Reminds me of this story:
The incident started as a routine training flight. Colonel Nikolai Skuridin, the pilot, was to fly a MiG-23M from the Bagicz Airbase near Kołobrzeg, Poland. During takeoff, the engine's afterburner failed, causing a partial loss of power. At an altitude of 150 m (500 ft) and descending, the pilot elected to abandon the aircraft and ejected safely. However, the engine kept running and the aircraft remained airborne, flying on autopilot in a westerly direction.
The unmanned aircraft left Polish airspace, crossing into East Germany and then West Germany, where it was intercepted by a pair of F-15s from the 32nd Tactical Fighter Squadron of the United States Air Forces Europe, stationed at Soesterberg Air Base in the Netherlands. The F-15 pilots reported that the MiG had no crew. The MiG-23 crossed into Dutch airspace and continued into Belgium. The escorting F-15s were instructed to shoot down the plane over the North Sea, but as the MiG ran out of fuel, it started a slow turn to the south, prompting the French Air Force to put its fighters on alert. After flying over 900 km (560 mi), the MiG eventually crashed into the house at 273 Doorniksesteenweg, in the town of Bellegem, near Kortrijk, some 5-10 km from the French border, killing local teenage resident Wim Delaere.
In 1956 the Navy lost control of a WWII era Grumman F6F Hellcat that had been converted to a drone. The drone was supposed to be headed out to sea, but circled back and headed inland.
Not to be outdone by the Navy's incompetence, the USAF proved incapable of shooting it down, and eventually it crashed in the desert.
“... where it was intercepted by ...”
Makes you wonder if there were radars or something that would be tracking the plane, or if interceptors were sent toward it. Perhaps if there were any of this it would be kept secret.
I was stationed at Soesterberg when that happened and I was sitting on the other side of the berm from the alert facility. I remember the klaxon going off and thinking it was another exercise. The pilots scrambled, engine start and immediate take off. Everyone knew there was trouble brewing, we just didn’t find out until later at the club. Many drinks had by all...nice shoot down of a Soviet jet in the Cold War!
While reports say it flamed out and augered in...I can tell you one of the planes had a missing sidewinder on return.