Kal 007

[Unclebananahead]

Any thoughts or opinions on the Soviet downing of South Korean airliner KAL 007 back in 1983 during the rulership of Yuri Andropov?

[Comrade Wolfie's Very Nearly Banned Adventures]

Here is my post from a thread a while back in the history forums about KAL 007.


Well, in 1983 the US had just started the largest pacific fleet operation to date, and fighters had repeatedly overflow Soviet territory, a soviet military test was in operation at the time and a RC-135 Reconissance plane (which is based on the Boeing 747, the same plane as Kal 007) was in the area to monitor the test, and as Kal 007 had overflown soviet territory, Soviet Far East District Air Defense Forces, belived it was a second covert Reconissance plane.

When the Soviet fighter came into contact with Kal 007, it fired a warning burst, however Kal 007 contacted tokyo traffic control and accended higher, which appeard to be a evasive manuver to the Soviet fighter pilot, and as Kal 007 was approacing international waters the pilot was pressured to prevent it leaving Soviet Air space, he fired several AA missiles taking down the plane.

Kal 007 was essentially a casualty of the tense nature of the cold war, from the Soviet point of view, Kal 007 had divated from its flight plan, ignored warning signs and and was attemting to leave Soviet airspace, all of which seemed very suspicious, especially considering that the 747 is virtually the same plane as the RC-135, it could have consicivably been a covert recon attempt.

Essentially Kal 007 is more a victim of the dick waving bollocks of the cold war, than 'evil soviets'.

Original thread (http://www.revleft.com/vb/kal-007-t139922/index.html)

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

Not really wishing to defend either side.

Shooting down a civilian airliner is never excusable, though one can perhaps take into account, as said above, the tense nature of the cold war.

I don't wish to defend the USSR because by this point it was a wholly abhorrent state.

[Unclebananahead]

I suppose that's my take on it. That basically the Soviets believed it to be one of those reconnaissance planes based upon Boeing civilian aircraft. Apparently, there was a Soviet missile test scheduled for the same day in the Kamchatka Peninsula, and such a plane had already been seen in the vicinity.