User:Tec15/List of Soviet airspace violations and incidents

During the Cold War, foreign aircraft often violated Soviet controlled airspace while conducting reconnaissance flights. Other times, Soviet airspace was accidentally violated by civil airliners and military aircraft due to navigational mistakes. Finally sometimes, Soviet aircraft attacked foreign aircraft just outside Soviet controlled waters and airspace. Included are not only incidents on the periphery of the USSR, but also incidents in Soviet occupied East Germany, Austria and Berlin until the sovereignty was ultimately resolved through treaties like the Austrian State Treaty and the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany.

1940s

 * 20 February, 1946: While on a training flight, a US Navy PBM Mariner from VP-26, based in Tsingtao China, made an unauthorized flight over Port Arthur Manchuria. As a result, Soviet fighters fired warning bursts at it, but no damage was inflicted.
 * 22 April, 1946: A US Army Air Force C-47 was shot at by four Soviet P-39 Airacobras near Vienna, Austria, but managed to escape.
 * 7 August, 1946: A Swedish Air Force Saab 17 was intercepted by Soviet fighters and forced to turn back when attempting to photograph the former German rocket test facility at Peenemünde. Further attempts were made using the Saab 17 over the next two years, all resulting in intercepts by Soviet fighters. Success was final achieved on July 10, 1948, when a modified P-51 Mustang was used in place of the Saab 17.
 * 5 April, 1948: In the 1948 Gatow air disaster occurring during the Berlin Blockade, a BEA Vickers 610 Viking 1B (registration: G-AIVP) operating that day's scheduled flight from Northolt via Hamburg to Berlin collided during its approach to RAF Gatow head-on with a Soviet Air Force Yakovlev Yak-3 fighter, which was performing aerobatics in the area at that time. As a result of the collision, the Viking spiralled out of control and crashed 1.9 miles from the airport on East German territory with the loss of all 14 lives (four crew, ten passengers) on board the aircraft. The Soviet fighter pilot was killed in the accident as well. The subsequent investigation established the Soviet fighter pilot's action, which contravened all accepted rules of flying and the quadripartite flying rules to which Soviet authorities were parties, as the cause of the accident.
 * 10 July, 1948: After numerous attempts were made by the Swedish Air Force to photograph the former German rocket test facility at Peenemünde with a Saab 17, they finally succeeded, using a photo-reconnaissance P-51 Mustang.
 * 22 October, 1949: An US Air Force RB-29 Superfortress was attacked by Soviet fighters over the Sea of Japan. There were no injuries to the RB-29's crew.

1950s

 * 8 April, 1950: Soviet La-11 "Fangs", piloted by Boris Dokin, Anatoliy Gerasimov, Tezyaev, and Sataev shot down a US Navy PB4Y-2 Privateer (BuNo 59645) "Turbulent Turtle" of VP-26, Det A. Based from Port Lyautey, French Morocco, the Privateer was on a patrol mission launched from Wiesbaden, West Germany. According the to the American account, this incident happened over the Baltic Sea off the coast of Lepija, Latvia. The Soviets claimed the aircraft was intercepted over Latvia and fired on the Soviet fighters during the interception. After the fighters engaged the Privateer, the Soviets report that it descended sharply before crashing into the sea 5-10 kilometers off the coast. All ten crew members were lost.
 * 14 July, 1950: A US Air Force RB-29 was shot at near Permskoye airfield in the USSR, but escaped.
 * 4 September, 1950: A US Navy F4U Corsair of VF-53, piloted by Ensign Edward V. Laney, shot down a Soviet Naval Aviation A-20 Havoc over the Yellow Sea, southeast of the Soviet-occupied Port Arthur naval base in China and west of the North Korean coast. Laney was one of a four-ship Combat Air Patrol from the carrier USS Valley Forge (CV-45) (part of Task Force 77), which was protecting US Navy air activity against North Korea not long before the Inchon landings.
 * 8 October, 1950: Two USAF F-80C Shooting Stars from 49 FG breached the USSR's border and attacked Sukhaya Rechka airfield, making two strafing runs before returning to their home base. Although Soviet sources claim the attack was intentional, the pilots claimed it was a result of a navigational error. . The airfield belonged to the VVS TOF, but it was occupied by the 821 IAP / 190 IAD. Mostly aircraft of the 1st Squadron of 821 IAP were hit with 12 P-63 "Freds" damaged, one P-63 burned to the ground while the other damaged aircraft were able to be repaired. No human losses were suffered.
 * 4 December, 1950: Soviet MiG-15s shot down an RB-45C Tornado of the US Air Force 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, 45 miles east of Andung, People's Republic of China (just across the Yalu River from Sinuiju, North Korea). Soviet pilot Aleksandr F. Andrianov received credit for shooting down the aircraft. Co-pilot Jules E. Young and navigator James L. Picucci were killed in the crash. Pilot Charles E. McDonough and passenger John R. Lovell bailed out and landed south of the Yalu River. McDonough was badly burned when he landed on the Tornado's wreckage. Both were captured the next day by the North Koreans.
 * 26 December, 1950: An RB-29 Superfortress of the USAF was downed over Primore (Sea of Japan) by two MiG-15 pilots, Captain Stepan A. Bajaev and 1st Lieutenant N. Kotov.
 * 6 November, 1951: While conducting an intelligence gathering mission, later claimed to be a "weather reconnaissance mission under United Nations command", a US Navy P2V Neptune of VP-6 was shot down over the Sea of Japan, near Vladivostok, by Soviet La-11 "Fangs" flown by I. Ya. Lukashyev and M.K. Shchukin. The Soviet pilots reported that they intercepted the aircraft in the area of Cape Ostrovnoy approximately 7-8 miles from the shore. There were no survivors among the crew of ten.
 * 29 April, 1952: An Air France DC-4 (registration F-BELI) operating an internal German scheduled service from Frankfurt Rhein-Main Airport to Berlin Tempelhof airfield came under sustained attack from two Soviet MiG 15 fighters while passing through one of the Allied air corridors over East Germany. Although the attack had severely damaged the plane, necessitating the shutdown of engines number three and four, the pilot in command of the aircraft managed to carry out a safe emergency landing at Tempelhof airfield. A subsequent inspection of the aircraft's damage at Tempelhof revealed that it had been hit by 89 shots fired from the Soviet MiGs during the preceding air attack. There were no fatalities among the 17 occupants (six crew, eleven passengers) despite the severity of the attack. The Soviet military authorities defended this attack on an unarmed civilian aircraft by claiming the Air France plane was outside the air corridor at the time of attack.
 * 11 May, 1952: A pair of Soviet MiG-15s intercepted a US Navy Martin P5M Marlin flying boat over the Sea of Japan. Despite attacking the flying boat six times, the MiGs inflicted only minor damage to the Marlin.
 * 4 June, 1952: An aircraft carrying the US Supreme Commissioner in Austria was forced down at a Soviet airbase by MiG-15s.
 * 13 June, 1952: Two MiG-15s flown by Captain Oleg Piotrovich Fedotov and 1st Lieutenant Ivan Petrovich Proskurin shot down a RB-29A Superfortress near Valentin Bay, over the Sea of Japan – all 12 crewmembers perished (their bodies were not recovered).
 * 13 June, 1952: In the Catalina affair, Soviet MiG-15 pilot Captain Boris Osinsky, of the 483rd Fighter Aviation Regiment, shot down a Swedish SIGINT DC-3 (Tp79 79001 Hugin) piloted by Alvar Almeberg, over the Baltic, near Ventspils, Latvia. Everybody on board the DC-3 was killed - the only wreckage found at the time was a life raft.
 * 16 June, 1952: Again as part of the Catalina affair, Soviet MiG-15 pilots N. Semernikov and I. Yatsenko-Kosenko shared in the downing of a Swedish PBY Catalina (Tp 47 47002) outside the island of Dagö. The PBY was looking for survivors of the Swedish SIGINT DC-3 lost on June 13th. After taking hits in the fuselage and the engines the PBY was forced to land on the water with two of the crew of seven injured. The crew was rescued by a German merchant ship.
 * 15 July, 1952: A US Air Force Martin RB-26 Marauder weather reconnaissance aircraft was attacked over the Yellow Sea by Soviet MiG-15s.
 * 7 October, 1952: Two La-11 "Fangs" pilots, 1st Lieutenants Zeryakov and Lesnov shot down a USAF RB-29 Superfortress over the Kurile islands – all the crew of nine died (the remains of one of them, Captain John R. Durnham, was returned to the United States in 1993).
 * 8 October, 1952: Two Soviet MiG-15s fired on a US Air Force C-47 en route to Berlin, Germany. The C-47 escaped undamaged after taking evasive action and using cloud cover.
 * 15 October, 1952: A B-47 photo reconnaissance flight, authorized by President Truman and staged out of Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, was flown over the Chukchi Peninsula. It confirmed that the Soviets were developing Arctic staging bases on the peninsula from which their bombers could easily reach targets on the North American continent.
 * 18 November, 1952: Four MiG-15s engaged four F9F Panthers from the aircraft carrier USS Princeton (CV-37) near Vladivostok. One MiG-15 pilot, Captain Dmitriy Belyakov, manages to seriously damage Lieutenant Junior Grade David M. Rowlands' F9F-2, but seconds later he and 1st Lieutenant Vandalov were downed by Elmer Royce Williams and John Davidson Middleton; neither Soviet is found.
 * 12 March, 1953: Seven airmen were killed when the Royal Air Force Avro Lincoln they were flying in, was shot down by a Soviet Air Force MiG-15 in the Berlin air corridor, near Boizenberg, 20 miles NE of Luneburg. The aircraft, from the RAF Central Gunnery School at Leconfield in Yorkshire, was on a training flight. Among the crew members were H.J. Fitz, S.V. Wyles, W.R. Mason, R.F. Stevens and K.J. Jones.
 * 15 March, 1953: A US Air Force WB-50 Superfortress reconnaissance plane of the 38th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing was attacked by a pair of Soviet MiG-15s approximately 25 miles off the Kamchatka Peninsula, near Petropavlovsk. The WB-50 based at Forbes Air Force Base,Kansas, was temporarily operating from Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, while assigned to the 15th WRS. After escorting the WB-50 for a short time, one Soviet pilot opened fire on the WB-50. WB-50 gunner Jesse Prim returned fire and the MiG pilot quickly broke off his attack and returned to his base.
 * 17 March, 1953: A British European Airways Vickers VC.1 Viking was shot at by Soviet MiG-15s near Berlin, Germany.
 * 29 July, 1953: Two MiG-17s intercepted a RB-50G Superfortress near Gamov, in the Sea of Japan, and instructed them to land on their home base. The RB-50 gunners opened fire and hit the MiG of 1st Lieutenant Aleksandr D. Rybakov. Rybakov and his wingman 1st Lieutenant. Yuriy M. Yablonskiy then shot down the RB-50. One of the crewmemebers (John E. Roche) was rescued alive, and corpses of other three were recovered. The remaining 13 crew members became missing.
 * 29 April, 1954: A RB-45C Tornado operated by the Royal Air Force narrowly escaped being was shot down by antiaircraft fire near Kiev. The mission was aborted.
 * 8 May, 1954: Three US Air Force RB-47E Stratojets flying a photo reconnaissance mission over the Northern USSR in Murmansk and Arkhangelsk from RAF Fairford exchanged gunfire with MiG-17s. One MiG was able to hit one of the Stratojets with several rounds and caused moderate damage to the wing and fuselage. Before the MiGs were able to shoot down the USAF plane, it crossed the border into Finland and the MiGs broke off the attack. However, during the attack the RB-47's fuel tanks were hit and the plane nearly ran out of fuel before it was met by a KC-97 tanker for in-flight refueling. The RB-47E landed safely in England a short time later.
 * 4 September, 1954: A US Navy P2V Neptune of VP-19, operating from NAS Atsugi Japan was attacked 40 miles off the coast of Siberia by two Soviet MiG-15s. The aircraft ditched and one crew member, was lost with the others being rescued.
 * 7 November, 1954: A US Air Force RB-29 Superfortress reconnaissance aircraft was shot down by Soviet MiG-15 fighters, flown by Kostin and Seberyakov, near Hokkaido Island in northern Japan. The plane carrying a crew of eleven was conducting routine photographic reconnaissance near Hokkaido and the southern most of the disputed Kuril islands. The plane was attacked and seriously damaged, forcing the crew to bail out. Ten crewmen were successfully rescued after landing in the sea; however, the eleventh man drowned when he became entangled in his parachute lines after landing.
 * 17 April, 1955: The MiG-15 pilots Korotkov and Sazhin shot down an RB-47E Stratojetflying from Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, north of the Kamchatka peninsula – all three crewmembers perished.
 * 22 June, 1955: A US Navy P2V Neptune of VP-9 (BuNo 131515), flying a patrol mission from Kodiak, Alaska, was attacked over the Bering Strait by two Soviet MiG-15s. The aircraft crash-landed on St. Lawrence Island after an engine was set afire. Of the eleven crew members, including pilot Richard F. Fischer, co-pilot David M. Lockhard, Donald E. Sonnek, Thaddeus Maziarz, Martin E. Berg, Eddie Benko, David Assard and Charles Shields, four sustained injuries due to gunfire and six were injured during the landing. The USA demanded $724,947 in compensation; the USSR finally paid half this amount.
 * 11 December, 1956: The USSR formally protested that three US Air Force B-57s had intruded into Soviet airspace near Vladivostok.
 * 29 May, 1958: A Belgian Air Force Republic F-84F Thunderstreak violated East German airspace and was forced to land at Damgarten by Soviet MiG-17s. After two weeks of captivity, the pilot was released. Two weeks after this, the aircraft was returned, dissassembled, via road transport.
 * 27 June, 1958: A US Air Force C-118 Liftmaster, reportedly on a regular supply flight from Wiesbaden, West Germany to Karachi, Pakistan, via Cyprus and Iran, crossed the Soviet border near Yerevan, Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic. Soviet MiG-17 pilots G.F. Svetlichnikov and B.F. Zakharov shot the aircraft down 30 km south of Yerevan. Five crew members parachuted to safety and four other survived the crash landing on a half-finished airstrip. The crew of Dale D. Brannon, Luther W. Lyles, Robert E. Crans, Bennie A. Shupe, James T. Kane, James N. Luther, James G. Holman, Earl H. Reamer and Peter N. Sabo were captured and later released by the Soviets on July 7, 1958. This aircraft was reported to be the personal aircraft of Allen Dulles, then director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
 * 26 July, 1958: A US Air Force RB-47E Stratojet, flying from Iran, was intercepted by Soviet fighters over the Caspian Sea 130 miles east-southeast of Astara. The RB-47 evaded the fighters and fled to safety.
 * 2 September, 1958: Soviet MiG-17 pilots shot down a U.S. Air Force reconnaissance-configured C-130 Hercules aircraft over the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic; The C-130 was a Sun Valley SIGINT aircraft. The remains of John E. Simpson, Rudy J. Swiestra, Edward J. Jeruss and Ricardo M. Vallareal were returned to the US on September 24, 1958. The remains of the other crew members, Paul E. Duncan, George P. Petrochilos, Arthur L. Mello, Leroy Price, Robert J. Oshinskie, Archie T. Bourg Jr., James E. Fergueson, Joel H. Fields, Harold T. Kamps, Gerald C. Maggiacomo, Clement O. Mankins, Gerald H. Medeiros and Robert H. Moore were recovered in 1998.
 * 30 September, 1958: The USSR charged that a US miltary aircraft had intruded into Soviet airspace three times in the region of the Chukchi Peninsula and Ratmanov Island.
 * 31 October, 1958: A US Air Force RB-47E Stratojet was attacked by Soviet MiG-17 fighters, over the Black Sea. The crew of three were not injured and the aircraft returned safely to base.
 * 7 November, 1958: A US Air Force RB-47E Stratojet was attacked by Soviet MiG-17 fighters, east of Gotland Island over the Baltic Sea. The crew of three were not injured and the aircraft returned safely to base.
 * 17 November, 1958: A US Air Force RB-47E Stratojet was attacked by Soviet MiG-17 fighters, over the Sea of Japan. The crew of three were not injured and the aircraft returned safely to base.
 * 27 March, 1959: A US military aircraft flying at over 20,000 feet in one of the Berlin air corridors was buzzed by Soviet fighter aircraft. The Soviets claimed that all flights in the Berlin air corridors had to stay below 10,000 feet.

1960s

 * 1 May, 1960: A CIA Lockheed U-2A, 56-6693, Article 360, flown by Francis Gary Powers is shot down by a SA-2 (Guideline) missile near Degtyarsk in the Soviet Union during an overflight codenamed Operation GRAND SLAM, the twenty-fourth and most ambitious deep-penetration flight of the U-2 program. Powers parachutes down and is captured. A pursuing MiG-19 piloted by Sr. Lt. Sergei Safronov, was also shot down in the missile barrage with the pilot later posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Banner.Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev announces on 7 May to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, and thus the world, that a "spyplane" has been shot down but intentionally makes no reference to the pilot. Powers is later produced in a 'show trial'. On 10 February 1962, twenty-one months after his capture, Powers is exchanged along with American student Frederic Pryor in a spy swap for Soviet KGB Colonel Vilyam Fisher (aka Rudolf Abel) at the Glienicke Bridge in Berlin, Germany.
 * 25 May, 1960: A US Air Force C-47 returning home to Wheelus Air Base, Libya from a trip to Copenhagen, Denmark was forced to land in East Germany by Soviet MiGs. The nine crew members were held captive until July 19th 1960.
 * 1 July, 1960: A US Air Force RB-47E Stratojet (53-4281) of the 38th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, flying over the Barents Sea was downed by Soviet pilot Vasili Poliakov, flying a MiG-19. Co-pilot Bruce Olmstead and navigator John McKone survived and were taken captive. The pilot, Bill Palm and ELINT operators Eugene Posa, Oscar Goforth and Dean Phillips were killed. Olmstead and McKone were released from Soviet captivity on January 25th, 1961. Bill Palm's remains were returned to the US on July 25, 1960.
 * 4 August, 1961: An Iran Air DC-4 returning to Tehran from a cargo flight to Beirut was attacked by Soviet MiG-17 fighters after it strayed into Soviet airspace. The aircraft sustained damage to the left wing and both outboard engines. The crew of three made a safe wheels-up landing on the southwest coast of the Caspian Sea.
 * 14 September, 1961: The US State Department protested that two US civil airliners had been harassed by Soviet aircraft over Germany. In one case, a Soviet fighter flew 20 feet off the wing of a Pan American airliner in the Berlin air corridor. In the second case, a Soviet fighter crossed 100 feet in front of another Pan American airliner.
 * 8 January, 1962: A Sabena Belgian Airlines Sud Caravelle, carrying 19 passengers and 8 crewmembers, was forced to land at Grozny in the Chechen ASSR of the Soviet Union by four MiG-17 fighters. The Caravelle was on a flight from Tehran, Iran to Istanbul, Turkey and, encountering bad weather and with a faulty compass, inadvertantly penetrated far into Soviet airspace. The passengers were flown to Brussels on January 11th in a Soviet aircraft and the Caravelle returned home the next day.
 * 17 July, 1962: A Soviet fighter jet crossed with 300-400 feet of the nose of a US Federal Aviation Administration DC-3 in the Berlin air corridor. The fighter then took up position on the wing tip of the US aircraft.
 * 24 September, 1962: A US Air Force RB-47E, piloted by John Drost, was intercepted over the Baltic Sea by a Soviet MiG-19.
 * 29 October, 1962: A US Air Force air sampling aircraft flying over the Arctic Ocean intruded into Soviet airspace, due to a navigational error.
 * 20 November, 1963: Soviet pilot V.P. Pavlovskii flying a MiG-17 shot down an Iranian civilian L-26 Commander that had intruded into Soviet airspace.
 * 28 January, 1964: In the T-39 Aircraft Incident, A US Air Force T-39 Sabreliner, based in Wiesbaden, West Germany, was shot down by a Soviet MiG-19 fighter over Thuringia, about 60 miles inside East Germany while on a training flight. The crew of three, Gerald Hannaford, John Lorraine and Donald Millard were killed.
 * 10 March, 1964: A US Air Force RB-66 Destroyer from the 10 TRW, based at Toul-Rosieres, France, was shot down over East Germany by Soviet MiG-21s. The aircraft was shot down near Gardelegen, after straying out of one of the Berlin air corridors. The three crew members, David Holland, Melvin Kessler and Harold Welch parachuted to safety and were released several days later.
 * 28 June 1967: Soviet pilot O.G. Stepanov flying a MiG-17 forced an Imperial Iranian Air Force L-20 Beaver that had violated Soviet airspace to land.
 * July 1, 1968: Seaboard World Airlines Flight 253, a Douglas DC-8, is forced to land in the Soviet Union; on board are over 200 American troops bound for Vietnam.

1970s

 * 11 September, 1970: A Soviet Su-15 intercepted a Greek Air Force C-47 that had crossed into Soviet airspace in the area of Sevastopol in order to defect. The pilot of a Su-15 flew up alongside and rocked his wings, signaling "follow me". The C-47 complied and landed at Bel'bek airbase. The Greek pilot, M. Maniatakis had stolen the aircraft from Chania airbase on Crete to flee from junta-controlled Greece. Maniatakis requested political asylum in the USSR.
 * 21 October, 1970: A US Air Force U-8 Seminole was shot down over Soviet Armenia by Soviet MiG-17s. The crew of four were all rescued.
 * 17 November, 1970: A US Air Force RC-135, piloted by James W. Jones, was intercepted by Soviet MiG-17s, while conducting a SIGINT flight over international waters near Vaygach Island. One of the MiG-17s fired warning shots, but the RC-135 ignored them and continued on its mission. The MiGs continued to escort the RC-135, but did not fire on it again.
 * September 7, 1972: A flight of Turkish Air Force F-100 Super Sabres entered Soviet airspace at low altitude near Leninakan, Armenia. A Soviet Su-15 Flagon was scrambled from Sadar airbase to intercept the fighters. The Su-15 proved to be incapable of intercepting the F-100s, as its radar lacked look-down/shoot-down capability, necessary for use against the low flying F-100s. As a result, the F-100s escaped unscathed back to Turkey.
 * 21 June, 1973: An Imperial Iranian Air Force Aero Commander crossed into Soviet airspace 100 miles southwest of Baku. Three Soviet Su-15s were scrambled from Nasosnaya airbase to intercept the aircraft. The Aero Commaner was intercepted and forced to land at Nasosnaya. The crew of the Aero Commander had intended to fly from Tabriz to Parsabad but had become lost.
 * 28 November, 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 in exchange for the film canister from a Soviet reconnaissance satellite that had landed in Iran. 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.
 * 23 May, 1974: A Turkish Air Force F-100 Super Sabre intruded into Soviet airspace in the Caucasus region. A Soviet Su-15 was scrambled from an airbase near Kyurdamir, Azerbaijan, but was not directed towards the target by ground control, as the F-100 had entered the area defended by a surface-to-air missile battery. A missile was fired at the F-100, but it escaped when the missile malfunctioned.
 * 17 October, 1974: Three Soviet Su-15s from Bel'bek airbase intercepted a US reconnaissance balloon over the Black Sea. One Su-15 managed to shoot off the balloon's sensor pod with a missile.
 * 2 April, 1976: A Soviet Su-15 flown by P.S. Strizhak was scrambled from Sokol airbase on Sakhalin Island to intercept a US Air Force RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft that had intruded to within 100 km of the island. After take-off, the Su-15 was redirected by ground control to intercept a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force P-2 Neptune. The P-2 was flying over the Sea of Japan at 6,500 feet near the southern tip of Sakhalian Island. Approaching within 4 miles of the P-2, the Su-15 followed it on a parallel course. The Su-15 pilot inadvertently fired a missile at the P-2 and had to quickly break radar lock on the P-2. The missile passed near the P-2's right wing and self-destructed safely.
 * 25 July, 1976: A Finnish Cessna 150 intruded into Soviet airspace. A Soviet Su-15 was scrambled from Afrikanda air base to intercept the Cessna. The Cessna then landed at the Soviet reserved airfield at Alakurtti, where the pilot refueled the aircraft using a spare can of fuel. After taking off, it headed eastwards. The Su-15 spotted the Cessna through a break in the clouds, but was unable to intercept it. Two more Su-15TMs and a MiG-15UTI were directed to intercept the Cessna, but were unable to find it. The Cessna flew on for another 190 miles before making a forced landing in the woods of the Karelian Peninsula. The aircraft flipped over on its back, but the pilot and his passenger managed to get out of the aircraft. They were apprehended by local residents.
 * 24 August, 1976: A pair of Turkish Air Force F-100 Super Sabre entered Soviet airspace. Three Soviet Su-15s were scrambled from Kyurdamir and Scandar airbases to intercept the F-100s. The Su-15s were directed by ground control to not pursue the F-100s, as they had entered the area defended by a S-125 missile battery. Missiles were fired at the F-100s and one was shot down. The Turkish pilot ejected safely and landed in Turkish territory. The wreckage of his aircraft also landed in Turkish territory.
 * 20 April, 1978: Korean Air Lines Boeing 707 Flight 902 flew over Murmansk while on a Anchorage-Paris flight, due to a navigation error. A Soviet PVO Su-15 from Afrikanda air base, piloted by A. Bosov, intercepted it and fired an air-to-air missile at the airliner. The missile blew off part of the 707's wing and showered the fuselage with shrapnel, killing two passengers. The pilot of the 707, Captain Kim Chang Ky, reported that when he caught sight of' the Soviet interceptor he reduced speed, lowered his landing gear, and flashed his navigation lights on and off, all ICAO procedures signifying willingness to follow the Soviet interceptor. After his airliner was damaged, he descended through clouds to lower altitude and in doing so, he became separated from the Soviet interceptor. Three Yak-28 from Monchegorsk airbase, two MiG-25s from Letneozerskiy airbase and four Su-15s from Poduzhemye airbase were then scrambled to find the inturder. For more than an hour the airliner flew at an altitude of several thousand feet across the snow-covered terrain, seeking a safe landing place. The Soviets had no idea where he was. Several approaches to possible landing sites where aborted when obstructions were spotted at the last moment. Finally, after nightfall, the crew found a frozen lake bed, just west of Kem, and let down smoothly, skidding to a safe landing. Of the 97 passengers and 12 crew on board, two passengers were killed. After being detained by Soviet authorities for a short period, the crew and passengers were released.
 * 21 July, 1978: In the 1978 Iranian Chinook shootdown, Four Imperial Iranian Air Force Boeing CH-47 Chinook penetrated 15-20 km into Soviet airspace in the Turkestan Military District. They were first intercepted by Soviet MiG-23 pilot A.V. Dem'janov, who mistakenly identified them as Soviet helicopters. The helicopters were intercepted a little later by MiG-23 pilot V.I. Shkinder. He fired two Molniya R-60 missiles, shooting down one Chinook, killing eight crew members. He then fired his GSh-23L 23mm cannon at another Chinook, forcing it to land near Gjaurs. The four crew members of this helicopter survived, but were captured by Soviet border guards. The remaining two Chinooks escaped back into Iranian airspace. Shortly thereafter, the Soviets allowed the damaged Chinook (5-4092) to be repaired by Iranians. This helicopter and its four crew members were then allowed to return home.
 * 23 December, 1979: A Cessna 185 coming from Iran entered Soviet airspace 100 miles southwest of Mary, Turkmenistan. A Soviet Su-15 was scrambled to intercept the Cessna but was unable to find the aircraft. Three more Su-15s and a MiG-23 were also scrambled, but ground control did not direct them to intercept. In its search, the first Su-15 passed directly over the Cessna, scaring the crew, who decided to make an emergency landing to avoid being shot down. The Cessna landed on a highway 121 miles west of Mary and the crew was arrested by border guards.

1980s

 * 18 July, 1981: In the 1981 shootdown of Argentinian Canadair CL-44, a Soviet Su-15, flown by Valentin Kalyupin, rammed and destroyed a Canadair CL-44 belonging to the Argentine company Transporte Aéreo Rioplatense over Soviet Armenia, thirty miles southeast of Yerevan, not far from the Iranian border. The CL-44 had just completed the third of twelve scheduled flights from Tel Aviv to Tehran via Larnaca, Cyprus, carrying the aircraft tires and other spares bought from Israeli arms dealers. Killed in the crash of the CL-44 were the pilot Hector Cordero, along with crew members Jose Burgueno, Hermete Boasso and Stuart McCafferty. Cordero, Burgeueno, and Boasso were Argentinians, while McCafferty was from the UK. The Soviet Su-15 pilot, Kalyuppin, parachuted to safety.
 * 1 September, 1983: An off-course Korean Air Lines Boeing 747 flight 007 enroute from Anchorage, Alaska to Seoul, South Korea entered Soviet airspace over the Kamchatka Peninsula and flew in Soviet airspace for the next 2.5 hours. Initially, a MiG-23 was scrambled to intercept the intruder, but the pilot was unable to find the 747. Later, two Su-15 Flagons were scrambled to attempt an interception of the 747. After finding the 747 over Sakhalin Island, two AA-3 Anab missiles fired by a Su-15 piloted by Gennadi N. Osipovich. All 23 crew and 246 passengers (including US Congressman Lawrence McDonald from Georgia) were killed. At the time of the intercept, a US Air Force RC-135 reconnaisance aircraft was also reported to be in the area.
 * 9 August, 1984: A Soviet Su-15 pursuing an Airbus 310 jetliner intruded thirty miles into Swedish airspace, at one point closing to within about a mile of the airliner, which was unaware of the fighter. Radio intercepts showed that the Su-15 Flagon fighter had armed and locked on its air-to-air missiles. The Soviets, on October 21, officially denied that any such thing had happened and claimed the jet was fifty miles from where the Swedish radars showed it.
 * 29 October, 1986: A Kuwait Airways Boeing 727, en route from Damascus to Teheran, safely made an emergency landing in the Soviet Union, at Yerevan, when a sudden storm shut down all airfields in Iran. The Boeing 727 had turned around and headed back west, but was too short of fuel to reach any airfields in Turkey. The crew desperately radioed to the Soviet air traffic control facility in Armenia. Once permission had been granted, the airliner crossed the Soviet border near Dzhulfa and made a safe landing at Yerevan. The plane was serviced and fueled and took off the following morning. The Iranian government claimed that the aircraft was shadowed by Iraq Air Force fighters due to the presence on board of an envoy from the Kuwaiti Emir to the Iranian government.
 * 28 May, 1987: 19-year old West German private pilot Mathias Rust flew a rented Cessna 172 from Helsinki, Finland to Moscow, and landed in Red Square. He wasn't shot down because the two Soviet interceptor pilots who were shadowing him were reluctant to open fire on the small plane. After serving 18 months in a Soviet prison, Rust was released. Both Minister of Defence of Soviet Union Marshal Sergei Sokolov and Soviet Air-defense commander Marshal of Aviation A.I. Koldunov were removed from their position because of this incident.
 * 13 September, 1987: A Soviet Air Force Su-27, flown by Vasiliy Tsymbal, intercepted a Lockheed P-3 Orion of the 333 squadron of the Royal Norwegian Air Force, flown by Jan Salvesen, over the Barents Sea. While maneuvering below the P-3, the Su-27 collided with the outboard right propeller of the Orion. The impact shattered a fin tip of the Su-27 and caused fragments of the propeller to puncture the P-3's fuselage, causing a decompression. Because of the damaged propeller, the Orion experienced severe vibrations and the outboard right engine was shut down. The aircraft disengaged and returned safely to their bases. Tsymbal was expelled from the Communist Party three days later, but was reinstated after a day. Shortly thereafter he was awarded the Order of the Red Star. The Orion's pilot emerged from the incident with no blemishes to his service record and the Soviet Union officially apologized to Norway.
 * May 28 and May 29, 1988: For two days in a row, German born Austrian pilot Andreas Sommers penetrated 2-3 km into Soviet airspace from Norway while flying a Cessna 152. The Soviets were aware of the intrusion but refrained from shooting down his aircaft out of sensitivity to an ongoing Soviet-American diplomatic summit in Moscow. Soviet diplomats dismissed the flight as a practical joke.

1990s

 * August 25, 1990: Wang Baoyu (王宝玉), a squadron commander of the 62 Air Regiment of the 21st PLAAF Air Division, defected to the USSR by flying his Shenyang J-6 to Knevichi, a Soviet Naval Aviation base near Vladivostok after taking off from Jiaohe (蛟河) military airport in Mudanjiang (not to be confused by the city of Jiaohe and the civilian Mudanjiang Airport at Mudanjiang. The plane and its pilot were returned to the People's Republic of China on August 30, 1990 and Wang Baoyu was subsequently sentenced to death, though his sentence was commuted to life. Several high ranking Soviet Air Defense commanders lost their job as a result of this defection, because Wang Baoyu was not detected until after he had landed.