry trail, the flash, the obliteration to come. It was deadly serious and a huge relief when it calmed down in the 1990's. Unfortunately, the world didn't stay calm very long. The USA could have done a better job in the decade of the 1990's, IMO, regarding stabilization, the ME, and the post-Soviet Eastern European area. But it's water under the bridge now.

We had some cool secret programs to exploit Soviet technology. In Nevada, they had quite a few Soviet MiG and Su fighters on display, and also flying. We were allowed to sit in some of the cockpits, and I have to say, we were not impressed. We also got to fight the MiG-21 and MiG-23 aircraft. Of all that era's fighters, the MiG-21 was easily the most nimble and capable when flown by a good pilot.

All that changed with the MiG-29. We know now that in the last 20 years, the Russians have made great strides in digital weapons systems, something the USA has always led in. The technology gap is closing.

Hand in hand with that, though, is training. All of the fancy digital systems in the world are useless without adequate advanced training. It is also the style or methodology that counts... the Soviet system was GCI (radar) based, very inflexible. They realized this didn't work as well as independent operations using AWACs and on-board systems, and have since shifted over.