Just like the Soviets excuse for shooting down KAL-007.
KAL-007 actually violated Soviet Air Space, briefly. There was an RC-135 (spy plane) flying a figure eight in the area. The 135 departed the area just as KAL flew in, in the direction the 135 had departed. The Soviet radar operators thought it was the 135.
A couple of years prior to that incident a Korean Airliner had violated Soviet air space for about 1000 miles and was forced down on a frozen lake. The commander in charge of that air defense sector was shot.
Because of poor miscommunications and a bad vector, the fighter sent to intercept the “135” only sighted it as it was leaving Soviet air space, and a few thousand feet above. He fired his cannon to alert the pilot, but the tracers would have fallen short of the aircraft’s altitude. As KAL-007 was leaving Soviet air space, the desperate ground commander ordered the fighter to bring it down with a missile.
“Just like the Soviets excuse for shooting down KAL-007.”
Actually slightly different. That KAL flight did invade Russian Airspace due to an error of navigation. Those KAL pilots own this tragedy.
The Russian aircraft did identify the KAL aircraft but did not fire initially. He did fire when ordered. The man on the ground that gave this order owns this. I would hate to be that Russian pilot with all the guilt of this action. He just did his job and his job was great unnecessary death.
Arch-Conservative Democrat Congressman from Georgia, Larry McDonald was assassinated on KAL-007. The greatest crusader against Communism since Joseph McCarthy just happened to have been shot down by the evil empire. The back way out of my subdivision crosses the portion of Interstate-75 that is known as the Congressman Larry McDonald Memorial Highway in his old Congressional District.