The scenario is as you describe—KAL confused initially with Cobra Ball.
Please keep in mind KAL 007 was shot down by a heater. . .a short range missile and shot at close range. No BVR capability for the heater he used. He was close enough to visually ID the jet.
Not sure what you mean: “It was chased from the rear and the fighter, overextended, fired a missile at extreme range. “
Over-shot and the pilot took a heater shot at extreme range. . .from the front? Not trying to argue, but am confused.
Basically, recordings prove the pilot closed to the target (KAL007), over-shot, saw the nav lights (must be near), saw the strobes, flew abeam of the jet, thought about using a rocket because he was so close but then dropped back and did a standard heater shot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U6010ajPYY
All times are youtube times.
4:29 the transcript reads the pilot visually ID’s the target.
6:08 More info
6:40 Sees strobes and lights on the jet.
7:25 Pilot says he needs to approach the jet and does
7:55 Pilot says he is going even closer and he broke heater lock (from experience this is to disable the missile so it doesn’t pickle-off and detonate on the target and frag you.
Approaches to about 2 klicks away (half a mile, basically, VERY close)
8:23-8:37 Over-shoots KAL and gets in front of KAL
8:46 Is beam of KAL (can’t mistake a 747 for CB)
9:04 Pilot says he will switch to rocket (that means he REALLY is close)
9:50 and onward Pilot drops back for a heater shot and the rest is darned awful to listen to.
Chilling recording from start to finish.
Anyway, with you on everything else. it was not shot down.
I worked briefly on Cobra Ball which had my company’s hardware on board. Naturally, I took a great interest as we knew (as I recall) what had happened long before it hit the press. My recall may be faulty, but I remembered the chase plane(s?) was/were originally directed for too long in the wrong direction. As I recalled it, they were turned around and went hot (presumably afterburner.) Only one fighter was close enough to take the shot and my memory says that he was behind and below and could not see the strobes. KAL was hit as it left Soviet airspace. As I recall, the Soviets tried out several excuses, including that the pilot had acted alone. Then Reagan released the audio of the relayed conversation proving the pilot had received instructions relayed from Moscow to take the shot. (Perhaps by that time he was in visual range?)My recollection is that the pilot, who was being directed from the ground, was low on fuel.
In any case, everything I know is from my memory and I was never directly involved.
I had numerous nightmares about what happened on that plane. We calculated the time to the ground. It’s been a long time, but my recollection was five minutes or so.
The truly crazy thing is the Soviets thought Cobra Ball might be taking photo recognizance pictures. Both sides had satellites like Looking Glass that could photograph a license plate. Why on Earth would the US risk an over flight by a 707? This shoot down was caused by a premier still thinking of the world as it was in 1945.
I do not believe that the Soviet command structure would have issued a shoot order if they actually thought it was a civilian airliner. But those are paranoid people and the times were really different. To many, the cold war sometimes got hot enough to kill.