The most famous cases of violations of the airspace of the state. Aircraft nightmare of the 21st century: how do Western countries respond to airspace violations? Strategic Intelligence vs. Soviets

In 2014 alone, Turkey violated Greek airspace more than 2,500 times, and the United States provoked the USSR more than once by approaching the country's air border with nuclear warheads on board. Don't believe? That's in vain!

When a Russian plane accidentally violated Israeli airspace, the pilot left the country after a warning. Errors of this kind are permissible at such speeds, and no one began to bomb the Russian Aerospace Forces. After all, Russia does not pose any threat to the state, which means there is no point in knocking it down.

However, as practice shows, not everyone is guided by this kind of logic. Türkiye, which clearly pursued certain goals, turned out to be more principled. Although, it would seem, at such a time it is possible to omit such trifles and let people work in peace. But no. In an alleged violation of the airspace, the Russian Su-24 was shot down in cold blood.

If everything is so serious, and even now, when Russia is actively engaged in the destruction of the positions of the Islamic State, many countries are ready to turn a blind eye to the mistakes of Russian pilots, it is surprising why in some states such oversights are emphasized.

But before returning to our sheep, let's remember, for starters, how Turkey, for example, accumulated about 2.5 thousand violations of intrusion into Greek airspace last year alone. 2.5 thousand, Carl! It's not for you to go out on the street for a walk. And did anyone in the West react? Did Athens start a full-scale hysteria and threats, they say, let's do it, then we'll see how you dance in your Ankara. No, it wasn't. And so, for reference, on the eve of the tragedy on the Syrian-Turkish border, Turkey invaded the skies of Greece more than 20 times a day.

American aircraft also ended up on foreign territory more than once. For example, in Venezuela. But even then, no one began to shoot down a reconnaissance aircraft of the US Coast Guard. It asks: "Why?" Is the United States really so special, or are there special privileges for them (judging by the logic of Erdogan, according to which every plane that violates someone else's border must be destroyed).

The same notorious NATO planes, yes, the same organization that Turkey immediately ran to after it shot down the Su-24, were seen in several violations of the borders with Belarus. It is surprising that Lukashenko's father did not fire a lethal projectile at them.

And, in order to completely consolidate the material covered, let's remember how our beloved Americans, fighting "for world peace", carried out many operations several times when the bombers of the alliance and the United States rushed at incredible speed to the borders of the USSR, loaded with nuclear warheads, in order to check the reaction of the Union. What will happen? Hit back with fear? Or will it pass? Or will it still be possible to provoke?

But normal countries would not provoke the Third World War. At this stage, it is not very difficult to untie it. It’s worth just thinking, is there any sense in these threats? And who will they ultimately benefit?

The incident near the Syrian-Turkish border, where, according to official Ankara, vividly recalled the times of the Cold War. At that time, the air confrontation between the USSR Air Force and the military aviation of the NATO countries repeatedly led to military clashes.

According to incomplete data, in the period from 1950 to 1983, at least 40 cases of the use of weapons by Soviet and NATO Air Force aircraft against each other were recorded. These cases do not include combat operations in Vietnam, Korea and the Middle East.

According to military experts, in reality there were much more clashes, but many incidents were hushed up by both sides in order to avoid escalating the situation.

At the same time, the main losses in these battles were borne by NATO forces, since it was they who conducted operations in the immediate vicinity of the airspace of the USSR. During the clashes, the forces of NATO countries lost at least 27 aircraft and helicopters and more than 130 military personnel. Losses of the USSR Air Force do not exceed 10 aircraft.

Here are just the biggest air incidents of the Cold War.

On April 8, 1950, the PB4Y-2 Privatir bomber of the 26th US Navy Patrol Squadron was shot down by Soviet La-11 fighters over the Baltic Sea near Liepaja, Latvia. According to the Soviet pilots, the intruder fired at them and was shot down directly over Latvia, falling into the sea. The US said it shot down a private jet. The crew of the downed aircraft, numbering 10 people, died.

On October 8, 1950, two US Air Force F-80 Shooting Star fighter-bombers during a sortie against ground targets in North Korea (during the Korean War) deviated from the course, invaded the airspace of the USSR and attacked the Dry River airfield in the Vladivostok region. As a result of a raid on the ground, 8 P-63 King Cobra aircraft of the USSR Air Force were damaged, one of which was subsequently decommissioned; there were no victims or injured. The United States apologized in connection with the incident, the commander of the air group whose planes made the raid was removed from command and transferred to staff work; the pilots are court-martialed.

On June 13, 1952, an RB-29 Superfortress reconnaissance aircraft of the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron of the US Air Force, flying from the Japanese Yokota airbase, was shot down by Soviet MiG-15 fighters over the Sea of ​​Japan. According to the pilots, the intruder fired at them. All 12 crew members of the aircraft are considered dead.

On July 29, 1953, an RB-50G Superfortress reconnaissance aircraft of the 343rd US Air Force Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron was shot down by Soviet MiG-17 fighters near Askold Island over the Sea of ​​Japan. The tail gunner of the aircraft during the interception unsuccessfully fired at the Soviet fighters. Of the 17 crew members, 1 survived, picked up by an American ship.

November 7, 1954 reconnaissance aircraft RB-29 "Superfortress" was shot down by Soviet fighters over the Kuril Islands. The crew left the car with parachutes, 10 were rescued by American emergency services, 1 drowned after splashdown. The Soviet side stated that the plane was in the airspace of the USSR and fired at the fighters that intercepted it, the American side denied these accusations.

On June 22, 1955, a P2V Neptune patrol aircraft of the 9th US Navy Patrol Squadron was attacked by Soviet MiG-15 fighters over the Bering Strait, after which it crashed on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. There were no fatalities among the crew members, but they were all injured. The incident took place in difficult meteorological conditions, which makes it difficult to reconstruct the picture of what happened. The USSR agreed to pay material compensation in connection with the incident.

Soviet aces shot down Turkish planes and captured a Turkish colonel

On September 2, 1958, a C-130A-II Hercules reconnaissance aircraft of the 7406th US Air Force Combat Support Squadron, flying from the Adana airfield in Turkey, was shot down by Soviet MiG-17 fighters over Armenia. All 17 crew members died, their remains were returned partly immediately after the incident, partly after search work 40 years later.

May 1, 1960 US CIA U-2C reconnaissance aircraft, manned Francis Powers, was shot down by a Soviet air defense system in the Sverdlovsk region during a reconnaissance sortie from the Peshawar airbase in Pakistan. The plane was shot down by the S-75 anti-aircraft missile system. An anti-aircraft missile also accidentally shot down a Soviet MiG-19 fighter, raised to intercept the intruder (pilot Sergei Safronov died). Powers survived, was sentenced by a Soviet court to prison and in 1962 was exchanged for a Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.

On October 21, 1970, a light twin-engine U-8 Seminole aircraft of the US Air Force lost its way, violated the airspace of the USSR and landed at the airfield of a military unit near the city of Leninakan, Armenian SSR. In addition to the pilot, there were two American generals and a Turkish army colonel on board. Realizing his mistake, the plane tried to take off again, but was blocked. After an investigation into the incident, the pilots and passengers were released.

November 28, 1973 reconnaissance aircraft RF-4C "Phantom II" of the Iranian Air Force invaded the airspace of the USSR in the Caucasus. The MiG-21SM fighter that intercepted it unsuccessfully used up its missiles, after which pilot Gennady Eliseev made a supersonic air ram. The crew of the Iranian plane (Iranian and American) ejected and was detained by the Soviet military. Pilot Gennady Eliseev died. For the interception of the intruder, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously).

On August 24, 1976, a pair of F-100 Super Saber fighter-bombers of the Turkish Air Force invaded Soviet airspace. One of them was shot down by a Soviet anti-aircraft missile system - the pilot ejected and landed in Turkey.

The message about the crash of a military plane in the Middle East came on the morning of Tuesday, November 24th. The Turkish and Russian defense ministries confirm the fact of the fall of the Russian Su-24 bomber, but each side describes the circumstances of the incident in different ways.

According to Ankara, the plane violated Turkish airspace, about which the pilots were warned several times in a row. As a result, F-16 fighters were lifted into the air, which shot down the Russian bomber. In addition, according to CNN Türk, one of the pilots was killed, the other was captured by the Syrian Turkmens.

Moscow, on the contrary, claims that the Russian Air Force Su-24 bomber did not violate Turkish airspace, but was shot down (presumably from the ground) over Syrian territory. The Russian Ministry of Defense does not say anything about the fate of the pilots, except that, according to preliminary data, they ejected from a falling aircraft.

vacuum space

In more than four years of civil war in Syria, this is not the first incident involving a violation of the airspace, with tragic consequences. So, in June 2012, the Syrian army shot down a Turkish Air Force F-4 reconnaissance aircraft in the coastal zone of the Mediterranean Sea, after violating the air border over Syrian territorial waters. Both pilots died and their bodies were found during a joint search by the Syrian and Turkish navies.

Then Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that he was "outraged" by the Syrian decision to shoot down the plane, which, according to him, was carrying out a training mission. “A short-term violation of the [air] border can never be a reason for attack,” he was quoted by the BBC. Syria, he said, is a "clear threat" to Turkey. However, Ankara did not take immediate response measures: Erdogan announced that Turkey would adhere to the position of "common sense", which, however, "should not be taken as weakness." In December 2012, the NATO Council decided to strengthen Turkish air defense forces in the area: two Patriot air defense batteries were provided by the United States, Germany and the Netherlands.

Subsequently, the Al Arabiya TV channel published documents that allegedly prove the involvement of Russian specialists in the plane crash and claimed that the Turkish pilots were captured alive and then secretly executed. “Based on information and instructions from the Russian leadership, [there is an idea of] the need to destroy the two Turkish pilots detained by the special operations unit,” one of the documents says. The pilots were to be killed "naturally" and their bodies returned to the site of the plane crash in international waters, it is indicated there. Neither Türkiye nor Syria recognized the authenticity of the documents.

Already in the fall of 2012, when clashes between Syrian troops and the armed opposition on the border with Turkey became more frequent and shells began to fly into Turkish territory, Ankara undertook several bombardments of Syrian positions. In September 2013, the Turkish Air Force shot down a Syrian Mi-17 helicopter that ended up in the country's airspace. In March 2014, they shot down one of two MiG-23 fighter jets that were overflying rebel positions near the Turkish border - one of the aircraft crossed Turkish airspace. The pilot ejected and was rescued.

In 2015, two serious incidents occurred: in May, Turkey shot down an Iranian-made reconnaissance unmanned aircraft from the ground, flying 11 km into its territory. In mid-October, after the start of the Russian Air Force operation in Syria, a Turkish F-16 shot down a Russian-made drone that flew 3 km deep into Turkey. Despite hints from Ankara and Washington, Moscow denied that the UAV belonged to the Russian army. As a result, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that although the device was Russian-made, it could belong to both the Syrian authorities and the Kurdish rebels.

Without consequences

Since the end of the Cold War, countries not formally at war have repeatedly destroyed each other's warplanes over their territory. For example, in April 1992, a group of several Iranian Air Force F-4 fighter-bombers violated Iraqi airspace to bombard an Iranian opposition camp from the air. One of the planes was shot down by Iraqi air defenses. In 1980-1988, the two countries fought a war that claimed the lives of at least 250 thousand people, but despite the fact that the incident in the air was the largest violation of the truce between the countries in four years, there was no resumption of hostilities.

In October 1996, a Turkish F-16 crashed in the Aegean Sea near the Greek island of Samos (close to Turkish territorial waters) during a training flight. One of the pilots died, the other was rescued by the Greek military. The incident occurred during another aggravation of the territorial dispute over the Aegean Islands, but Athens and Ankara announced that the crash of the fighter was an accident. Seven years later, a Turkish admiral claimed that the F-16 had in fact been shot down by an air-to-air missile from a Greek aircraft. Athens refused to confirm the new reports.

In February 2009, US forces spotted and shot down an Iranian reconnaissance drone flying over neighboring Iraq. According to a Pentagon spokesman, Washington had previously accused Tehran of violating Iraqi airspace, but the Iranians denied all accusations, calling the violations accidental. “Now it is clear that this is not an accident or a coincidence,” said Lieutenant Colonel Mark Ballesteros. “After all, the drone was inside the borders of Iraq for more than an hour.” No action directed against Iran followed this incident.

To say that the demarche of the young German turned into a grandiose scandal for the Armed Forces of the USSR is to say nothing. After a special meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Minister of Defense Marshal of the Soviet Union Sergei Sokolov and Commander-in-Chief of the Air Defense Forces Marshal of Aviation Alexander Koldunov lost their posts. Dmitry Yazov was appointed to replace Sokolov.
The figure is called from several dozen to three hundred servicemen, from lieutenants to generals, who were held accountable for the flight and landing of M. Rust at Sheremetevo-3, as Red Square was jokingly called after this incident. Many researchers of this history are inclined to believe that such repressive measures were unjustified: the Soviet air defense system was tuned, first of all, to counter enemy combat aircraft and cruise missiles, and not hooligans on sports aircraft.
Another stable version of what happened: it was a brilliantly planned and carried out action to discredit the USSR and the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union. The Cold War between the West and the USSR continued, and the successful flight of Matthias Rust turned out to be a wonderful occasion to once again stung the "evil empire".
By the way, shortly after Rust's flight, a similar story with a light aircraft happened in France - there an amateur pilot also made an unauthorized flight over the capital of the country, causing the command of the air defense forces to worry. And in 1994, a sports Cessna sat down at the White House in Washington. Landing then was unsuccessful - the pilot died.

In neither case was a “cleansing” of the Armed Forces in France and the United States carried out. The radar service was strengthened and the technical side was improved regarding the detection of such objects, tracking them and exchanging information.

In the 70s and 80s of the last century, the air defenses of the Soviet Union from all strategic directions were tested for strength by NATO combat and reconnaissance aviation. A particularly intense confrontation took place in the Far Eastern Military District. In September 1983, the air defense aviation of the Far Eastern Military District shot down a Boeing-707 of South Korean airlines. A huge international scandal erupted. The US President at that time, Ronald Reagan, called the USSR the "Evil Empire". Anatoly Kornukov, General of the Army, Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force of the Russian Federation (1998-2002), Honorary Chairman of the Air Defense Coordinating Committee of the CIS countries, told our freelance correspondent about this military operation.

A group of journalists from the central media in the late 90s of the last century flew by helicopter to one of the Air Force training grounds in the Tver region. Very effectively, Russian bomber and attack aircraft smashed old armored vehicles and fortifications of the “probable enemy” to smithereens. One of the journalists, in addition to other questions, also asked the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force, General of the Army Anatoly Kornukov, about the long-standing tragic story over Sakhalin. Somehow, Anatoly Mikhailovich squinted at our colleague and replied that he would not want to stir up this tragedy again: “The representatives of the embassies of the USA, Canada, Korea, Japan, and most importantly, they are still hushing up the truth.” And now, 29 years later, Wings of the Motherland reveal the details of the tragedy over Sakhalin.

THE WORLD SHAKED IN OUTRAGE

On the night of August 31 to September 1, 1983, a South Korean Boeing Rey-sa 007 New York-Anchorage-Seoul aircraft was shot down over Sakhalin. The American media announces the horrific murder of 269 people, including US citizens. Among the dead is the most active anti-Soviet congressman Larry McDonald. Thousands of demonstrations swept from Washington to Japan and South Korea demanding decisive action against the USSR. US President Ronald Reagan said that the Soviets are seeking their interests through violence and threats, using lies to cover up such a heinous act. He declared the USSR an "Evil Empire". Shocked citizens of South Korea collectively burn the flags of the Soviet Union. A period has come when the Cold War in the world could break into a nuclear catastrophe.

HALF A YEAR BEFORE THE TRAGEDY OVER SAKHALIN

At the end of March 1983, two strike aircraft carrier groups of the US Navy, as Army General Anatoly Kornukov said, appeared in the Aleutian Islands near Soviet Kamchatka. They held multi-day exercises. On April 4, six A-7 aircraft took off from the two strike aircraft carriers Eagle and Enterprise, located south of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. In the area of ​​the Zeleny Island of the Lesser Kuril Ridge, they entered the airspace of the USSR to a depth of about 30 kilometers. Moreover, they carried out conditional bombing on the territory of the island, making several visits to attack ground targets, and left with impunity. Due to very bad weather, the commander of the 40th Fighter Aviation Division of the Far Eastern Air Force, Major General Anatoly Kornukov, did not dare to raise Soviet aircraft to intercept the intruders. In addition, the fighters based on Sakhalin would not have enough fuel to return to the airfield during an air battle in the South Kuriles. “Of course, they could scare the Americans,” said Army General Anatoly Kornukov, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force in 1998-2001, “only in this case, our pilots would have died without a fight. The fighters had no landing systems. There were none at the nearest airfield to that area either. And our planes did not reach Sakhalin. Therefore, I decided not to take the fighters into the air to intercept the intruders. For this act, I was severely punished by the leaders of the Ministry of Defense.

The Kremlin did not like the caution of the Far Eastern aviation general. A superpower must be firm in defending its air borders. Moreover, at that time the law on the state border of the USSR had already entered into force. Article 36 read: "The air defense troops, protecting the state border of the USSR in cases where the termination of the violation or the detention of violators cannot be carried out by other means, use weapons and military equipment."

After the provocation of the Americans over Zeleniy Island, the command set the task of engaging in air combat with them in the event of a new appearance of American military aircraft over the South Kuril Islands. And then, on the remainder of the fuel, pull to the nearest land and eject. “The Americans were engaged in provocations,” General of the Army Anatoly Kornukov recalled those events, “but for us it’s a complete mess. We carried out our tasks literally on the verge of opening real fire to kill. For example, when the 6th American fleet entered the Sea of ​​Japan with a large aircraft carrier strike group and arranged aviation flights over the sea, our command decided to raise a division of naval missile carriers into the air. My fighter division provided cover for the missile carriers in one area, and the 20th division, based in Primorye, escorted these aircraft. And so the American and Soviet air armadas converged in a small and narrow airspace over the Sea of ​​​​Japan. The indescribable was happening on the air: “Cover! I'm attacking!" Boasted, of course. There was no shooting from both sides. It's a miracle that there were no mid-air collisions between planes. After all, this could lead to their fall. And it could well be that someone could not stand it and open fire to kill. Such an incident is unclear how could end. The year 1983 passed for us in the Far East in a nervous and difficult situation. Literally every day, the US Air Force staged provocations in the air against us.

STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE VS. SOVIETS

The Pentagon has always paid close attention to electronic intelligence. RS-135 reconnaissance aircraft, Ferret spy satellites and other means continuously probed vast spaces in search of the Soviet Air Defense Forces of the country. Violations of the air borders of the USSR were carried out so boldly that each time they could provoke the outbreak of hostilities. Moreover, violators often responded with fire to the signals of Soviet fighters on duty. In 1952, passengers of a Soviet aircraft became victims of the air lawlessness of American pilots. In the Soviet sky, over the territory of the USSR, American fighters attacked the passenger Il-14, on which the families of our servicemen, women and children, were flying on vacation. No one survived.

Simultaneously with the actions of the RS-135 aircraft, a new reconnaissance tactic appears in the NATO Air Force. A foreign plane violates the border of the USSR. And after the rise of Soviet fighters, it hastily returns to neutral territory. This method of extracting intelligence was carried out without special spy equipment on board. The task of the secret agent was to provoke the actions of the Soviet Air Defense Forces, to determine their bases, the order of actions, and to identify the operating frequencies of the equipment. Such a decoy duck was designated by the abbreviation "dag", which meant a secret agent. The RS-135 aircraft was created on the basis of the civilian Boeing-707. Outwardly, it is very similar to him.

On the radar screens, the marks from these aircraft look the same. This similarity gave American intelligence new opportunities. Like, the Soviet military will not shoot down a civilian airliner. But if this happens, then the tragedy can be successfully used against the Soviet Union. The strategy turned out to be successful. True, usually such incidents were resolved peacefully. Soviet fighters approached the intruder and either led him to land, or escorted him to the border when they received notification that a navigational error had occurred. According to international rules, if navigation fails for an aircraft, the commander is obliged to send a distress signal on the emergency channel. Fighters from the nearest state come to the aid of an aircraft in distress and show the way to the airfield.

In 1978, a South Korean airlines Boeing-707 violated the state border of the USSR, ignored the demands of fighters, did not respond to signals, and a rocket was fired at it. A downed huge plane was forced to land on a frozen lake in Karelia. Two people died - one wounded by shrapnel died from blood loss, and the other from a heart attack. The navigational error was excluded. The crew commander, a former military pilot with vast experience, served this route for about 10 years and could not accidentally get lost. Soviet experts proved that the deviation from the route was deliberate, and the crew saw the signals, but did not want to obey the Soviet fighters. It was another serious attempt to use a passenger airliner to check the reliable protection of the air borders of the USSR. However, on the night of August 31 to September 1, 1983, the provocation unfolded according to a different scenario.

MYSTERIOUS FLIGHT 007

On August 30, 1983, KAL flight 007 took off from New York's Kennedy Airport with 269 passengers on board. It was led by the most experienced pilot, Colonel of the South Korean Air Force Reserve Chang Den In, who had flown more than 10 thousand hours. Ahead of 11,400 kilometers of flight to Seoul on the international highway P20. Regular flight. Nothing foretold tragedy. On August 31 at 2.30 local time, the aircraft makes a technical stop at Anchorage Airport for refueling. And here, without announcing the reasons, the flight is delayed for 40 minutes, and an additional 4 tons of fuel are loaded into the tanks of the aircraft. For the whole year, there were only three cases at this airport when the crew took off the plane with full tanks. Around this time, on the border of Kamchatka, Soviet air defenses detect flights of American reconnaissance aircraft in the border zone. And three ships of the US Navy ply near the territorial Soviet waters. 4 minutes after Flight 007 takes off, another South Korean plane is cleared to take off. The fact that the KAL 0015 twin plane took off, which will actually fly to Seoul, will subsequently be hushed up. The record of the radio exchange between flights 007 and 0015 will be classified by US intelligence agencies.

Around 20.00 Moscow time on August 31, 1983, a mark from the aircraft appeared on the screens of the air defense radars of the Far Eastern Military District, very similar to the RS-135. “The intruder crossed our airspace at a point,” Anatoly Kornukov recalled, “where Soviet strategic bombers usually returned from flights. Its course miraculously skirted the zone of destruction of the Soviet anti-aircraft defense. The crew of the intruder seemed to take into account the locations of the air defense units of the Far East. The intruder's route also ran over a strategically important area - the base of Soviet nuclear submarines armed with intercontinental nuclear missiles.

The recorder recorded the report of the operator of the air defense command post of the Far Eastern Military District: “The target with the RS-135 radar mark invaded the airspace. I repeat. The target with the RS-135 radar mark invaded the airspace.

“The duty officer called me,” General of the Army Anatoly Kornukov recalled, “comrade commander, there was a violation in Kamchatka. The on-duty air defense systems tried to attack the violator. They didn't succeed. We were given information that this target was going west of Kamchatka in our direction. The fighters are on alert. I ordered that, when approaching the borders of neutral waters, fighter jets be raised into the air to escort or, according to the situation, to destroy the violator of the airspace of the USSR.

And earlier, before this report on the state of emergency at the air border, the commander of the Air Force fighter division at that time, Major General Anatoly Kornukov, was warned that the American reconnaissance satellite Ferret D passed over Yakutsk and should reach the latitude of the northern part at 03:07 Sakhalin. Therefore, according to experts, everything in this tragedy was coordinated as a very powerful and massive intelligence operation. At that time, a whole reconnaissance complex operated over the Soviet Far East. In addition to the Ferret D satellites, two more RS-135s scanned space along the Kuril ridge. In the zone of violation of the air border, powerful AWACS scouts patrolled, and US Navy ships were at sea, and American ground tracking stations also worked on radiation towards the Soviet Union. In the meantime, the South Korean Boeing allegedly accidentally continued to deviate more and more from the authorized flight route further west deep into the Soviet Far East. According to experts, including Army General Anatoly Kornukov, the South Korean pilot was specifically ordered not to obey the requirements to land, and to perform any maneuvers in the air.

DETECT AND INTERCEPT THE INVADER

Two Soviet fighter jets rose to intercept the Boyne ga-707. The Su-15 air defense interceptor directly carried out the combat mission, and the MiG-23 fighter covered it. In advance, the pilots were given a command: to confirm the target - a foreign reconnaissance aircraft and destroy it. Pilot Su-15 Osipovich managed to detect and target the intruder. But in this run, he did not press the trigger. At such a distance, and even at night, it was simply impossible to recognize the intruder. And the pilot himself still hoped that the order to destroy the target would be canceled.

At that most tense moment, military pilot Osipovich reported to the command post: “805. The intruder does not respond to the request, climbs and changes course. Difficult to follow. What are my actions?"

Answer from the CP: “805. Can you identify the type of aircraft?

Pilot: “Visibility is poor. I can't identify the plane.

And now, after a series of maneuvers, a huge liner appeared before the eyes of the Su-15 pilot, illuminated by lights and flashing lights. Pilot Osipovich led his Su-15 from the left around the Boeing. At the same time, he gave a signal with side lights and swaying of the Su-15 wings. Then he repeated these actions on the right side. However, he did not receive a response signal from the Boeing.

“At that moment, I remembered that Osipovich flew out on a mission from the third readiness,” recalled Army General Anatoly Kornukov, “and in such readiness the Su-15 was with suspended gondolas, each with a double-barreled gun. Four trunks. This is a powerful weapon. Therefore, he gave an order to the air regiment so that Osipovich opened warning fire. The pilot fired almost all the shells. There are only four cannons left. Why didn't the Boeing pilot notice or hear this fire? This is simply unbelievable, because the four barrels of guns, which are very fast-firing, give a large release of gas flames, as from an afterburner aircraft engine. Moreover, at night, such a flame can be seen very far. You just can't ignore it."

The situation is emergency. A decision had to be made. The intruder was already over the secret military bases of Sakhalin, and our planes were running out of fuel. The commander of the 40th Fighter Aviation Division, Major General Anatoly Kornukov, gave the order to destroy the target.

“When this command was received by the Su-15 pilot,” Anatoly Kornukov said, “he reported that he had stepped ahead of the intruder. After that, I took the microphone of the transmitter of the radio station in my hand and ordered - perform a turn on the afterburner with a right turn. The pilot complied with my command and replied that there was not enough fuel left in the plane. I told him - nothing will sit in Khomutovo. He turned on the afterburner so as not to fall into a tailspin because the speed of the Su-15 at that moment was low. And on two full afterburners, he energetically performed a U-turn, in fact, a full turn, and went into the rear hemisphere of the intruder aircraft at a distance of about 1.5-1.8 kilometers. The readiness of the missiles for launch immediately flashed on the plane, and the pilot fired two missiles in one gulp.

One missile hit the tail of the Boeing, the second demolished half of the left wing. The damaged huge car began to lose altitude sharply. Soviet fighter-interceptors left the attack zone and lost visual contact with the Boeing. Ground services immediately failed to accurately fix the crash site of the intruder aircraft.

At 6.24 Far Eastern time, the target violating the air borders of the USSR disappeared from the screens of air defense radars. A new round of the Cold War has begun. The attack on a "defenseless" civilian aircraft by Soviet fighters caused a storm of indignation throughout the world and made it possible to accuse the Soviet state of hostility. The troops of the two superpowers are put on alert. The fleets of the USSR, the USA, and Japan rush to the place of the tragedy. And in the latter, they announce an alert gathering in the national air force.

THE FINAL OF THE TRAGEDY OF THE BOEING SPY

In the Western press, the reason for the violation of the borders of the USSR in the Far East by Boeing flight 007 was explained by experts as the result of an error when entering data into the on-board computer. At the same time, no one could say how this aircraft, equipped at that time with the most advanced means of control and navigation, controlled by an experienced pilot and controlled by air traffic controllers from several countries, deviated from its course by almost 500 kilometers. After all, it is simply unthinkable for specialists not to notice such a significant departure from the established flight route for 2.5 hours. As a result, the intruder flew over the most important Soviet military installations in Kamchatka, the Far East and the southern part of Sakhalin. It was also obvious that the Boeing 707 was trying to get away from the air defense fighters by changing the speed, altitude and direction of flight. However, for some reason, the authorities and specialists in the United States did not notice all this and unleashed a literally information war against the USSR, accusing them of deliberately destroying a civilian airliner and its passengers along with the crew. The “black boxes” of the downed airliner could help to find out the truth. In the Tatar Strait, an underwater hunt begins for the remains of a downed Boeing.

According to Army General Anatoly Kornukov, American divers were sent away from the crash site, dropping two radio beacons into the sea, which imitated the signals of the "black boxes". They "pecked on this duck." Therefore, Soviet divers were the first to reach the bottom near the wreckage of the Boeing. Before diving, our submariners prepared for a terrible sight. At the bottom of the sea were supposed to be 269 victims of the tragedy - men, women, children. And they found about 30 dead bodies. The wreckage of the liner was very small. Their dispersion along the seabed clearly showed that the destruction of the hull of a huge aircraft occurred as a result of a powerful explosion, which simply could not have occurred after hitting the water with a wrecked liner. Usually after such air crashes at the bottom there are large fragments of the fuselage, equipment, wings.

“As for the Boeing passengers, I am absolutely convinced that they were not on the liner,” General of the Army Anatoly Kornukov said, “the remains of so many dead could not disappear instantly, having dissolved in sea water. Large Sakhalin crabs also have nothing to do with it. And the undercurrents could not quickly scatter the remains of such a large number of dead over vast distances.

The luggage of the downed plane turned out to be more than strange. On the seabed, divers found glasses, powder boxes, women's bags without contents, it is not clear why clothes firmly attached to the cable, packed in one pack of the passports of the disappeared passengers. All found personal items fit into six small boxes. And where are the suitcases of passengers, the luggage they brought from the US, American gifts to Korean relatives, souvenirs? The Soviet Union handed over the things found at the bottom of the sea to South Korea. But did the relatives identify the belongings of their loved ones? Or maybe all the so-called Boeing baggage was an imitation?

Questions also arise regarding the delay of flight 007 before departure. Is it not for this reason that both violations of the USSR state border in Kamchatka and Sakhalin coincided in time with the trajectory of the Ferret D spy satellite, which allowed the American intelligence services to track the operation of air defense systems in the Far East? This question was frankly answered as early as July 20, 1984 by American intelligence analyst Ernie Volbman. On the air of an independent British television channel, he said: “As a result of this incident, US intelligence was hit like never before. She managed to achieve the inclusion of almost all Soviet communication facilities, radars, which operated for about four hours in an area of ​​​​about seven thousand square kilometers, on operating frequencies.

This is the result for the United States of the tragic story of the Boeing 707 over Sakhalin. In that most difficult situation, Major General Anatoly Kornukov proved himself to be an experienced, courageous, strong-willed commander. Then the politicians managed to peacefully resolve the most acute international conflict. The actions of the commander of the 40th Fighter Air Division were carefully checked by the Moscow commission. “They seized all the documents of objective control,” Anatoly Mikhailovich recalled those events, representatives of the USSR Ministry of Defense, the main headquarters of the Air Force, the main military prosecutor’s office worked with me personally, they established that we acted correctly in accordance with the laws of our state and orders of the command.

However, even after the investigation in September 1983, the story of the Boeing intruder for the commander of the Air Force Air Division Anatoly Kornukov did not end. A large Korean diaspora lived on Sakhalin, about 35 thousand people. Provocations could well have occurred against the pilot and his family. The general began to call and threaten. Military counterintelligence conducted investigations and after some time the attackers were detained. At the request of Anatoly Mikhailovich, military pilot Osipovich, due to a possible threat to his life, he and his family were transferred to serve in the air garrison in Maikop.

The general of the army also said that he personally, together with one of the generals from the Far East, who was also directly involved in this incident, was summoned unexpectedly and urgently to Moscow. From Sakhalin, he, along with a colleague, was brought to Vladivostok, and from there directly to Moscow on IL-62. They expected the worst. We took a bottle of vodka with us on the flight. On the airfield of the Chkalovsky military airport, they were met, as Anatoly Mikhailovich said, by a "red" colonel. In a cap with a red band, which showed his belonging to the motorized rifle troops of the Ground Forces. The colonel turned out to be an assistant to the chief of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces. He took them to a hotel and offered to rest for two hours after a long flight. Exactly two hours later they were already in the office of the Chief of the General Staff, General of the Army Nikolai Ogarkov. According to Anatoly Kornukov, the commander greeted them quite cordially, shook hands and announced gratitude for the combat mission of protecting the Far Eastern air borders.

After this audience, they were brought to the Chkalovsky airfield and sent to the Il-62 to Khabarovsk. Directly from the airfield, the generals arrived at the office of the commander of the Far Eastern Military District and reported what had happened to them in Moscow.

After that tragedy, according to Army General Anatoly Kornukov, in his division, which he commanded at that time, a commission from Moscow seized all the documents of objective control over the tragedy with the South Korean Boeing at the command posts of the division, air regiment - tracing papers from tablets of the air situation, tape recordings of conversations with pilots of fighter-interceptors, photographs of tablets, radar indicator screens. The members of the commission carefully analyzed all the commands and actions of the division commander.

Anatoly Mikhailovich also recalled in a conversation that when the Boeing was shot down, it was clear on the radar screen that it, circling, was falling into the sea. I made a few circles and disappeared from the screen of the remote indicator of the circular view.

Eight years have passed. The next investigation of the tragedy with the South Korean Boeing took place in 1991 at the beginning of Yeltsin's presidency after the collapse of the USSR. Personally, the President of the Russian Federation gave the command to look into this tragedy. At that time, Anatoly Kornukov was already a colonel general and commanded the Moscow Air Defense District. Investigators interrogated him on all episodes of the tragedy eight years ago. And again, worries and worries not only for their personal fate, but for the fully fulfilled military duty to the Motherland. After all, the general also carried out the orders of the higher command, the laws of the USSR to protect the air borders of the state from encroachment. And then again interrogations and a possible demonstration trial to please the interested forces in the world. How, then, to protect the democratic new Russia from threats from outside? After all, in that most difficult situation, as the commander of an air division, he fulfilled his military duty to the end and was not afraid of the upcoming responsibility and possible threats. Apparently, someone really wanted to blame the Russian General Anatoly Kornukov for the tragic story with the Boeing-707 of South Korean airlines.

Colonel General Anatoly Sitnov, Chief of Armaments of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation from 1994 to 2001, spoke especially for our magazine about General of the Army Anatoly Kornukov: shoot down an intruder at a time when high-ranking military leaders in Moscow in the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff, at the headquarters of the Far Eastern Military District in Khabarovsk, could not decide to destroy the air spy who so brazenly violated the borders of the Soviet Union.

In the dashing 90s of the last century, the strong-willed, courageous, comprehensively trained commander of the Moscow Air Defense District, Colonel-General Anatoly Kornukov literally saved the most powerful strategic district from disbandment, which now formed the basis of the Russian Aerospace Defense. Thanks to Anatoly Mikhailovich, Russia now has a promising S-400 aerospace defense system, the Pantsir S1 anti-aircraft missile system, a fifth-generation fighter, and many defense industry enterprises have been preserved.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, General of the Army Anatoly Kornukov, put in a lot of effort to ensure that the Russian Military Transport Aviation had a new promising An-70 aircraft, which is currently being tested.

Such military leaders as Army General Anatoly Mikhailovich Kornukov, who brilliantly commanded aviation in the second Chechen war, are undoubtedly the golden fund of our Russian army and air force. In the army and the defense industry, Anatoly Mikhailovich is respected and revered.