Korean Boeing was shot down in Karelia, Russia in 1978, with a lot of civil passengers on-board. The pilots of the plane had mysteriously altered the route so that came deep inside Russian territory. Two and a half hours they were escorted by Russian jet fighters not responding to any radio contact or visual contact attempts. At last the Soviet military commanders ordered to shoot the plane down with as much accuracy as they could do. The jet plane of Russian army hit the Boeing with a missile cutting off the piece of its wing, so the Korean plane had to land after this. Two passengers were killed others got wounds as a result of an extremely fast landing to the frozen Russian lake in Karelia, Russia near Kem’ town. The first Russian military police group arrived in two hours to the landing site. They tell that when they entered the plane the strong smell of “blood, alcohol and human fecal masses” hit into their noses. Afterwards the passengers spent three days in the Kem’ town, Karelia, Russia and were send to Helsinki, Finland on the plane on the fourth day. The crew was taken to Moscow and was questioned there, but later they returned to Korea. The plane itself was disassembled to smallest parts and sent to Russian airplane producing factories and research centers, meanwhile the soldiers guarding the site had the first chance in their life to taste Coca-Cola or canned beer and even to read some Playboy. It was something they never met before in the country beneath the iron curtain.
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First, booyah!
Shoot it down while you have the chance then reverse engineer it and copy all the good ideas. Top plan.
Hahaha… Do you really think Soviets needed to do reverse ingeneering on a old 707 in 1978?
You should buy a brain and try to reverse it
I wonder, why only Korean pessenger planes was shot down? (second was in Sakhalin, nobody survided). They are so bad pilots, or USSR had some grudge against Koreans?
By the way, from what I heard from authorized sources, USSR pilots may not have shot down KAL 007 plane. It seems that some US pilots did it then…
Korean air use near by Soviet air space to cut there fuel bill and Soviets feard about UAss strike,thus they shoot every thing which were machined and can flew! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Excuse me ?
Huh? Do you know where Karelia is on the map and where Korea is? Karelia is somewhere ner Finnland, the most western point of Russia!
Shhhhhhhhhhhhh………i am talking about “secret” spy mission,dude! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Karelia is located in northern Europe, sort of east of Lapland. Part of it belongs to Finland and rest to Russia, or former USSR. KAL 902 fell in Soviet Karelia near Finnish border.
If you read up on these incidents it seems that the Koreans have real problems following directions while going from one place to another. Something genetic? Try going to Korea town in Seattle, they’re always lost.
There is no Korea Town is Seattle. It’s called China Town.
Soviets couldn’t allow to their soldiers to read Playboy and sipping Bud Ice, so next Boeing was shut down with all passengers, Playboys and beer – flight KAL 007, 1st September 1983 :O
Wow! Great shot by Russian air-crew man to not destroy the entire plane. Great job by Boeing that that the aircraft held together, looks like a good emergency landing by the pilot, but why was he so off course?
Bad navigation skills.
The 707 had been in service already for nearly 20 years, and was old by 1978, I am sure Russian interests had already time enough to do a large amount of studying. Although the newer engines were probably highly prized specimens!
Yes, it is a wonder that the Korean Aircrew were able to get the aircraft down without a greater loss of life. Some people have suggested that KAL was involved in secret reconnaissance missions using airliners
Yes! ! ! ! !you are right.”Korean Americans” were routinely eye on Soviets at that time.but i do apologise to innocent civilian passengers of KAL,because of they had nothing to do with spying. R I P ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
please dont write any more such nonsense. it doesnt matter the country, the problem with authorisation for flight. Any country would shoot down any unauthorized plane flying over its territory. its called air defence strategy. The real cruelty here is CIA who sent civilians as hostages for recon mission.
“Some people have suggested that KAL was involved in secret reconnaissance missions using airliners”
It was more than that. I was involved in the activities surrounding this tragedy. I was on assignment to work with a tri-national team (UK, US, and S. Korean) of agents who contacted resistance leaders in the eastern areas of the USSR. It is no secret that many people in those areas felt removed from Moscow and the elites who ran the CPSU from there. Stories of “uppity” Muscovites standing in line for bread for only hours instead of days, waiting only two years for a car instead of ten, and living with the luxury of having a loo on each floor of their apartment building instead of having to walk down to the edge of the river or into the garden . . . well, it was enough to sow the seeds of resentment from the eastern slopes of the Urals to Vladivostok.
We decided to take advantage of that by launching special agents into the country to establish contact with resistance cells, arm them, and prepare statements for later public release in which several eastern Russian provinces would declare they were withdrawing from the USSR and seeking annexation by the state of Alaska, in hopes of gaining the same capitalist investment for their mines, oil exploration and drilling, roads and highways, and construction of functional indoor toilets.
All went according to plan until we launched our most vital agent, who was on board the plane you see in the photos above. He was to parachute from high altitude at a designated location, but the plane was shot down too soon. He survived the crash and escaped into the wildnerness carrying a backpack full of cash, gold, portable radios, and several rolls of “Charmin” brand Extra Soft toilet tissue (to serve as “promissory notes” of things to come).
Alas, one of the flight hostesses, under intense torture by the KGB, gave up the name and destination of the operative. KGB issued an alert to the Frontier Guards which stated, “Take possession of Korean Kim Chi” at such-and-such location. The Frontier Guards form that sector, who normally were content to remain in the warmth of their guard towers while machine-gunning escaping comrades, immediately went to the area and found our man.
However, their extreme disappointment caused them to fly into a rage and beat him to death after they learned the “Kim Chi” they were to take possession of was a secret agent, rather than a dish of tasty Korean cabbage.
I can see that our recruitment operation succeeded and you never knew it. Kim had turned bitter against the west after he was anal-raped by one of the British agents he worked with, and after his fiance became pregnant by an American soldier stationed in South Korea. Our agents in Seoul approached him and turned him to our side after a promise of opportunities for vengeance. We “planted” the story about him being beaten by the Frontier Guards, but in fact he has been working for us ever since. He is living in Vladivostok with his Russian wife Marina and their three children. He continues to work toward the downfall of the UK and USA by secretly financing the pro-Sharia-law campaign in the UK, and serving as a key overseas fundraiser for the Barack Obama campaign.
@Oleg: You’re either well informed about this incident or a very good fiction writer. Regardless, you’re definitely being logged by the CIA for the rest of your life for that one
…hence the need for the Charmin toilet paper, to wipe up after the CIA lay their logs
Kim Jong-Philby was Korean, was he not?
I can’t see why the pilots refused to talk to the interceptor pilots, what in the hell were they thinking? If there’s a guy in a plane loaded with missiles and guns wants to talk to me I’m sure as hell going to cooperate. The simple act of trying to talk (even if they didn’t understand one another) could have saved lives.
They did acknowledge the fighterplane. The fighterplane shot anyway. Finland intercepted their transmissions.
The Russians have become much more practical and capitalistic about this. Now they just charge exorbitant fees to fly over these territories!
(Just ask Lufthansa)
Americans too forced down passenger planes.
In 1953 2 fighters F-86 have brought down Soviet Il-12, which making flight from Port Arthur to Vladivostok. This fact has been recognised by the American government.
In 1988 the cruiser of Naval Forces of USA GG49 “Vinsennes” has brought down by anti-aircraft missile the Iranian passenger plane with 298 passengers onboard. This case also is officially recognised.
There is a version, that in 1996 flight TWA 800 which have broken near Lond Island has been brought down by mistake by an anti-aircraft missile, but it officially is not confirmed.
The South Korean Boeing which has been brought down in 1983 has deviated the route on 370км.
The liner tried to force to planting of 15 minutes, but it did not react. 3 minutes prior to start-up of rockets precautionary shots from a gun have been made.
Russians just love to compare themselves to Americans. Why never the S-Africans ? Or the Venezuelans ? Or the Chinese ?
Every time something critical about Russia is written straight away a Russian starts writing something like ‘ …but Americans also…[etc]‘
Minority complex ??
So tiring. Grow up, my compatriots. Stop comparing yourself to America and Americans all the time. The world is a lot bigger than that. And, btw, the Americans in general do not make this kind of remarks / comparisons..
We never do. Russia does not exist to us. Sorry to hurt your egos.
Cool site. I guess Russia does exist. Who’d have thought?
Because, like it or not, America has the best standards of living outside of Western Europe. It also has “superpower” status, and huge standing in the world. America is the benchmark to meet and beat. Even the countries who hate us, or claim to, are jealous: they may hate our democratic system, but everyone wants the comforts and freedoms it allows. Go to any nation, and ask what people want – it’s always a safe comfortable suburban existence with consumer goods and Western-style living conditions.
For Russia, it is an even stronger hurt, because it was the only other nation to have achieved a global “superpower” status on par with the USA. Then the USSR lost the Cold War; look at the loss of territory that came with that; the loss of pride, the loss of economic stability… Russia is in some ways still a 1st world developed nation; but in other ways it has fallen to 3rd world nation.
So every time someone mentions that the US does it better than Russia, the Russians naturally get defensive as all hell. They’re not used to being pushed around and won’t allow it. Too much pride; on the other hand it is that pride that saved Russia in every war it’s ever been in. Russia will do anything before giving in. But it still looks at America for answers… because we all do.
I say that as a proud Russian and as a proud US citizen.
Intersting how this incident was never mentioned in any of the western media reports in the wake of the 1983 KAL incident. Doesn’t support the case of “innocent” deviation from course.
KAL 007 everyone died. Killed by the Soviets.
+1
Really like this one:
“The pilots of the plane had mysteriously altered the route so that came deep inside Russian territory”
Mysteriously… lol… 370km deep inside? someone wrote that it happened because of the old navigation equipment))) naive brainwashed kids)))
Look at this:
“Two and a half hours they were escorted by Russian jet fighters not responding to any radio contact or visual contact attempts”
do you also think that boeing crew was blind and deaf? 2 and half hours of flight over the territory of USSR without any reaction, ohhh yeah, that explains everything.
And may be some of you think it was cruel to shot down plane full of innocent civilian passengers? Don’t you think that the real cruelty was to send civilians as hostages for recon mission? Thanks to CIA, they have managed to implement several times such humanistic strategies.
Some of you, brainwased kids, may think that the plane was disassembled to smallest parts due to the reason to copy them with the following reproduction. Actually soviet aviation was the best in the world by that time, and there were no need to copy anything. The actual reason of detailed studying was to find spy equipment, which was finally found –cameras with retransmitters.
And believe me; everyone in Soviet Union knew what is playboy and cola… don’t be such silly nerds))
“Actually soviet aviation was the best in the world by that time, and there were no need to copy anything.”
I agree. I used to hear pilots complain all the time, “I really wish we were flying passenger jets made in the USSR, instead of made by Airbus, Boeing, etc.”
And they always complain about the Toyotas and Volkswagens which they drive now because the Zhiguli and Moskvich were absolutely superior. It is true. Really, it is true. Stop laughing, it is really true.
The Russians are best at INDUSTRIAL goods, they suck at CONSUMER goods. It is the same in any country where the state is strong (ie. dictatorship vs. democracy). Dictators can make huge projects work much more efficiently than democratic leaders. If you need a highway, missile, submarine, jet, dam, or city built, ask a dictator for help. If you want a nice car, TV or washing machine, turn to the free market.
I’m only half-joking when I say the USSR lost the cold war because it couldn’t make a decent TV set. The people eventually couldn’t take a life with no consumer goods or comforts or even necessities, no matter how many nukes they had or how good their fighter jets were.
Add to that the strange slowing of the plane to below 400 kph. The SU 15s stall speed was 400 kph, not something a airliner pilot was likely to know I would think. They were trying to lose the fighter. The other thing is the lack of bodies, if that plane was full of people there should have been a lot more bodies floating in the water. They were also doing it during the SS-25 test, go figure.
Something is not right about it.
then tell me which part was copied and where was implemented? actually i ment air forces, not civil aviation.
[...] that time. Apparently, Korean Air Lines is not amused (Korean) by this effort to dig up the past. More photos. Via the always awesome Marmot’s Hole. The KAL 707 airliner heading to Seoul from Paris was forced [...]
Nice non sequitur argument mate. Too bad you forgot that the United States and the USSR were, for nearly 50 years, embroiled in a direct and coordinated political and ideological struggle. You also forgot that this incident is almost the very example of a confrontation that defined this era, and is completely within the context of the Cold War
This is probably the most sensible observation in this thread.
Thanks, I was replying to maxD, I wonder why it didn’t show up there.
Thanks, but I didn’t forget. I just think it’s time to move on. In Russia, outside of Russia means: USA. Or so it appears to be, judging from these comments.
Grow up, compatriots.
NB – This caching feature on this blog is quite annoying. Sometimes comments show up a DAY after being posted !!
One may think there was no beer in the USSR
Good to know that our borders were protected
where is my baltica9(25% of alc. inside)?????
Smart people reverse engineer.Nothing new there.
How do you think Japan got to be so good in building great cars, they took the best ideas out and made them EVEN BETTER !!!
Learn from others, nothing worong with that. Sure saves a lot of time
Whatever your politics, just try once a comparison taste between American Budweiser and any – ANY – Russian beer. Russia may be behind on technology, democracy and a number of other things, but to their eternal credit they don’t sell dishwater in beer cans.
jajajajaja
LAUGHING HARD
seems there is a shot from the inside
Criminal Occurrence description
languages: English Français Nederlands Deutsch Espanol
Status:
Date: 20 APR 1978
Time: 22:17
Type: Boeing 707-321B
Operator: Korean Air Lines – KAL
Registration: HL7429
C/n / msn: 19363/623
First flight: 1967
Engines: 4 Pratt & Whitney JT3D-3B
Crew: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 12
Passengers: Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 97
Total: Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 109
Airplane damage: Written off
Airplane fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location: near Kem (Russia)
Phase: En route (ENR)
Nature: International Scheduled Passenger
Departure airport: Paris (unknown airport), France
Destination airport: Anchorage International Airport, AK (ANC/PANC), United States of America
Flightnumber: 902
Narrative:
Flight 902 departed Paris for a flight to Seoul with an intermediate stop at Anchorage, AK. The aircraft passed the Canadian Station “Alert”, located 400 miles from the North Pole where the crew corrected their course. However this brought them on a course directly across the Barents Sea towards Soviet airspace. The plane was initially recognized by Soviet anti-aircraft defense radars as a Boeing 747. Sukhoi Su-15TM interceptor jets were sent to intercept the intruder. When both Sukhoi jets were flying next to the Korean airliner, the captain said he slowed down plane and switched on landing lights. Nevertheless the Su-15 crews were ordered to shoot down the plane. According to the U.S. the Su-15 pilot for several minutes tried to convince his superiors to cancel the attack, because the aircraft was a civilian Boeing 707 instead of a reconnaisance Boeing RC-135. After an additional order two P-60 rockets were launched. One of them missed the 707 but the other rocket exploded, severly damaging part of the left wing. Shrapnel punctured the fuselage, causing a rapid decompression and killing two passengers. The Korean pilot initiated an emergency descent from FL350 to 5000 feet and entered clouds. Both Sukhoi jets lost the 707 in the clouds. The aircraft continued at low altitude, crossing the Kola Peninsula and looking for a place to land. After several unsuccessful attempts in the evening dusk landed on the ice of Korpijärvi lake. All occupants were rescued by Russian helicopters.
Sources:
http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19780420-1
Yes, that plane looks awful dangerous, best to shoot it down before it kills all of USSR.
photoshop!!!
This article is telling the false thruth. The aircraft had identified itself three times before it got shot down. Maybe they just don’t want to tell the cold thruth to the russian citizens.
Nevertheless if it was in any other country they’d try to hide it aswell.
Why would there have been a demand for Playboy in Soviet Russia? Have you SEEN how hot young russian women are?
If you do not bother to do a simple web search or are too inept to do so, it is your problem, not mine. I won’t bother to pamper likes of you.
I will make one correction, though, as unlike some I am responsible for my statements. The conversation between the good pilot reluctant to fire on civilians and his base was NOT intercepted by FAF. But US intelligence (heh heh what a concept… US intelligence) instead. FAF instead recorded the flight data and conversations between the fighter and the airliner.
He was reading a Playboy !
Just want to congratulate russian pilots on the accuracity of the chopped off wing!!!
(i know, im decades late for that)
[...] Boeing 707 del vuelo 902 de Korean Airlines fue abatido por dos cazas rusos el 20 de abril de 1978. De algún modo el avión se desvió de su ruta y acabó sobrevolando [...]
Pretty much info about Flight 007 in Wikipedia, including declarations from the Soviet fighter pilot:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Air_Lines_Flight_007
Nothing but the healthiest Vodka brand Vodka for those health-conscious folks
Das Beste aber: Jetzt gibt es “Playboy”, Büchsenbier und Coca-Cola und den Müllberg gratis noch dazu.
[...] 1978: Korean Air Lines Boeing 707, fired on by Soviets, crashes in Russia http://englishrussia.com/2008/06/03/the-korean-boeing/ [...]
[...] 1978: Korean Air Lines Boeing 707, fired on by Soviets, crashes in Russia http://englishrussia.com/2008/06/03/the-korean-boeing/ [...]