Downed South Korean Boeing in 1983. The tragedy of the Korean Boeing: what really happened? Could the pilots have gotten lost?
In the 70-80s of the last century, NATO combat and reconnaissance aircraft tested the strength of the air borders of the Soviet Union from all strategic directions. Particularly tense confrontation took place in the Far Eastern Military District. In September 1983, the Far Eastern Military District air defense aircraft shot down a Boeing 707 of South Korean Airlines. A huge international scandal broke out. US President at that time Ronald Reagan called the USSR the “Evil Empire.” The army general, commander-in-chief told our freelance correspondent about this military operation Air Force Russian Federation (1998 - 2002), honorary chairman of the air defense coordinating committee of the CIS countries Anatoly Kornukov.
A group of journalists from central media in the late 90s of the last century flew by helicopter to one of the Air Force training grounds in the Tver region. Very effectively, Russian bomber and attack aircraft smashed old armored vehicles and fortifications of the “probable enemy” to smithereens. One of the journalists, in addition to other questions, also asked the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force, Army General Anatoly Kornukov, about the long-standing tragic story over Sakhalin. Anatoly Mikhailovich somehow squinted at our colleague and replied that he would not like to stir up this tragedy again: “Many fundamental questions were not answered then in September 1983 and subsequently by representatives of the embassies of the USA, Canada, Korea, Japan, and most importantly, they are still suppressing the truth.” And now, 29 years later, “Wings of the Motherland” reveals the details of the tragedy over Sakhalin.
THE WORLD SHUTTERED IN IDNATION
On the night of August 31 to September 1, 1983, the South Korean plane Boeing flight 007 New York - Anchorage - Seoul was shot down over Sakhalin. American media announce the monstrous murder of 269 people, including US citizens. Among the dead is the most active anti-Soviet congressman Larry McDonald. Demonstrations of many thousands swept from Washington to Japan and South Korea demanding decisive measures against the USSR. US President Ronald Reagan said that the Soviets were pursuing their interests through violence and threats, using lies to cover up such a heinous act. He declared the USSR an “evil empire.” Shocked citizens of South Korea collectively burn flags of the Soviet Union. The period had come when the world's Cold War could have ended in a nuclear catastrophe.
HALF A YEAR BEFORE THE TRAGEDY OVER SAKHALIN
At the end of March 1983, two US Navy aircraft carrier strike groups, as Army General Anatoly Kornukov said, appeared in the area Aleutian Islands near Soviet Kamchatka. They conducted multi-day exercises. From two attack aircraft carriers, Eagle and Enterprise, located to the south Japanese island Hokkaido, took off on April 4 using A-7 aircraft. In the area of Green Island of the Lesser Kuril Ridge, they entered airspace USSR to a depth of about 30 kilometers. Moreover, they carried out a simulated bombing across the island, making several passes to attack ground targets, and left with impunity. Due to very bad weather, the commander of the 40th Fighter Aviation Division of the Far Eastern Military District, Major General Anatoly Kornukov, did not dare to scramble Soviet aircraft to intercept intruders. In addition, fighters based on Sakhalin would not have enough fuel to return to the airfield during an air battle in the South Kuril Islands. “Of course, they could have scared the Americans,” said Army General Anatoly Kornukov, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force in 1998-2001, “only in this case our pilots would have died without a fight. The fighters did not have landing systems. There weren’t any at the airfield closest to that area either. But our planes did not reach Sakhalin. Therefore, I decided not to scramble fighters to intercept the intruders. For this act, I was severely punished by the leaders of the Ministry of Defense.”
The Kremlin did not like the caution of the Far Eastern aviation general. A superpower must be firm in protecting its air borders. Moreover, at that time the law on the state border of the USSR had already come into force. Article 36 read: “The air defense troops, while protecting the state border of the USSR in cases where stopping the violation or detaining the violators cannot be accomplished by other means, use weapons and military equipment.”
After the provocation of the Americans over Green Island, the command set a task in the event of a new appearance of American military aircraft over the South Kuril Islands engage them in air combat. And then, using the remaining fuel, pull it to the nearest ground and eject. “The Americans were engaged in provocations,” Army General Anatoly Kornukov recalled those events, “but for us it was a complete mess. We carried out our tasks literally on the verge of opening real lethal fire. For example, when b-th American The fleet entered the Sea of Japan with a large aircraft carrier strike group and organized aviation flights over the sea, then our command decided to raise a division of naval missile carriers into the air. My fighter division provided cover for missile carriers in one sector, and the 20th Division, based in Primorye, escorted these aircraft. And so the American and Soviet air armadas converged in a small and narrow airspace over the Sea of Japan. The indescribable was happening on the air: “Cover! I'm attacking!" They boasted, of course. There was no shooting from either side. It is simply a miracle that there were no mid-air collisions between the planes. After all, this could lead to their downfall. And it was quite possible that someone could not stand it and open fire to kill. It is unclear how such an incident could end. The year 1983 took place for us in the Far East in a nervous and difficult situation. Literally every day the US Air Force carried out provocations in the air against us.”
STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE AGAINST THE SOVIETS
The Pentagon has always paid close attention to electronic intelligence. RS-135 reconnaissance aircraft, Ferret spy satellites and other means continuously probed vast spaces in search of the country's Soviet Air Defense Forces. Violations of the USSR's air borders were carried out so boldly that each time they could provoke the outbreak of hostilities. Moreover, the violators often responded with fire to the signals of the Soviet duty fighters. In 1952, passengers of a Soviet plane became victims of the aerial lawlessness of American pilots. In the Soviet sky, over the territory of the USSR, American fighters attacked a passenger Il-14, on which the families of our military personnel - women and children - were flying on vacation. No one survived.
Simultaneously with the operations of the RS-135 aircraft, new reconnaissance tactics are emerging in the NATO Air Force. A foreign plane violates the border of the USSR. And after the rise of Soviet fighters, he quickly returned to neutral territory. This method of obtaining intelligence data was carried out without special spy equipment on board. The task of the secret agent was to provoke actions of the Soviet Air Defense Forces, determine their base locations, procedures, and identify the operating frequencies of the equipment. Such a decoy was designated by the abbreviation “dag”, which meant secret agent. The RS-135 aircraft was created on the basis of the civilian Boeing 707. Outwardly very similar to him.
On radar screens, marks from these aircraft look the same. This similarity gave American intelligence new opportunities. They say that the Soviet military will not shoot down a civilian airliner. But if this happens, then the tragedy can be successfully used against the Soviet Union. The strategy turned out to be successful. True, such incidents were usually resolved peacefully. Soviet fighters approached the intruder and either guided him to land or escorted him to the border when they received notification that a navigation error had occurred. According to international rules, if an aircraft’s navigation fails, the commander is obliged to issue a distress signal on the emergency channel. Fighters from a nearby country come to the aid of a plane in distress and show the way to the airfield.
In 1978, a South Korean Boeing 707 airliner violated the state border of the USSR, ignored the demands of fighters, did not respond to signals, and a missile was fired at it. The crashed huge plane was forced to land on a frozen lake in Karelia. Two people died - one wounded by shrapnel died from loss of blood, and the other from a heart attack. Navigation error was excluded. The crew commander, a former military pilot with extensive experience, served this route for about 10 years and could not accidentally get lost. Soviet experts proved that the deviation from the route was deliberate, and the crew saw the signals, but did not want to obey the Soviet fighters. This was another serious attempt to use a passenger airliner to test the reliable protection of the air borders of the USSR. However, on the night of August 31 to September 1, 1983, the provocation unfolded according to a different scenario.
MYSTERIOUS FLIGHT 007
On August 30, 1983, KAL flight 007 took off from New York's Kennedy Airport with 269 passengers on board. It was led by an experienced pilot, Colonel of the South Korean Air Force Reserve Chang Den In, who had flown more than 10 thousand hours. There are 11,400 kilometers of flight ahead to Seoul along the international highway P20. Regular flight. There were no signs of tragedy. On August 31, at 2.30 local time, the plane makes a technical stop at Anchorage airport to refuel. And here, without announcing the reasons, the flight is delayed for 40 minutes, and an additional 4 tons of fuel are loaded into the aircraft’s tanks. Over the entire year, there were only three cases at this airport when the crew took off a plane with full tanks. Around this time, on the border of Kamchatka, Soviet air defenses detected flights of American reconnaissance aircraft in the border zone. And three US Navy ships cruise near Soviet territorial waters. 4 minutes after Flight 007 takes off, another South Korean plane is cleared to take off. The fact of the departure of the KEL 0015 twin aircraft, which will actually fly to Seoul, will subsequently be hushed up. The recording of radio exchanges between flights 007 and 0015 will be classified by the American intelligence services.
At about 20.00 Moscow time on August 31, 1983, a mark from an aircraft appeared on the air defense radar screens of the Far Eastern Military District, very similar to the RS-135. “The intruder crossed our airspace at a point,” recalled Anatoly Kornukov, “where Soviet strategic bombers usually returned from flights. Its course miraculously skirted the zone of destruction of Soviet air defense systems. The intruder’s crew seemed to take into account the location of the Far Eastern Air Defense Units. The intruder’s route also ran over a strategically important area - a base for Soviet nuclear submarines armed with intercontinental nuclear missiles.”
The voice recorder recorded the report of the operator of the air defense command post of the Far Eastern Military District: “A target with the radar mark RS-135 has invaded the airspace. I repeat. A target with the radar mark RS-135 has invaded the airspace.”
“The operational duty officer called me,” recalled Army General Anatoly Kornukov, “comrade commander, there is a violation in Kamchatka. They tried to attack the on-duty air defense systems. They didn't succeed. You gave us information that this target is moving west of Kamchatka in our direction. Fighters are ready. “I ordered that when approaching the borders of neutral waters, fighters should be scrambled to escort or, as appropriate, to destroy the violator of USSR airspace.”
And earlier, before this report on an emergency at the air border, the commander of the Air Force aviation fighter division at that time, Major General Anatoly Kornukov, was warned that the American Ferret D reconnaissance satellite passed over Yakutsk and at 3:07 am should reach the latitude of the northern part Sakhalin. Therefore, according to experts, everything in this tragedy was coordinated as a very powerful and massive intelligence operation. At that time, an entire reconnaissance complex operated over the Soviet Far East. In addition to the Ferret D satellites, two more RS-135s scanned the space along the Kuril ridge. Powerful AWACS reconnaissance units patrolled the zone of air border violation, and US Navy ships were at sea, and American ground-based tracking points were also working to transmit radiation towards the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, the South Korean Boeing allegedly accidentally continued to deviate further and further from the permitted flight route further west into the Soviet interior. Far East. According to experts, including Army General Anatoly Kornukov, the South Korean pilot was specifically ordered to disobey the demands to land and to perform any maneuvers in the air.
DETECT AND INTERCEPT THE VIOLATOR
Two Soviet fighters took off to intercept Boyne Ga-707. The Su-15 air defense interceptor directly carried out the combat mission, and the MiG-23 fighter covered it. The pilots were given the command in advance: to confirm the target - a foreign reconnaissance aircraft and destroy it. Su-15 pilot Osipovich managed to spot and take aim at the intruder. But on this run he never pressed the trigger. At such a distance, and even at night, it was simply impossible to recognize the intruder. And the pilot himself still hoped that the order to destroy the target would be canceled.
At that tense moment, military pilot Osipovich reported to the command post: “805. The intruder does not respond to the request, gains altitude and changes course. It's difficult to pursue. What are my actions?
Answer from CP: “805. Can you identify the type of plane?"
Pilot: “Visibility is bad. I can’t identify the plane.”
And after a series of maneuvers, a Su-15 appeared before the eyes of the Su-15 pilot. huge liner, illuminated by lights and flashing lights. Pilot Osipovich led his Su-15 from the left to go around the Boeing. At the same time, he gave a signal with the side lights and swaying of the Su-15 wings. Then he repeated these actions on the right side. However, he never received a response signal from the Boeing.
“At that moment, I remembered that Osipovich took off to carry out the mission from the third readiness,” recalled Army General Anatoly Kornukov, “and in such readiness the Su-15 was with suspended gondolas, each with a double-barreled gun. Four trunks. This is a powerful weapon. Therefore, he ordered the air regiment for Osipovich to open warning fire. The pilot fired almost all the shells. There are only four guns left. Why didn’t the Boeing pilot notice or hear this fire? This is simply incredible, because the four cannon barrels, which are very rapid-fire, produce a large emission of gas flames, like from an aircraft engine in afterburner. Moreover, at night such a flame can be seen very far away. It’s simply impossible not to notice him.”
The situation is emergency. A decision had to be made. The intruder was already over the secret military bases of Sakhalin, and our planes were running out of fuel. The commander of the 40th Fighter Aviation Division, Major General Anatoly Kornukov, gave the order to destroy the target.
“When this command was received by the Su-15 pilot,” said Anatoly Kornukov, “he reported that he had gone ahead of the intruder. After that, I took the radio station transmitter microphone in my hand and ordered - make a right turn in afterburner. The pilot complied with my command and replied that the remaining fuel in the plane was too low. I told him - it’s okay to sit in Khomutovo. He turned on the afterburner so as not to fall into a tailspin because the flight speed of the Su-15 at that moment was low. And with two full afterburners, he energetically performed a turn, essentially a full turn, and entered the rear hemisphere of the intruder aircraft at a range of about 1.5-1.8 kilometers. The plane immediately became ready to launch missiles, and the pilot fired two missiles in one gulp.”
One missile hit the Boeing's tail, and the second destroyed half of the left wing. The damaged huge machine began to sharply lose altitude. Soviet fighter-interceptors left the attack zone and lost visual contact with the Boeing. Ground services were not immediately able to accurately record the crash site of the intruder aircraft.
At 6.24 Far Eastern time, the USSR air border violator target disappeared from the air defense radar screens. A new round has begun" cold war" The attack on a “defenseless” civilian aircraft by Soviet fighters caused a storm of indignation throughout the world and made it possible to accuse the Soviet state of hostility. The troops of the two superpowers are put on combat readiness. The fleets of the USSR, USA, and Japan are rushing to the site of the tragedy. And in the latter, an alert muster is announced in the national air force.
THE FINALE OF THE BOING SPY TRAGEDY
In the Western press, the reason for the violation of the USSR borders in the Far East by Boeing Flight 007 was explained by experts as the result of an error when entering data into the on-board computer. At the same time, no one could say how this plane, equipped at that time with the most advanced control and navigation equipment, controlled by an experienced pilot and controlled by dispatchers from several countries, deviated from its course by almost 500 kilometers. After all, it is simply unthinkable for specialists not to notice such a significant departure from the established flight path within 2.5 hours. As a result, the intruder plane flew over the most important Soviet military installations in Kamchatka, the Far East and the southern part of Sakhalin. It was also obvious that the Boeing 707 was trying to get away from the air defense fighters by changing speed, altitude and direction of flight. However, for some reason, the authorities and experts in the United States did not notice all this and launched a literal information war against the USSR, accusing it of deliberately destroying a civilian airliner and its passengers along with the crew. The “black boxes” of the downed airliner could help find out the truth. An underwater hunt for the remains of the downed Boeing begins in the Tatar Strait.
As Army General Anatoly Kornukov said, American divers were sent away from the crash site by dropping two radio beacons into the sea, which imitated the signals of “black boxes.” They fell for this duck. Therefore, Soviet divers were the first to reach the bottom near the wreckage of the Boeing. Before diving, our submariners prepared for a terrible spectacle. There were supposed to be 269 victims of the tragedy at the bottom of the sea - men, women, children. And they found about 30 dead bodies. The wreckage of the airliner turned out to be very small. Their scattering along the seabed clearly showed that the destruction of the hull of the huge aircraft occurred as a result of a powerful explosion, which simply could not have occurred after the crashed liner hit the water. Usually, after such plane crashes, large fragments of the fuselage, equipment, and wings are found at the bottom.
“As for the Boeing passengers, I am absolutely convinced that they were not on the plane,” said Army General Anatoly Kornukov, “the remains of so many dead could not have disappeared instantly, having dissolved in sea water. Large Sakhalin crabs have nothing to do with it either. And underwater currents could not have scattered the remains of such a large number of victims over vast distances.”
The luggage of the downed plane turned out to be more than strange. On the seabed, divers found glasses, powder compacts, women's bags without contents, and, for some unknown reason, clothes firmly attached to a cable; passports of the missing passengers were packed in one bundle. All personal items found fit into six small boxes. And where are the passengers’ suitcases, the luggage they brought from the USA, American gifts to Korean relatives, souvenirs? The Soviet Union transferred things found at the bottom of the sea to South Korea. But did the relatives identify the belongings of their loved ones? Or maybe all the so-called Boeing luggage was an imitation?
Questions also arise regarding the delay of flight 007 before departure. Is it for this reason that both violations of the USSR state border in Kamchatka and Sakhalin coincided in time with the trajectory of the Ferret D spy satellite, which allowed American intelligence services to monitor the operation of air defense systems in the Far East? This question was answered frankly on July 20, 1984 by American intelligence analyst Ernie Wolbman. On air on an independent English TV channel, he said: “As a result of this incident, US intelligence has had such luck as never before. She managed to achieve the inclusion of almost all Soviet communications and radar facilities on operating frequencies, which operated for about four hours in an area of about seven thousand square kilometers.”
This is the result for the United States of the tragic story with the Boeing 707 over Sakhalin. In that most difficult situation, Major General Anatoly Kornukov proved himself to be an experienced, brave, strong-willed commander. Then politicians managed to resolve the most acute international conflict peacefully. The actions of the commander of the 40th Fighter Aviation Division were carefully checked by a Moscow commission. “They seized all the documents of objective control,” Anatoly Mikhailovich recalled those events, representatives of the USSR Ministry of Defense, the main headquarters of the Air Force, the main military prosecutor’s office worked with me personally, they established that we acted correctly in accordance with the laws of our state and the orders of the command.
However, even after the investigation in September 1983, the story with the Boeing, the violator, did not end for the commander of the Air Force air division, Anatoly Kornukov. There was a large Korean diaspora living on Sakhalin, about 35 thousand people. Provocations could well have occurred against the pilot and his family. They started calling and threatening the general. Military counterintelligence conducted an investigation and after some time the attackers were detained. At the request of Anatoly Mikhailovich, military pilot Osipovich, due to a possible threat to the life of him and his family, was transferred to serve in the air garrison in Maykop.
The army general also said that he personally, together with one of the generals from the Far East, also directly involved in this incident, was unexpectedly and urgently called to Moscow. From Sakhalin, he and a colleague were brought to Vladivostok, and from there directly to Moscow on an Il-62. They expected the worst. We took a bottle of vodka with us on the flight. On the airfield of the military airport, Chkalovsky met them, as Anatoly Mikhailovich said, the “red” colonel. He wore a cap with a red band, which showed that he belonged to the motorized rifle troops of the Ground Forces. The colonel turned out to be the assistant chief of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces. He took them to a hotel and suggested they rest for two hours after long flight. Exactly two hours later they were already in the office of the Chief of the General Staff, Army General Nikolai Ogarkov. According to Anatoly Kornukov, the military commander greeted them quite cordially, shook hands and expressed gratitude for completing the combat mission to protect the Far Eastern air borders.
After this audience, they were brought to the Chkalovsky airfield and sent on an Il-62 to Khabarovsk. Directly from the airfield, the generals arrived at the office of the commander of the Far Eastern Military District and reported on what had happened to them in Moscow.
After that tragedy, according to Army General Anatoly Kornukov, in his division, which he commanded at that time, a commission from Moscow confiscated all documents of objective control on the tragedy with the South Korean Boeing at the command posts of the division, the air regiment - tracings from tablets of the air situation, tape recordings of conversations with fighter-interceptor pilots, photographs of tablets, radar display screens. The commission members carefully analyzed all the commands and actions of the division commander.
Anatoly Mikhailovich also recalled in a conversation that when the Boeing was shot down, it was visible on the radar screen that it was spinning and falling into the sea. He made several circles and disappeared from the screen of the remote all-round indicator.
Eight years have passed. The next investigation into the tragedy with the South Korean Boeing occurred in 1991 during the beginning of Yeltsin’s presidency after the collapse of the USSR. The President of the Russian Federation personally gave the command to look into this tragedy. At that time, Anatoly Kornukov was already a colonel general and commanded the Moscow Air Defense District. Investigators interrogated him on all episodes of the tragedy eight years ago. And again, I worry and worry not only about my personal fate, but about my military duty to the Motherland, which was completely fulfilled. After all, the general also carried out the orders of the higher command, the laws of the USSR to protect the air borders of the state from encroachment. And here again are interrogations and a possible show trial to please the interested forces in the world. How then can we defend democracy? new Russia from threats from outside? Indeed, in that most difficult situation, as the commander of an air division, he fully fulfilled his military duty and was not afraid of the upcoming responsibility and possible threats. Apparently someone really wanted to blame Russian General Anatoly Kornukov for the tragic story with the Boeing 707 of South Korean Airlines.
Especially for our magazine, the head of the Armaments of the RF Armed Forces from 1994 to 2001, Colonel General Anatoly Sitnov, spoke about Army General Anatoly Kornukov: “Only such a decisive and strong-willed commander of a fighter air division as Major General Anatoly Kornukov could give an order in 1983 to shoot down an intruder at a time when high-ranking military leaders in Moscow in the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff, at the headquarters of the Far Eastern Military District in Khabarovsk could not decide to destroy the air spy who had so brazenly violated the borders of the Soviet Union.
In the dashing 90s of the last century, the strong-willed, courageous, comprehensively trained commander of the Moscow Air Defense District, Colonel General Anatoly Kornukov, literally saved the most powerful strategic district, which now formed the basis of the Russian Aerospace Defense, from disbandment. Thanks to Anatoly Mikhailovich, Russia now has the promising S-400 aerospace defense complex, the Pantsir S1 anti-aircraft missile system, a fifth-generation fighter, and many defense industry enterprises have been preserved.
Air Force Commander-in-Chief Army General Anatoly Kornukov put a lot of effort into ensuring that the Russian Military transport aviation A new promising aircraft, the An-70, has appeared, which is currently being tested.
Military leaders such as Army General Anatoly Mikhailovich Kornukov, who brilliantly commanded aviation in the second Chechen war, are undoubtedly the golden fund of our Russian army and air force. Anatoly Mikhailovich is respected and revered in the troops and the defense industry.”
Korean Boeing 747 shot down over Sakhalin
On September 1, 1983, a Boeing 747 aircraft of a South Korean airline violated USSR airspace, after which it was shot down by a Su-15 fighter. The liner crashed into the sea near Sakhalin Island. 269 people died.
September 1, 1983; ordinary international flight KAL-007 New York - Anchorage (Alaska, USA) - Seoul (South Korea). Approximately four hours after departure from Anchorage, the Boeing 747 contacted the Tokyo Air Traffic Control Center and reported its progress toward Seoul.
At 17.07 GMT (5.07 a.m. on Sakhalin), the pilots reported that they had passed the control point (although in fact the airliner was flying over the Russian Kamchatka Peninsula towards Sakhalin).
At 17.15, the Korean airliner asked Tokyo for permission to rise to an altitude of 11,000 m. Permission was given, and the dispatcher received confirmation that the maneuver was completed. A few minutes later in Tokyo they heard the last words of the pilot: “Korien air 007...”
At 17.26.22, the Boeing 747-230B reached the point where 90 seconds of flight remained from international airspace - approximately 19 km. And at that moment he was shot down by the pilot of the Soviet supersonic Su-15 fighter Gennady Osipovich. The Korean liner began to fall in a spiral towards the icy waters of the Sea of Japan, off the island of Moneron.
The border intruder was shot down using two weapons systems - a thermal missile, which disabled the engine, and a radar homing missile, which hit the stabilizer.
For 14 minutes, the huge plane fell from a height of 11,000 m into the sea, west of Russian military bases on Sakhalin Island. According to official data, there were 269 passengers and crew members on board.
According to Western experts, that night visibility at an altitude of more than 11,000 m was good. Moreover, as they believed, Soviet pilots, like US and other pilots Western countries, must distinguish the silhouettes of aircraft. The humpbacked Boeing 747 (they call it the “eggplant”) cannot be confused with anything. A jetliner painted white flew above the clouds. In addition, Western intelligence experts agreed that the operators of Soviet radar stations logged information about all commercial flights whose routes passed near the border. Therefore, an error is excluded: the pilot knew that he was attacking a passenger airliner.
Pilot Gennady Osipovich says:
“As usual, I went on duty on August 31. At six o’clock they finally gave me the command “air”. I started the engine, turned on the headlight, since the lane was not yet illuminated, and began to taxi.
I was given the course - the sea. He quickly gained the indicated 8 thousand meters - and splashed. For some reason I was sure: ours sent a control target to check the means on duty and to train us. And I was promoted as the most experienced. Eight minutes of flight have already passed. Suddenly the guidance navigator reports: “The target is an intruder aircraft ahead. It is on a collision course."
The weather was normal then. Through the thin clouds I soon saw the intruder. What does "saw" mean? I saw a flying dot in front measuring two to three centimeters. Her flashing lights were on.
Wait a minute: what is a fighter pilot? It's kind of like a shepherd dog that is constantly being trained to kill someone else. I saw that the same stranger was walking ahead. I’m not a traffic police inspector who can stop a violator and demand documents. I followed to stop the flight. The first thing to do is plant it. And if he doesn’t obey, stop the flight at any cost. I simply could not have any other thoughts.
So, as I approached, I captured it with a radar sight. The missile capture heads immediately caught fire. Hovering 13 kilometers away from him, I reported: “The goal is to capture. I'm going after her. What to do?" Earth responds: “The target has violated the state border. The goal is to destroy..."
The first rocket left when the distance between us was 5 kilometers. Only now did I really take a look at the intruder: it was larger than an Il-76, but in outline it was somewhat reminiscent of a Tu-16. The trouble for all Soviet pilots is that we do not study civilian aircraft of foreign companies. I knew all the military planes, all the reconnaissance ones, but this one was unlike any of them. However, I never thought for a minute that I would shoot down a passenger plane. Anything but this! How could I admit that I was chasing a Boeing?.. Now I saw that in front of me was a large plane, with its lights and flashing lights on.
The first rocket hit him in the tail - a yellow flame flashed. The second demolished half of the left wing - the lights and flashing lights immediately went out.
They greeted me like a hero. The whole regiment was met! The youth looked at me with envy. And the old men immediately boarded me - put down the bottle!.. I remember: the regiment engineer hugged me, shook his hand and shouted: “Everything worked, well done!” In a word, jubilation. After all, it’s not every day that a violator is caught. True, already on earth I had some incomprehensible feeling. And when the division commander called, I asked, just in case: was it ours? “No,” he answered me. - There was a foreigner. So turn the hole in your shoulder straps for a new sprocket.”
All this happened on the morning of September 1st. And then the unimaginable began... The commission arrived. Everyone suddenly began to look at me like I was a son of a bitch - of course, except for the regimental guys.
Later I replayed that situation in my head many times. And I can honestly say: I had no idea that a passenger plane was flying ahead. I saw in front of me a border violator who needed to be destroyed. During my service, I went up to intercept many times and dreamed of such a situation. I knew that if an intruder appeared, I would not let him go. I even had a dream several years before that was very similar to what actually happened. So - not to miss the intruder - if you like, the essence of an interceptor pilot.
Soon the Minister of Defense Ustinov called - and everyone, as if on command, began to smile again. Correspondents from Central Television immediately arrived..."
Even fifteen years later, journalists asked Osipovich whether he should have opened fire. The former pilot, who had already retired, replied that if he received such a command today, he would have carried it out without hesitation, perhaps even earlier, because he did not doubt for a minute that this was a reconnaissance aircraft in front of him. Otherwise, Osipovich says, he would have been fired from the army or even put on trial. Further, the pilot rightly noted that in such a situation the Americans would have shot down the intruder without hesitation, and much faster than we did.
For 18 hours, no official explanation was given about the missing airliner. Finally, US Secretary of State George Shultz stunned the world by announcing what American intelligence specialists had learned by analyzing the information generated by computers: KAL-007 was shot down in the air by the Soviet military. "People around the world are shocked by this incident," President Ronald Reagan said. One of the American congressmen said: “Attacking an unarmed civilian aircraft is like attacking a bus full of schoolchildren.”
For two days, representatives of the Soviet Union did not give any comments. TASS then published a statement regarding an “unidentified aircraft” that “grossly violated the state border and invaded greater depth into the airspace of the Soviet Union." It was claimed that the interceptor fighters only fired warning shots with tracer rounds. The statement also contained hints that the flight was carried out under the direction of the Americans for espionage purposes.
Passions in the international arena were heating up. Demonstrations against the actions of the USSR took place all over the world. “Civilized countries do not recognize deviation from the route as a crime punishable by death,” raged Jean Kirkpatrick, the US representative to the UN. The delegates listened to a tape recording of radio conversations of the Soviet pilot. The film obtained from the Japanese National Defense Agency proved that the plane had been shot down. USSR Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko stated: “Soviet territory, the borders of the Soviet Union are sacred. Regardless of who resorts to provocations of this kind, he must know that he will bear the full brunt of responsibility for such actions.”
Grieving relatives flew from Korea to Hokkaido, and were taken by ferries to the waters where the body of a child, one of the passengers on the fatal flight, was found. In memory of all those who died, wreaths and bouquets of fresh flowers were lowered into the water.
Despite the harsh weather conditions and the great depth of the ocean gorges, search engines continued to work until November 7. The truth had to be established using computer records and data from the last hours of the KAL-007 flight, obtained with the help of top secret equipment and intelligence observers.
Eight days after the plane crash, Chief of the General Staff Nikolai Ogarkov appeared on Soviet television with a new version. While admitting indirectly that Soviet fighters had "stopped" the airliner with two air-to-air missiles, he argued that Soviet ground surveillance had confused the KAL-007 with an American spy plane in the same area. The marshal accused the Korean airliner of being involved in espionage for the United States. Ogarkov spoke about the parallel courses taken by the KAL-007 and the American RC-135 aircraft, which was performing a reconnaissance mission. The purely military decision to destroy the passenger airliner was made by the commander of the Far Eastern Military District, and not by senior military or civilian leadership, the marshal emphasized.
Western observers vigorously objected to Ogarkov. Yes, they said, the American reconnaissance aircraft RC-135, two hours before the missile attack, actually passed 145 kilometers from KAL-007, flying in the opposite direction. But the Soviet fighter pilot observed a Korean airliner that was one and a half times larger than the RC-135. Osipovich twice reported that he saw navigation and flashing lights.
The Soviet side continued to insist that the commander of the Korean airliner, Chon, deliberately diverted his airliner from its course in order to pass over a highly classified area. On Sakhalin Island there is a naval center and six air force bases that were of strategic importance. Test launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles were carried out on the Kamchatka Peninsula. This is a vital line of Soviet defense. In the Sea of Okhotsk, which lies between them, nuclear submarines cruised, their missiles aimed at targets in the United States.
The West believed that for reconnaissance of secret sites there was no need to endanger the lives of civilians, since the Boeing 747, flying at night and at high altitude, could not obtain valuable information. South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan irritably rejected Marshal Ogarkov's explanation: “No one in the world, except the Soviet authorities, would believe that a 70-year-old man or a four-year-old child would be allowed to fly on a civilian plane, the task of which is to violate Soviet airspace for espionage purposes.” . And indeed, with the exception of one American congressman, the rest of the passengers are ordinary citizens.
But the questions requiring answers did not decrease. Why is an experienced pilot using state-of-the-art equipment, strayed so far into Soviet territory? All three "inertial navigation systems" (INS) installed on the Korean plane had gyroscopes and accelerometers that were supposed to guide the plane along a predetermined route. To avoid system failure, all three computers worked autonomously, receiving information independently of each other. Could it be that the wrong coordinates were entered into all three computers? Is it possible that the crew neglected the responsibility to check the INS coordinates with the coordinates on the flight maps, as is usually done? Could an experienced pilot forget to check whether the actual position of the aircraft coincides with the control points marked by the INS during the flight? Or did an electrical failure paralyze critical navigation systems, lights and radio transmitters? The likelihood of such a development is extremely low. Each of the three INS blocks had autonomous power supply. The lights were maintained by any of four electrical generators, one for each aircraft jet engine. Until the fatal explosion, the crew did not lose contact for a minute with ground tracking stations located along the route.
Commander Chon, in his last radio contact with Tokyo, confidently reported that he was 181 km southeast of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. In fact, it was exactly 181 km away north of the island. Why didn't air traffic controllers tell him about the error? Did it purposefully fly over closed Soviet territory to reduce the consumption of expensive fuel for its thrifty owners? He was already flying along the Romeo-20 route, in close proximity to Soviet territory. Crews routinely used weather radar to make sure they didn't cross the border. Documents show that never before during regular flight the airliner did not deviate from the approved flight plan. In addition, the South Koreans knew better than others about the risks associated with deviation from course. In 1978, the Soviet military fired on an errant Korean airliner and forced it to land. The Boeing 707 then lost control and descended almost 10,000 m before it was able to be leveled off and landed above the Arctic Circle, on a frozen lake near Murmansk. Two passengers died; the survivors, including 13 wounded, were rescued. The Soviet side presented the South Korean government with an invoice “for services” - 100 thousand dollars.
Experts tried to answer the question, why did the Korean Boeing lose its course? As a result of calculations performed after simulating flight conditions on the Boeing mechanical test bench at the Seattle plant, the following explanation emerged. When the airliner's commander, Jeong, took off from Anchorage, he did not check the pre-programmed flight path with the INS system, because the Alaskan airport's high-frequency radio beacon was temporarily turned off for maintenance. Relying on his compass during takeoff, the pilot set course 246 according to it. The deviation from the prescribed route of Romeo-20 in this case would have been 9 degrees according to the compass. If the crew commander continued on this course and did not switch to the INS, his error, coupled with the wind speed in the upper atmosphere, could lead KAL-007 directly under the missiles of vigilant Soviet fighter-interceptors.
Despite the dire accusations and counter-accusations of diplomats and politicians, no one wanted the incident to devolve into a confrontation between the great powers. President Reagan spoke of a “crime against humanity,” but the US response, such as asking other countries to stop for two months air service with the Soviet Union were balanced. Eleven Western countries agreed to shorter-term sanctions. The death of innocent civilians is a tragedy, but the world community seemed to agree that revenge or punishment should not stand in the way of relationships that could save millions of lives. Even the publication of facts about the destruction of KAL-007 did not prevent Soviet and American representatives in Geneva from continuing active negotiations on a draft nuclear weapons agreement. According to Reagan, the US approach was to "demonstrate resentment while continuing negotiations."
The Soviet side insisted: this entire operation with a civilian Boeing was organized by American intelligence services. It was attended by American intelligence services from the air, naval, ground and even space forces. The same questions were asked: how could an aircraft equipped with first-class navigation aids deviate from the route by more than 500 km? Why didn’t the crew of the Boeing 747 adjust course when they entered the Kamchatka zone, although they knew for sure that their route all the way to Japan would pass over the ocean? For what reason did the plane not just helplessly wander for two and a half hours in the airspace of the Soviet Union, but maneuvered clearly enough to end up over the most important strategic objects? Finally, why didn’t the ground services responsible for the New York-Seoul highway take any measures to return the car to the long-verified, proven course; did not notify the Soviet authorities about the allegedly “lost” plane?
Many people drew attention to the fact that it was no coincidence that this flight was carried out with a crew that almost doubled the number of people, and was headed by the former personal pilot of the Seoul dictator, Colonel of the South Korean Air Force Chung Byung In. Here's what the New York Times wrote about him: “Flight 007 commander Jung Byung-in, 45, retired from active service as an Air Force colonel in 1971. The following year, 1972, he joined the South Korean company Corian Airlines. He is an experienced pilot with 10,627 hours of flight time under his belt (of which 6,618 hours on a Boeing 747). The R-20 operated on the Pacific route for more than five years; in 1982 awarded for trouble-free operation. In other words, he is a South Korean Air Force ace. Therefore, it simply makes no sense to say that he was “distracted” by something during the flight.”
Each stage of the intruder’s actions perfectly coincided with the appearance of the Ferret-D spy satellite in the area. When the Boeing left the international corridor, Ferret-D was listening to Soviet radio-electronic equipment in Chukotka and Kamchatka, which were operating in normal combat duty mode. On its next orbit, Ferret-D found itself over Kamchatka at the very moment when the intruder aircraft passed over strategic objects in the southern part of the peninsula and recorded an increase in the intensity of the work of Soviet radar equipment. And the third orbit of the spy satellite coincided with Boeing’s flight over Sakhalin and allowed it to monitor the operation of additionally included air defense systems on Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands.
Japanese journalist Akio Takahashi noted: “...all the time that Soviet fighter-interceptors were pursuing the intruder aircraft in the Sakhalin sky, at the radio interception stations of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces Air Force in Wakkanai and Nemuro, the duty controllers did not take their eyes off the radar screens. They received comprehensive information about the progress of the flight of the South Korean Boeing 747.
A giant antenna system at the American Misawa base in Aomori Prefecture also intercepted the radio communications of Soviet fighters with the air defense command post. The radio interception equipment of the American Navy in Kamisetani, in the suburbs of Yokohama, worked at maximum capacity, which immediately sent the received information to the US National Security Agency (NSA). Electronic reconnaissance data received from the American RC-135 aircraft was also sent there. The NSA, in turn, reported every minute to the “situation room” in the White House on the progress of the operation with the South Korean plane.
The mysterious reluctance of the airliner crew, flying over special control points, to report their coordinates to the ground (a gross violation of flight rules) is puzzling.
The American administration never gave an explanation for the actions of several US Air Force reconnaissance aircraft that were in close proximity to the Soviet borders on the night of September 1. Moreover, one of them - RC-135 - was accompanied by the South Korean Boeing for some time. If the plane “accidentally veered off course,” why didn’t the Americans warn the crew about it, asked the English scientist R. Johnson.
Information has emerged that Boeing pilots were hired by American intelligence services for a large sum. Evidence of this was provided by lawyers Melvin Belai and Charles Harman, representing the interests of the families of the airliner's crew. According to them, the widows of the Boeing commander and his assistant said that their husbands were promised a substantial sum in dollars if they violated the air border of the USSR and flew over Soviet territory. A secret agreement was reached in advance on this matter between the South Korean airline and American intelligence. The pilots were forced to agree to carry out the espionage operation.
“My husband did not hide his fear before this flight,” said the widow of commander Cheon I Zhi. “Two days before the flight, he became even more nervous and insured his life for a large sum in favor of his family. “I really don’t want to fly - it’s very dangerous,” he told me goodbye.”
Immediately after the crash of the airliner, an intensive search began for the “black box”, which contains records of flight parameters and crew conversations. A battery-powered black box radio beacon, although designed in such a way as to transmit a signal even from a depth of 6000 m, would run out of power within a month. With a fully charged battery, it can be heard from anywhere within a five-mile radius.
In that febrile atmosphere, according to reports from the American aircraft carrier Stertet, it was only by pure chance that a collision between ships was avoided in the open sea west of Sakhalin. As a result, both “black boxes” ended up in the hands of Soviet intelligence services.
The recorder recorded the last 30 minutes of the flight. The decrypted conversations of the Boeing crew did not lift the veil of secrecy over this more than strange incident. It remains unclear why the plane ended up 600 km from its assigned Anchorage-Seoul flight route.
An analysis of the transcript of the “black box” readings indicates that the plane’s flight lasted 5 hours 26 minutes 18 seconds. From the 4th minute 18th second and an altitude of 1450 m, the flight was carried out using the autopilot, in the mode of automatic stabilization of the magnetic course of approximately 246 degrees, without connecting inertial systems to the autopilot throughout the entire flight (the main flight mode over the ocean was automatic control from inertial systems). The flight altitude was successively 9450, 10050 and 10650 m, and the air speed was 910-920 km/h. Throughout the flight, the inertial systems were in working condition; the crew, using their testimony, regularly reported to ground control points (mainly through the KAL-015 aircraft) about the estimated and supposedly actual time of passage of the turning points of the route located on the international route, about the direction and speed of the wind, the remaining fuel, thereby preparing in advance an irrefutable , from the crew's point of view, an alibi. Even at the moment of decompression (emergency situation after a missile hit - at 6.24.56 on September 1, Sakhalin time and 22.24.56 on August 31, Moscow time), the crew did not reveal the deliberate nature of the deviation from the route (in the last section, the distance from the international route was up to 660 km, while the actual route of the aircraft in the areas of Kamchatka and Sakhalin, according to the emergency recorder, basically coincides with the conduct of the USSR air defense troops).
On December 8, 1992, experts from South Korea, Japan, the USA, Russia and ICAO began working together in Moscow to study flight recorder records. One of the first steps of the Russian commission was a trip to the island of Sakhalin in order to find traces of personal belongings and documents raised from the seabed. dead passengers(many such items were raised). Members of the commission managed to find witnesses, and then the burial place of pieces of the plane's skin, some sneakers, jackets, cameras, tape recorders, books, documents. All this was dumped into a large silo at a “closed” point on the island and set on fire; In this case, two barrels of diesel fuel were used.
On January 10, 1993, as part of ensuring the work of the international commission, the representative of Russia - the chairman of the Russian state commission to investigate the death of Boeing, Yuri Petrov - presented in Paris to ICAO Secretary General Philippe Rochat the entire package of documents related to the tragedy.
At the same time, in Ottawa (Canada), an expert group deciphered the recordings presented by the Japanese side. On June 14, 1993, the ICAO Council published a multi-page report on the results of the investigation into the circumstances of the tragedy. In the “Conclusions” section it is noted:
3.12. The flight crew of KAL-007 did not follow the proper navigation procedures that ensure the aircraft maintains a given track throughout the entire flight. (No evidence was found to indicate that the crew was aware of the deviation from the planned route, even though this deviation occurred for five hours. During this time, the autopilot was used for control, while the flight plan required change the magnetic course 9 times. ICAO experts suggested that, apparently, the Boeing crew members, who in the previous few weeks had to fly a lot and intensively, crossing time zones several times with a huge time difference, had attention, concentration, the ability to adequately assess the situation was weakened. Routine operations - such as checking the readings of various instruments “keeping” the route - seemed to them not to be entirely necessary. The crew also did not know about the presence of interceptor fighters only after the autopilot was turned off. as the Boeing had already been hit.)
3.19. According to US officials, military radar posts in Alaska were not aware in real time that the aircraft was heading towards westward with an increasing deviation to the north (that is, KAL-007 passed through the identification zone of American air defense without special permission...).
3.32. The USSR Air Defense Command concluded that KAL-007 was a US RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft before ordering its destruction. The Soviet side did not make exhaustive efforts to identify the aircraft, although doubts remained regarding its identity and type.
3.33. Military radar posts of the Japanese defense department had information that some aircraft was flying into the airspace of the USSR over the island of Sakhalin. According to Japanese representatives, they did not know that this was a civil aircraft that had deviated from the assigned route (KAL-007 was detected radar stations Japan Self-Defense Forces 14 minutes before death, with the secondary responder code 1300, not 2000, as expected. This circumstance did not allow Japanese air defense to timely identify KAL-007).
In fact, the report does not present anyone as the main culprit for what happened. It remains a mystery what happened to the bodies of the passengers. This issue was not examined in detail by ICAO experts, although ICAO experts have no doubt that it was indeed a passenger airliner that was shot down. Specialists from the French Bureau of Investigation have established that the recordings of conversations on board the airliner (both between crew members and announcements by crew members to passengers) are “primary sources of negotiations,” that is, they are not an imitation of negotiations using a pre-made magnetic recording. It was even established that the co-pilot reported while wearing an oxygen mask. Therefore, the ICAO commission has no doubts about the presence of crew and passengers on board. In addition, divers recovered fragments of human tissue and skin, which were then examined at the Forensic Medicine Center.
The ICAO investigation allowed us to answer one very important question - how many minutes did the plane crash last? One of the report's conclusions states that Osipovich's report about two missiles hitting the Boeing is erroneous. In particular, more than a minute after the attack, radio signals were sent from the KAL-007 using high-frequency radio station number one, the antenna of which is located precisely at the end of the left wing plane (which means the wing was not cut in half by the rocket explosion). None of the Boeing engines were likely damaged. Twice the flight engineer of the downed plane noted - this is heard on a tape recording of one of the "black boxes" - that the engines were functioning normally. Most likely, only one missile hit the Boeing, which had a radar homing head, which should have exploded at a distance of 50 m from the target, primarily damaging the aircraft control system.
Immediately after the attack, the Boeing began to gain altitude and after 40 seconds rose more than a kilometer - from 35,000 feet to 38,250 feet. And only then did it begin to descend, but not fall, but, in fact, glide (the vertical rate of descent at that moment was 12,000 feet per minute), albeit at an increasing speed, in a spiral.
The last time KAL-007 was detected by radar at an altitude of 5000 m was nine minutes after it was shot down by a Su-15. Radar contact was then lost. By that time, both recorders were already out of order. ICAO experts were unable to answer this question, but stated that at that moment - 104 seconds after the attack - the Boeing was at an altitude of 33,850 feet, had an airspeed of 282 knots and a vertical rate of descent of about 5,000 feet per minute. The slower rate of descent could mean that the plane was subject to some control by the pilots. Thus, the Boeing's fall time was at least 9 minutes, and possibly even 12 minutes. During this time, most of the passengers probably managed to follow all the crew’s commands: fasten their seat belts and put on oxygen masks. However, not a single body of the passenger was found.
In 1997, a former senior Japanese military intelligence official said that the South Korean Boeing 747 was carrying out a mission for American intelligence agencies. The details of this event are set out in the book “The Truth about the KAL-007 Flight,” written by retired officer Yoshiro Tanaka, who, before his retirement, led the electronic eavesdropping of USSR military facilities from a tracking station in Wakkanai, in the very north of Hokkaido. It was this object, by the way, that recorded the negotiations of Soviet pilots pursuing a South Korean plane on the night of August 31 to September 1, 1983.
Tanaka based his assertions on an analysis of data on the extremely strange route of the airliner, as well as on information provided by Russia to ICAO in 1991 about Soviet radio communications in connection with this incident. As a result of his own research, a former Japanese intelligence officer came to the conclusion that American intelligence agencies deliberately flew a South Korean passenger plane into Soviet airspace to cause a stir in the Soviet air defense system and reveal its classified and usually silent facilities. According to Tanaka, the United States at that time made every effort to collect information about Soviet air defense in the Far East, which was modernized and significantly strengthened in 1982. American reconnaissance aircraft had previously regularly violated USSR airspace in the area where the South Korean Boeing 747 crashed, but they could only fly there at very high speeds. short time. That is why, the Japanese expert believed, a passenger airliner was chosen for the operation, which, according to US intelligence services, could fly over Soviet air defense targets for a long time and with impunity.
There are also seemingly incredible versions of this catastrophe. According to one of them, the border was violated by an unmanned Boeing - a double that simulated the flight of flight KAL-007. And the passenger Boeing was destroyed on its international route on the orders of US CIA Director William Casey.
“On that day, three planes were actually shot down in the airspace of the Far East,” says former ICAO deputy representative in Montreal Vladimir Podberezny, who took part in the investigation into the circumstances of the death of the South Korean plane. - The reconnaissance aircraft was the first to be hit, most likely the P-3 Orion. This happened 10-12 minutes before the destruction of the unmanned Boeing by Su-15 pilot Osipovich. The destruction of the reconnaissance aircraft was not part of the plans for the “air operation.” As they say, it was a coincidence: on the “screen” of the Su-15 radar sight, the reconnaissance mark was closer than that of the unmanned Boeing. The second - at 6.24.56 (Sakhalin time) - an unmanned (empty) Boeing was destroyed (blown up). 4 minutes later (6.28.49) Boeing flight KAL-007 exploded on its international air route. Its first fragments were found 8 days later off the coast of Hokkaido, north of the island of Honshu.”
All three aircraft were destroyed over international waters. On the morning of September 1, 1983, preliminary combat reports (encoded) from three commanders-in-chief: the air defense forces, the air force and the farther military district were placed on the desk of the Chief of the General Staff, Marshal N. Ogarkov. Reports showed that pilot Gennady Osipovich shot down a US reconnaissance aircraft in neutral waters.
In the evening, in the “Time” program on Central Television, Marshal Ogarkov, then in the TASS statement, only half-truths were reported, Podberezny believes. Allegedly, after warning shots with tracer shells fired by the Soviet pilot, the intruder aircraft left USSR airspace. He was then observed by radar for ten minutes, and later left the observation zone. That is, his flight by the Su-15 fighter was not stopped. Marshal Ogarkov could not tell the world the other part of the truth that a Soviet fighter shot down an American reconnaissance plane in international airspace - this would have caused a worldwide scandal. After all, there is a gross violation of international law.
After 5-6 days, when a “black box” (a voice recorder from the South Korean flight KAL-007) appeared in the hands of Marshal S. Akhromeev, the version of the incident changes dramatically. According to it, the intruder aircraft that left USSR airspace was destroyed by a Su-15 fighter. The new statement even voiced the responsibility of the Soviet state for the destruction passenger plane.
Four days later, pilot Osipovich was transferred to continue his service in Armavir. However, first he appears in Moscow, at the General Staff, for a “conversation”. He is accused of disrupting a combat mission to destroy the intruder aircraft. And this is actually true. But high officials of the General Staff “pardoned” the pilot, “advising” him in a television interview to “redirect” the missiles from the US reconnaissance aircraft to the South Korean Boeing, which he did not shoot down and could not shoot down. For “exemplary” behavior - in front of a television camera - he was given a bonus of 192 rubles. By the way, Osipovich’s further military service did not work out - he resigned from the army. It is curious that none of the commissions investigating the incident involved him in their work. Two official ICAO reports say that its specialists “failed” to meet with Osipovich.
“Is there evidence of the presence of two Boeings? According to Podberezny, the voice recorder and flight parameters recorder, which were studied in the USSR, Russia and the ICAO, were in fact not from the South Korean Boeing, but from two different aircraft.
The remains of the passengers of the South Korean Boeing (flight KAL-007), which carried out its entire flight along the international air route R-20 (as confirmed by the decrypted voice recorder), are located at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, east of the island Hokkaido. Soviet expert divers determined with a high probability: judging by the absence of passengers, and other parameters, the remains of the Boeing “destroyed” by Osipovich did not belong to the South Korean flight.
Meanwhile, a US reconnaissance aircraft, following the international air route R-20, intercepted and recorded all conversations between the KAL-007 crew and air traffic control services in Anchorage and Japan, and with other crews, organizing temporary radio interference with communication lines. The goal is to create the appearance of the aircraft deviating from the route. This is how a second “black box” (speech recorder) appeared in parallel. No, not a copy - it was he who somehow ended up with Marshal S. Akhromeev 5-6 days after the incident.
The E-3A, carrying W. Casey, took off from one of the US air bases in Alaska on the evening of August 31 (Kamchatka time). Discovered at 23.45 800 km from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, at an altitude of 8000 m by radio engineering troops. Judging by Marshal Ogarkov's message at a press conference, this is presumably an RC-135. After detection, the plane made a “strange” loitering mission. After some time, two or three more reconnaissance aircraft took off from the same base.
Two Boeing 747s took off from Anchorage airfield. One of them, the Boeing 747-200B, is an unmanned aircraft, a double of the South Korean one, simulating its flight as a violator of USSR airspace. The twin and the E-3A became close and walked together for 10 minutes. Then they separated. The E-3A turned to the southeast, towards the international route, with a decrease in altitude, trying to get out of the visibility zone of the radio engineering forces of the USSR air defense forces. The unmanned Boeing (without passengers, but stuffed with suitcases and various clothes - men's, women's, children's) followed the now well-known route of violation.
10 minutes after leaving USSR airspace, the unmanned Boeing was destroyed (exploded) according to a pre-set program or remotely via radio from an E-3A aircraft. In 10 minutes of observation, the plane could travel 150 km at a speed of 900 km/h, but did not cover this distance, therefore, it turned around so as not to go far from USSR airspace.
At this time, the second Boeing 747-230B (flight KAL-007) was flying on autopilot along the international route R-20, from which it did not deviate anywhere (if it had deviated, then from the conversations between the crew members it was possible would install). But they behaved as they should, strictly following the parameters of the track. No official investigation has yet been able to explain the motives for the cold-blooded behavior of the crew members of the South Korean Boeing.
4 minutes after the destruction of the unmanned Boeing, KAL-007 explodes. Also on the radio, from the E-3A, Podberezny sums up.
In 1993, the International Organization civil aviation(ICAO) concluded that the Boeing 747 entered Soviet airspace due to a navigation error and was shot down because it was mistaken for a reconnaissance aircraft. However, many materials on this case, in particular data from Japanese radio interceptions, are kept secret.
In short, there is still no consensus on why the crew of the South Korean Boeing went so far into the airspace of the USSR.
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From the book Big Soviet Encyclopedia(AM) of the author TSBSwedish DC-3 aircraft shot down over the Baltic On June 13, 1952, a Swedish DC-3 military aircraft disappeared under mysterious circumstances over the Baltic Sea. It later turned out that he was shot down by a Soviet MiG-15 fighter. 8 people died. For almost forty years, newspapers and magazines in Sweden
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From the author's book“Shot down over the Kalahari...” We all agree that your theory is crazy. The question we're divided on is whether she's crazy enough to be right? N. Bohr The first official record of a UFO was made in Egyptian papyrus... in 1390 BC. e. The chronicles that have reached us and
On September 1, 1983, a South Korean Boeing 747 was shot down in the sky over Sakhalin while flying over the territory of the USSR. There were 269 passengers on board. This incident is rightfully considered one of the most mysterious in the history of civil aviation.
They say that the creators of the series Lost were inspired by the mysterious circumstances of the death of the Korean Boeing. And this is not surprising: the intriguing events and facts related to this disaster would be enough for more than one series.
The Soviet military had no doubt that the plane was on a reconnaissance mission. He walked without identification signals, deviating 500 km from the route. As a result, the Soviet military command interrupted flight KAL-007 exactly over Sakhalin village True, with the help of the Su-15 fighter. However, we still don’t know whether this is true.
“Are you kidding?”
The next episode would be a good prelude to a series like Lost. About two hours before Flight KAL-007 entered Soviet airspace, U.S. civil ground control controllers exchanged the following words: “Hey guys, there's someone approaching the Russian air defense zone.” - “It can’t be, are you joking?” - “We need to warn him.”
This was clearly documented by the controllers' recordings. The question is: why was the crew of the South Korean airliner never warned?
Announced happy ending
Korean Airlines flight 007 on the route New York - Anchorage - Seoul was supposed to arrive at the Korean airport at around 6 o'clock in the morning. But he was late. At 7.20, representatives of Korean Airlines came out to the concerned greeters with a reassuring message that some unforeseen circumstances had arisen with the flight, but the airliner had fuel for another 3 hours, so there was nothing to worry about. Officials did not provide any further details. If those who greeted us lived in the United States and watched the seven o'clock ABC news, they would have learned a little more: for example, that the Korean Boeing flight 007 had disappeared from radar. True, it is unlikely that anyone would explain to you why American television crews were so concerned about the late Korean airliner.
Exactly at 10.00, when the Boeing's fuel was already running low, all Korean news announced the words of the South Korean Foreign Minister: everything was fine with the plane, it had flown forced landing on Sakhalin, the crew and passengers are in complete safety. And an hour later, the vice-president of Korean Airlines, Cho, who was just setting off to return the passengers of flight 007 home, personally addressed the greeters: “In less than 24 hours, these problems will be solved, and I promise to deliver them to you.” At the same time, some details of the incident were announced in the news: allegedly the flight was forcibly landed by the Soviet Air Force on Sakhalin. Of course, this could not help but irritate the Koreans, but nevertheless the anxiety disappeared: many of those who greeted us went home with peace of mind. But the soul did not remain calm for long...
An hour later, the Soviet Foreign Ministry informed the Japanese embassy in Moscow (with South Korea and the USSR had no diplomatic relations), that Flight 007 did not land on Sakhalin, and USSR officials have no information about the whereabouts of the plane.
Airing after death
A couple of days later, the Soviet Union officially admitted that its air defense forces had shot down a plane that had violated Soviet airspace and failed to respond to warnings. It was even established exact time– 22.26 local time. However, there are documented recordings of the pilots of flight KAL-007, which appeared on the air 50 minutes after the destruction by the Soviet fighter. Moreover, they did not give any signals for help. This gave rise to the version that the Soviet pilot shot down some other plane, probably an American reconnaissance plane RC-135, which looks very similar to a Boeing 747. It is interesting that Gennady Osipovich, the pilot of the Su-15 that shot down the airliner, was sure that his target was a non-civilian aircraft. In particular, Osipovich expresses doubt that such a large aircraft as the Boeing 747 could have been shot down by just two R-60 missiles that he fired at it.
Where are the passengers?
There were 269 people on board - passengers and crew members. However, the search expedition did not find a single body: only minor fragments. It is curious that the missing bodies of the victims aroused the imagination of some American journalists: a version appeared in the Western press that the Soviet military burned the bodies in the crematorium to cover their tracks.
But let's turn to direct evidence. One of the Soviet divers who took part in the search recalled: “I didn’t miss a single descent. I have a very clear impression: the plane was filled with garbage, and there were no people there. Why? Well, if a plane crashes, even a small one. As a rule, there should be suitcases, handbags, or at least handles from suitcases... But there were things that, I think, normal people should not carry on a plane. Well, let’s say, a roll of amalgam looks like it came from a garbage dump... All the clothes look like they came from a landfill - pieces were torn out of them... We’ve been working for almost a month! ...There were few wearable things - jackets, raincoats, shoes - very few. And what they found was some kind of rags!”
All this gave reason to say that the airliner discovered several weeks after the disaster was a falsification.
“Evidence” that sailed to the Japanese islands
A week after the disappearance of the airliner, small fragments of the Boeing, pieces of skin, and the remains of luggage washed up on the coast of the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido. Experts have put forward a version that the “material evidence” was brought to Japan by current from the area of Soviet Sakhalin, where the airliner was shot down. True, there was one “but”. The fact is that in September 1983 in the Sakhalin region there was not a single current that would drive waves from south to north. Detailed weather reports stated that the strong wind was blowing in the completely opposite direction. In other words, the plane's wreckage could have reached Japan only from the south, but not from the north.
"Crime against humanity"
US President Ronald Reagan, upon learning of the sinking of the South Korean airliner, called the incident “a crime against humanity that should never be forgotten.” Moreover, Washington had its own account of the actions of the Soviet air defense, since American Congressman Larry McDonald, a temperamental anti-communist and a very promising politician, died in the disaster. However, for unknown reasons, the insult was forgotten by the American side very quickly. George Shultz, the US Secretary of State, initially took up the case with great enthusiasm: a group of the best investigators from the Transportation Security Administration was sent to Alaska to investigate the tragedy. However, just a few days later, investigators returned to Washington without starting an investigation.
Two weeks before the disaster
The Americans' loss of interest in the fate of flight KAL-007 coincided with the news that a South Korean passenger plane with tail number NL-7442 was at Washington's Andrews Air Force Base for three days - from August 11 to 14, 1983. It is at this airbase, by the way, that the American presidential airliner, “USA Air Force One,” is still based. It is interesting that the technological maintenance of the South Korean aircraft at Andrews was carried out in the hangar of a company that supplied special electronic equipment. It only remains to add that it was the plane with the number HK-7442 that would make the ill-fated flight on September 1, 1983 with the dissonant and at the same time symbolic name -KAL-007...
A quarter of a century ago, one of the most terrible disasters in the history of aviation, provoked by people
Before dawn on September 1, 1983, the Korean passenger airliner Boeing 747-230B, flying flight KAL 007 from Anchorage (Alaska) to Seoul, went off course and was shot down by a missile from a Soviet Su-15TM fighter-interceptor over Sakhalin. All 269 people on board, incl. 23 children died. “It was a spy plane without passengers with a crew of 29 professional intelligence officers,” continues to assert the former commander of the Far Eastern Military District, General Ivan Tretyak, who gave the order to shoot down the unidentified plane. “The passengers and crew remained alive after a successful emergency landing liner to the water off Sakhalin,” believes Bert Schlossberg, director of the International Committee for the Release of the Surviving Passengers of Flight KAL 007. What do we know about the events of 25 years ago today?
This tragedy shocked the world. A lot has been written about her and very confusingly. As a specialist and participant in the development of the interceptor fighter that shot down this airliner, I offer the reader an analysis of what happened, based only on facts.
From Alaska to Kamchatka
The weight began immediately after the Korean airliner took off from Anchorage Airport in Alaska, where the Boeing 747-230B of Korean Airlines, operating flight KAL 007 from New York to Seoul, made an intermediate landing at 3.30 a.m. local time to refuel. An hour and a half later, at 5 a.m., the plane soared into the predawn skies of Alaska, and the flight crew, after a grueling five-day cruise, finally felt like they were flying home to Seoul and relaxed. On board the airliner, in addition to three flight crew members (aircraft commander, co-pilot and flight engineer), 20 cabin crew and six service passengers - airline employees flying on this flight, there were 240 passengers (including 76 Koreans, 61 Americans, 28 Taiwanese, 23 Japanese and 16 Filipinos), of which 23 were children.
An analysis of the Anchorage radar recordings that monitored the flight of KAL 007 showed that when a minute later the plane headed for the village of Bethel, over which it was supposed to fly, its actual flight direction had already deviated slightly to the right. Turning on the autopilot at the third minute did not change the flight direction. And the liner flew past the village of Bethel with a deviation to the right at a distance exceeding the critical 7.5 miles (14 km), up to which the inertial navigation system (INS), programmed to fly along a designated but fur-covered corridor through Japan, could come into operation. Now, even forcing the autopilot into INS mode will not connect the inertial system to control the aircraft: it
will remain in standby mode and the INS indicator on the display will remain amber instead of green until the deviation of the actual heading from the programmed heading is less than 7.5 miles. But this will never happen, since in the cockpit all three members of the flight crew are confident that the plane is controlled, as expected, by an inertial system, which should guide it along the air corridor through predetermined intermediate route points. In fact, the autopilot worked in the mode of maintaining a constant magnetic course - straight to Seoul, but through the territory of the USSR.
This was determined by ICAO experts by analyzing the records of emergency recorders (“black boxes”): parameter recorders Leonid Litsa, Shovich professor, participant in the development of the Su-15 fighter-interceptor, author of the book “Reliability, safety and survivability of the aircraft” (ML “Mechanical Engineering”, 1985) of the flight and negotiations between the flight crew members. The latter indicates that the pilots did not suspect that they were gradually moving north of the permitted corridor.. 27 minutes after takeoff, the Anchorage air traffic controller said goodbye to the crew, without noticing the threatening deviation of the airliner from the prescribed route.
Meanwhile, in Kamchatka, a Soviet air defense radar operator watched on the screen the flight of an American RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft, which was based at the airfield small island Shemya in the western part of the Aleutian ridge and usually waited in the neutral oxen for the descent on the Kamchatka floor and the Klyuchi unit for the warheads of the next test Soviet ballistic missile to photograph their trajectories in the atmosphere and record telemetry. Just in case, it was designated as target number 6064. And on this night, when a test launch of an SS-25 missile was planned from the Soviet northwestern Plesetsk test site towards Kamchatka, an American RC-135 was writing figure eights near Soviet territorial waters , waiting for the “arrival” of the warhead.
At 4:51 a.m. local time, a second mark of a flying aircraft appears on the Kamchatka air defense radar screen. It came from the northeast of the Bering Strait. At first it seemed that he was going to the scout, and the officers on duty decided that it was the tanker. But when the planes missed each other at a distance of 140 km between them, the command post assumed that this was the second RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft. He, without changing course, went to Kamchatka. As it turned out later, it was a Korean passenger Boeing 747...
Then, a pair of fighter-interceptors are raised from the Elizovo airfield, north of Petr Opavlonsk-Kamchatsky, towards the potential intruder, designated as unidentified target 6065. But it is not possible to direct them to the aircraft approaching Kamchatka due to a temporary malfunction of the locator - target mark 6065 disappears from the screen at the 42nd minute of tracking.
Timothy Meyer, the author of a number of publications on the tragedy of flight KAL 007, states: “According to American intelligence, to block tracking of this test of a Soviet ballistic missile, a Soviet electronic jammer was lifted into the air by an RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft, which temporarily blinded the Kamchatka air defense radar that was tracking for KAL 007... The presence of an intruder over Kamchatka forced the Soviet military to cancel the missile launch.”
Boeing 747-230B of Korean Airlines, shot down in the skies over Sakhalin on September 1, 1983. This aircraft (its serial number 20559/186), equipped with Pratt-Whitney JT9D-7A engines, was released by Boeing in March 1972 and in the same year entered service with the German airline Condor, receiving registration number D-ABYH. Since 1979, it has been leased to Korean Airlines, receiving Korean registration HL7442. The above photograph was taken three years before the tragedy, May 25, 1980, in Zurich (Switzerland)
Just in case, the fighters were given a new course - to the east. The scout should, in theory, turn away from the peninsula to go into neutral waters. This is where you can intercept him.
But when the target mark appeared on the screen again, it became clear that the intruder had not changed course and was now flying over the Kronotsky Nature Reserve. The second pair of fighters from the Yelizovo airfield is aimed at the target. They keep the target locked on their airborne radars for a while, but then lose it in the night sky. And target mark 6065 on the screen of the ground-based air defense radar continues to move with a constant course, crosses the southwestern tip of Kamchatka and moves over neutral waters Sea of Okhotsk.
While still in the Bering Sea on its way to Kamchatka, KAL 007 crossed southern part US air defense buffer zone, and military locators should have recorded this unauthorized flight of the aircraft, but there was no warning about the deviation from the route on board KAL 007. For a whole hour and 20 minutes, the air border violator was in front of and above Kamchatka. Now he flies away unidentified and unwarned...
Don't let them get away unpunished!
At this time, according to the testimony of Alexander Korzhakov, then a security officer on duty, in Moscow, in the “Kremlin” hospital, the Chief of the General Staff, Marshal Ogarkov, is trying to report the situation in the Far East to Secretary General Andropov. He gets off with a general phrase: “Carry out all the necessary measures.”
Now these “measures” will have to be carried out by the air defense division of Sakhalin. Its two fighter aviation regiments were located at airfields near the villages of Smirnykh and Sokol. The division headquarters officer on duty received a message from Kamchatka about the intruder when he had already left its airspace. After the intruder's mark appeared on the Sakhalin air defense radar screens, a combat alert was declared there. A pair of MiG-23Ps picked up from the northern Smirnykh airfield found the intruder, approached him and reported that they looked like an RC-135. But due to a lack of fuel, the MiGs had to return to base.
On the night of September 1, 1983, pilot Major Gennady Osipovich was on combat duty in the fighter air regiment at the Sokol airfield. At 5.42 a.m. local time, on a command from above, he took off in his Su-15TM towards the Sea of Okhotsk towards the intruder flying two hundred kilometers from Sakhalin.
As in the distant times of the Great Patriotic War, the air defense of Sakhalin still used voice radio communication between the guidance and pilot to guide fighters to the target. Osipovich realized that he missed the target when they heard the command of his guidance navigator: “We will aim at the rear hemisphere.”
He turned around in the opposite direction, received altitude and heading adjustments, and then finally saw the flashing dot ahead. Then, on the screen of his interceptor’s on-board locator, a bright orange chanting mark lit up and the “Head Capture” sign lit up. From this moment on, Osipovich will relentlessly follow a large four-engine aircraft flying at an altitude of 10 km at a speed of 900 km/h and sparkling with all navigation lights and flashing beacons.
And at the division command post, where its commander, Colonel Anatoly Kornuko (later Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force), arrived, they still don’t know what kind of plane Osipovich is accompanying. The guidance navigator asks Osipovich: “805, can you determine the type of aircraft?” "Not really. “It flies with flashing lights,” the pilot replies. This is followed by the command: “805, request target!” Osipovich turns on the transmitter of the “friend or foe” station. If it is a Soviet military aircraft, it will automatically respond with a special code. But the Korean airliner is naturally silent... Kornukov: “No answer? Everything is clear. Prepare to shoot! The navigator repeats this command.
Meanwhile, the intruder is already approaching Sakhalin. Kornukov calls the commander of the Far East Air Defense Aviation, General Kamensky, reporting on the emergency and the order given for fire readiness. He replies: “First find out what kind of object it is. Maybe it’s some kind of civilian plane or God knows what.” After these words, Kornukov’s belligerence decreases. He wants to know whether the intruder did not turn off his navigation lights when entering Sakhalin airspace? The Earth asks Osipovich: “Are the aircraft’s navigation lights on?” “Navigation lights are on. The signal lights are on,” the pilot replies. The command follows: “805, turn on your lights for a moment. Make him land at our airfield."
Now the intruder is flying over the home airfield of Major Osipovich. 11o how to make this colossus land? Approaching the intruder’s side, and then standing in front of it so that his fighter with burning navigation lights will be noticed by the “guest” pilots, Osipovich does not dare. He approaches towards the airliner from the side and below, equalizes the speed and, for the sake of form, turns on and off several times its three lights: green and red at the ends of the wing and white in the tail. But, of course, they are almost impossible to see from the Boeing. Naturally, there is no reaction. did not follow.
Kornukov’s new order: “Fire warning shots from a cannon!” But Osipovich cannot help but know that his gun is suspended in a container below the fuselage. And from the plane flying ahead, the flashes of shots will still not be visible. But there are no tracer shells in the ammunition load now - its gun is loaded only with armor-piercing shells, and their flight is invisible. But to carry out the order, Osipovich fires several bursts, practically emptying his ammunition.
Meanwhile, the unsuspecting Boeing pilots decide that it’s time to move to the next altitude level. The co-pilot radios air traffic controllers in Tokyo and receives the go-ahead. The airliner begins to climb. At the same time, its speed decreases, and Osipovich “slips” under the “Boeing” and finds himself ahead and lower, “Earth” asks: “Did you say the target has increased its speed?” “I reduced it,” Osipovich answers. “805, open fire on target!” - the command follows. But the Soviet interceptor is ahead of the intruder, and in order to take a position for attack he needs to let the target forward. Osipovich slows down and...falls two kilometers down.
He got a good look at the Boeing from below when he “slipped” forward under it. Then, in an interview with a New York Times correspondent, he admits: “I saw two rows of windows and knew that it was a Boeing.” I knew it was a civilian plane. But it didn't mean anything to me. After all, a civilian type of aircraft can easily be converted for military use.”
The MiG-23P pilot (call sign 163), who is also following the Boeing, but at a distance of 25 km, reports that he sees both of them and reminds Earth that he can be ready to attack if the 805th manages to shoot down an unknown plane.
Attack
Violate: I have only three minutes left to fly in USSR airspace. A. there are again neutral waters of the Sea of Japan. Nervousness is growing at the control point. There is already an order from the district commander, General Tretyak, to destroy the target. "What? Has he shot yet? Is the target still flying? - Colonel Kornukov starts shouting - “How long does it take him to take up a firing position?!” Fast and Furious! Let the 23rd come closer! While you are wasting time, the target will simply fly away.”
Again, another order from the guidance navigator: “805, try to destroy the target with the cannon.” “I'm already behind. Now I’ll try the rockets,” Osipovich replies. “805, approach the target and destroy!” - the order follows. Osipovich knows something that the command post doesn’t know - he has already shot almost all of the cannon’s ammunition. But you can’t miss the target, that’s why - missiles. Now Boeing is ahead again, but much higher. Osipovich turns on the afterburners and lifts the nose of the interceptor. There is a capture! You can press the trigger.
With an interval of two seconds, both R-98 missiles (one with a radar, the other with a thermal homing head) rush towards the passenger airliner. The first rocket explodes slightly behind the fuselage and above horizontal tail at 6:26:02 a.m. Sakhalin time. Osipovich reports: “The target is destroyed... I’m leaving the attack... The rest is 1600... I let both go.”
“The first missile hit him in the tail. A yellow flame flared up. The second one demolished half of the left wing. The lights and flashing lights immediately went out,” Osipovich assures in an interview with a correspondent of the Izvestia newspaper in 1991. But according to the records of the emergency recorders, it will later become known that the missile with a thermal head apparently did not work, or missed. All Boeing engines continue to operate normally, and “half of the left wing” was not demolished, because The crew, after the missile launch, contacted Tokyo via a high-frequency radio station, the antenna of which is located at the tip of the left wing console. But what Osipovich saw later (one minute and 44 seconds after the explosion of the first missile) - the separation of the wing with the power supply to the navigation lights and flashing beacons stopped - he apparently took for a hit from the second missile.
...Before the author are authentic records of the Boeing's flight parameters in the last two minutes of its life, including the moment the R-98 rocket exploded. For nine years, the Soviet leadership hid the fact of the discovery of debris and “black boxes”. But in 1993, by order of President Yeltsin, both on-board recorders (voice and flight data) with films were transferred to the International Civil Aviation Organization ICAO, which entrusted the French Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation (Bureau d'Enquete et d'Analyses, BE A) with them analyze. Taking these data into account, in the same year ICAO published the final report on the KAL 007 disaster (see appendix).
From the records it clearly follows that from the impulse received from the rocket explosion, the huge airliner began to lift its nose, fall onto the left wing and deviate to the left of its course. But since all four engines were operating in normal mode, the aircraft began pitching up causing an increase in its flight altitude.
What can these recordings tell us? The main conclusion: it took the pilots a little more than a minute to completely restore the aircraft’s flight parameters, disrupted by the missile explosion. When, due to the impact of the blast wave on the tail, the plane increased the angle of attack to 15° and rose almost a kilometer, the pilots, turning off the autopilot and tilting the steering wheel away from themselves, returned the airliner to its previous altitude, countered the resulting left bank of 50° and began to return the turned away to 60° to the left the plane returns to its previous course.
However, shrapnel from the exploding missile warhead apparently partially disrupted the hydraulic system and pierced the fuel compartments and fuselage.
The voice recorder recorded all sounds on the flight deck for the last 30 minutes. First, in November 1983, Soviet specialists tried to decipher them, and after the transfer of the “black boxes” to the ICAO, French experts from the VEA tried to decipher them.
At 18:26:02 (universal time UTC/GMT is accepted everywhere), a sound resembling an explosion is clearly heard on the tape.
After 4 seconds, one of the crew members shouts: “What happened?” The question is repeated after 2 seconds. After another 2 seconds, the command follows: “Remove the throttles,” and immediately the answer: “Engines are normal.” Next is the replica “Chassis”, and 20 seconds after the explosion one of the crew members notes: “The height is increasing.” At 18.26.33 the remark is heard: “I can’t reduce the altitude,” and a second later the recorder records an automatic notification: “Attention! Emergency descent!”, then repeated several times. But at 18.26.38 the pilot repeats: “The altitude is increasing,” and after 2 seconds: “It’s not working!” The command follows: “Manually!” and the answer is “I can’t do it manually.” After this, a click is heard when the autopilot is turned off and the “Engines OK” report is repeated. Starting at 18.26.49, the voice recorder records repeated automatic notifications in English and Japanese: “Attention! Emergency descent! Put out your cigarettes!
This is an emergency descent! Place the oxygen masks over your nose and mouth and tighten the straps.” At 18.26.50 the crew question is heard: “Is this depressurization?”, and after 7 seconds the crew calls the dispatcher in Tokyo, reporting to him about the decrease in pressure in the cabin and at 18.27.10 about the decision to make an emergency descent: “Rapid depressurization, we are descending to ten thousand "(10,000 feet - about 3000 m). Further on the tape there are again repeated notifications in English and Japanese about an emergency descent, the need to put out cigarettes and put on oxygen masks. The last of them was recorded at 18.27.43. After another 3 seconds, the recording on the recorder is interrupted. The last words of the crew are heard 10 seconds before and concern the need to maintain speed.
The recordings of both flight recorders stop simultaneously - at 18.27.46 UTC. The plane at that time was at an altitude of 10 km and, with a right bank, was returning to its previous course. From the moment the rocket exploded near the airliner, 1 minute 44 seconds passed...
The plane crashed while still in the air
In the archives of President Reagan, the author discovered a document - a message from the Japanese defense agency that their radar tracked the flight of a Boeing 747 and two other aircraft flying in the same direction (Su-15 and MiG-23 - author's note) over the island Sakhalin. The Boeing mark suddenly disappeared from the Japanese radar screen when it was at an altitude of 9 km. The report indicates a high probability of the plane exploding in the air. The radar most likely “lost” the target when the total effective reflective surface of the diverging falling fragments of the airliner became less than that recorded by this type of locator.
Captain Shizuka Hayashi on the bridge of the Japanese fishing schooner Chidori Maru 58, which was at that time in international waters off west coast South Sakhalin, at 6.20 am, hears the sound of jet engines of an airplane, and then sees an orange flash in the clouds and hears a pop, and a couple of minutes later - a muffled rumble behind the clouds. Then the schooner is covered with a cloud of aviation kerosene vapor - so much so that the ship's logbook exudes a kerosene smell for a long time.
The ignition of aviation kerosene vapor inside the fuel compartment is accompanied by an explosion that ruptures the wing box. In this case, some of the kerosene may not ignite, but be thrown away. Hence the clothes of the passengers, soaked in kerosene, which were found by Soviet divers in one of three clusters of wreckage of the liner at the bottom of the sea.
Apparently this is what happened. The shrapnel from the warhead of the R-98 missile that struck the structure of the airliner pierced the fuel compartment, and sparking damaged wiring (or hot gases from operating engines) ignited the leaking fuel. An explosion followed.
On August 31, 2005, the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper published an interview with Army General Ivan Tretyak in the article “Hot Battle of the Cold War.” He also claims that KAL 007 died as a result of an explosion in the air: “The fact that such an explosion was possible was immediately confirmed during the investigation. After the plane crashed over international waters, experts noticed that the nature of the scattering of fragments was such that the conclusion was clear: the plane exploded from the inside. More precisely, it was like this: first he was hit by a missile from a military fighter piloted by pilot Osipovich, but after that the plane flew another 17 km and exploded over neutral waters.” (We would like to add that these 17 km exactly correspond to a flight time of 1 minute 44 seconds until the flight recorders stopped).
Thus, the combination of many facts and circumstances allows us today to assert that damage to the fuel compartment of the airliner 1 minute and 44 seconds after the missile warhead was fired caused an explosion of kerosene vapor, which tore the plane into three large fragments. Falling from such a height, these rotating fragments of different shapes were further removed from each other by aerodynamic forces and finally collapsed into small fragments upon impact with the water. (In a month and a half, Soviet sailors will discover three clusters of wreckage of the liner at the bottom, located 1.5 -2 km apart from each other.)
From deciphered records of flight parameters, it is known that after the rocket explosion, the airliner rose a kilometer, and then dropped again to an altitude of 10,250 m - apparently at that moment a fuel explosion tore it into three parts and stopped the recorders. At the same time, the flashing beacons and navigation lights went out, and the pilots of both Soviet interceptors lost visual contact with the target: “I don’t see him” (6.29.13); “No, I don’t see him” (6.29.54); “I don't see anything here. I was just watching” (6.38.37).
We can only learn about the trajectory of the falling parts of the airliner by their marks,
Decoding of the “black box” of flight KAL 007: the main parameters of the Boeing 747 in the last 2 minutes of its flight before destruction in the air were recorded on the screens of ground-based air defense radars of the USSR, Japan and the USA. Some radars were located at a considerable distance from the crash site (Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Sovetskaya Gavan), and the marks of the falling parts of the airliner on the screens merged into one, creating the illusion of maneuvering the whole aircraft.
After the destruction of the airliner in the air, its falling parts first began to deviate to the north. From Kornukov’s negotiations with Gerasimenko: “The target has turned north” (6.28), and 5 minutes later: “The target is at an altitude of 5 thousand.” Kornukov: “Already at 5 thousand?” Gerasimenko: “That’s right, it turns first left, then right and is clearly descending.”
A US State Department statement dated September 1, 1983 said that the Korean aircraft's radar blip corresponded to an altitude of 5,000 m three minutes earlier. In any case, the available evidence of the destruction of the airliner’s structure at an altitude of more than 10 thousand m and the loss of visual contact with it allow us to draw a reasonable conclusion that ground-based radars at the last stage of the tragedy tracked the fall of not the whole aircraft, but three of them. large parts, which had high aerodynamic drag.
When almost two months later, Soviet divers began searching for “black boxes” in one of the three clusters of Boeing wreckage indicated by them, practically no remains of passengers would be found among them, but they would find a lot of clothing torn by fragments of the structure and soaked in kerosene.
The fact that it was the explosion of the fuel compartment that simultaneously interrupted the recording of both emergency recorders is also proven by the characteristic ruptures of their data carriers. Usually, the 241 m long flight data recorder film breaks near the coils under very high overloads. On the film presented to ICAO, the joints of the breaks exactly correspond to the distance between the reels. The last recordings were made in the middle of a piece of film located between the reels at the moment of mechanical impact on the recorder of a destructive overload. At this moment, the liner was at cruising altitude, and only a fuel explosion could create such a high overload.
The fact that the airliner collapsed at a high altitude was confirmed by Soviet experts in their Conclusion dated November 28, 1983, published by the Izvestia newspaper on October 15, 1992: “With high reliability it can be stated that the studied blocks of the flight parameters recorder and voice recorder are indeed belong to a South Korean aircraft. This is confirmed by the presence on the bodies of the recorders and their internal structural elements of traces of damage that can only be caused during the destruction of the aircraft, the exact coincidence in time of the end of the recording of both recorders due to the interruption of power supply to them at the moment of destruction of the aircraft - 1 min 42 s after his defeats."
Searches and “hide and seek”
All the participants in the events of September 1, 1983 - from Osipovich to Andropov himself, did not know for the whole day that the plane shot down by Soviet air defense over Sakhalin was a South Korean scheduled passenger from the soot river and the Boeing 747 airliner, and that as a result of the emergency, 269 people died in than innocent people. The country's leaders will first learn about this from US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Burton. and then from George Shultz, whose press conference was broadcast by all the leading agencies in the world. At the same time, Schultz voiced excerpts from recorded radio conversations between Osipovich and two other Soviet fighter pilots.
Initially, by decision of the Politburo, the USSR adopted the tactic of denying the fact of the shooting down of a passenger plane. When the entire “democratic” world was already indignant, Soviet television showed the Chief of the General Staff, Marshal Nikolai Ogarkov, with a pointer in his hand at big map The 11th kind of monster in the Far East followed the successive stages of some strange special reconnaissance operation of the Americans, the key element of which, in his opinion, was the flight of the “spy” Boeing 747. Therefore, “the United States must answer for everything.”
25 days after the disaster, the commander of the Sakhalin border troops, Major General Romanenko, received a delegation from Japan and the United States in Nevelsk and handed over to it 213 men's, women's and children's shoes that were found floating or washed up on the shores of Sakhalin and Moneron. Sorting showed that these boots, shoes and sneakers were worn by 198 people. Relatives identified the shoes found as belonging to their children and loved ones who were on board flight KAL 007 that fateful night.
But the USSR never released the remains and luggage of those killed on flight KAL 007 to the relatives, declaring that they were not found in the wreckage. In a letter to Secretary General Yuri Andropov published on December 15, 1992 in the Izvestia newspaper, dated November 1983, the heads of the Ministry of Defense and the KGB, Dmitry Ustinov and Viktor Chebrikov, formulated the purpose of the search operation as follows: “After the fall in the Sea of Japan, shot down on September 1 of this year. South Korean aircraft... by Pacific Fleet A search was organized for the electronic equipment of this aircraft. We needed the equipment to more accurately determine the targets of his invasion of our airspace.” Thus, the search and recovery to the surface of the remains of the dead passengers and their luggage were not envisaged...
It is also necessary to keep in mind that upon impact with the water, the falling parts of the liner collapsed into small pieces, practically shredding the bodies of people still in them. Over the past almost two months from the moment of the disaster until the deep-sea diving of the divers to the bottom, sea water, currents and numerous sea inhabitants contributed to the fact that it was already possible to find the remains of passengers in the accumulation of debris where the divers were looking for and ultimately found the “black boxes.” almost impossible. Experts say that even after two weeks, no traces of organic tissue remain in the local water. That's why divers found so few of them.
When the divers began to disassemble the pile of debris indicated to them at the bottom, they were ordered to bring to the surface only radio equipment, documents, papers and films. They worked 150 man-hours on the ground over 14 descents. As A. Illesh reports in his journalistic investigation, “The Mystery of the Korean Boeing 747,” published in the early 90s. in Izvestia, on the fenced-off deck of the ship Mirchink, which stood above the divers’ diving site, everything that rose from the bottom in a large basket and in a lowering bell was sorted and then sent to Nevelsk. There were a lot of items accumulated there from the downed passenger airliner. That part of them (mostly broken radio equipment and films) that could confirm the espionage mission of the flight was sent in nine bags to Moscow for technical research. Everything else, including wearable personal items and items soaked in aviation kerosene hand luggage, then it was simply destroyed.
The author's three-day work in the memorial library of the Californian residence of US President Ronald Reagan made it possible to obtain about two hundred copies of documents. And now on the desktop on the right was what the US President was reading about this under the heading TOP SECRET, and on the left were joint memos about the same thing and under the same heading “top secret” from the Minister of Defense of the USSR Ustinov and the Chairman of the KGB Chebrikov, which were read by the General Secretary Andropov.
The CIA memo provided to the US President noted, in particular:
- a wide range of US reconnaissance satellites allows you to always point to one of them located near some event;The only aircraft was the RC-135, which was making a routine flight in international airspace during the approach of KAL 007 to Kamchatka, had no contact with it, was at a considerable distance from it, and at the time the airliner was shot down had already been at its airfield for more than an hour;
None of the crew of flight KAL 007 cooperated with the CIA.
And what did they report to Andropov in the USSR? Analysis of the flight recorders and equipment units found in the wreckage of the Boeing fuselage led to complete disappointment - no evidence of a spy mission could be found. A commission of experts, which included high-ranking
Chronicle of events of September 1, 1983
(given in relation to Sakhalin time, UTC+12 hours)
01.00. Korean Airlines Boeing 747, flying KAL 007 from New York to Seoul, takes off from Anchorage Airport (Alaska), where an hour and a half earlier it made a stopover for refueling (local time - 5 a.m.). Three minutes after takeoff, the autopilot is set to maintain a magnetic heading of 245° (exactly to Seoul), while the!NS mode is not activated, as a result of which the actual flight route begins to deviate from the calculated one within 10 minutes and after 20 minutes the civil radar station in Kenai in Alaska records the plane's deflection to the west by 5.6 miles (10 km).
01.49. The crew of flight KAL 007 reports passing the first control point of the route - the V0R Betel radio beacon, but does not notice that it passes it with a deviation of 12.6 miles (23 km) to the northwest (the magnitude of this displacement was recorded a minute later by the military radar in King Salmon, Alaska). The deviation from the calculated route is increasingly increasing: the following navigation control points NABIE, NUKKS and NEEVA are passed with a shift to the northwest by 110.185 and almost 300 km, respectively
04.30. Having significantly deviated to the northwest from the calculated route, the Korean Boeing crosses the border of USSR airspace northeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, and later flies almost over the city
04.51. An unidentified aircraft approaching Kamchatka from the Bering Strait was detected by a Kamchatka air defense radar operator. MiG-23 fighters take off from the Yelizovo airfield in Kamchatka, but they cannot be aimed at the target. The unidentified plane, meanwhile, leaves the airspace of the USSR, continuing its flight over the neutral waters of the Sea of Okhotsk towards the Soviet island. Sakhalin
05.00. During the passage of the next control point of the NIPPI route, the deviation of KAL 007 from the calculated corridor to the north is already more than 340 km
05.42. An unidentified target, which has not changed its course and is approaching Sakhalin, is again observed on the radar screens of the air defense system of the USSR Far East. A MiG-23 fighter takes off from the Sakhalin Sokol airfield to intercept
06.11. Major Osipovich establishes visual contact with the target and observes it on the on-board radar screen. On command from the ground to force the intruder to land, he tries to attract the attention of the crew of an unidentified aircraft by turning on the navigation lights and firing a burst from a cannon mount, but remains unnoticed
05.15. The unsuspecting crew of KAL 007 requests permission from air traffic control in Tokyo to increase the flight altitude to flight level 350 (35,000 ft, 10,675 m).
06.16. A Korean Boeing re-enters Soviet airspace east of the southern tip of Sakhalin
06.20. The Tokyo dispatcher, also unaware of the serious deviation of the Korean Boeing from the calculated route and its second invasion of USSR airspace, gives the go-ahead for flight KAL 007 to take flight flight 350
06.22. The Korean Boeing begins to climb, while its speed drops, and the accompanying Su-15 interceptor “overshoots” military generals and academicians have come to the conclusion that deciphering the recorder records by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) can lead to:
Interpretations of the KAL 007 crew's actions in setting the autopilot at the beginning of the flight to automatic constant magnetic course stabilization mode as an unintentional error that was not noticed during the entire flight;
Confirmation that the interceptor fighter did not attempt to establish radio contact with the airliner on the 121.5 MHz frequency and did not fire tracer rounds;
Denial of deliberate overflight of the USSR, since during the last 30 minutes of the flight, when the voice recorder recorded the crew's conversations, nothing indicated their awareness of the flight outside the authorized corridor;
Confirmation of the absence of aircraft maneuvers during the flight.
Hence the conclusion: do not transfer the recorders to ICAO. All this became known only in October 1992, after publication in Izvestia.
As a result, in December 1983, Ustinov I-Chebrikov sent a joint message to Andropov, in which, based on the recommendations of the commission, they formulated a state position, with which the Secretary General agreed: to hide the fact of the discovery of the recorders, since their decoding in the West would cause a new wave of anti-Soviet criticism; stand on the position of the Statement of the Soviet Government of September 6, 1983, which will categorically reject demands for compensation and place all responsibility for the dead on the United States, as the initiator of the provocation. As a result, the question of releasing the remains of the victims and their luggage did not arise.
Instead of a conclusion
On September 1, 1983, something happened that was bound to happen sooner or later. The nurtured system of protecting the air borders of the Soviet Union worked. The violator of sovereign airspace was destroyed. True, by an absurd accident (and someone’s negligence) it turned out to be a civilian plane with more than two hundred passengers on board...
It is worth noting that the flight personnel of the USSR air defense fighter aviation did not allow for the possibility of an unauthorized appearance of a stray foreign passenger aircraft in Soviet airspace and were not trained in methods of recognizing such a target. “Don’t let me leave!” - this was the attitude of the country’s top military leadership in those years... But, by a tragic coincidence, 25 years ago, 269 innocent people on board flight 007 became its victims.
In a message to Secretary General Andropov, Defense Minister Ustinov and KGB Chairman Chebrikov emphasized, as if in justification: “If an intruder could fly through Soviet airspace with impunity, the United States would probably launch a campaign emphasizing the ineffectiveness of our Far East air defense.”
...When a few years later the German young man Matthias Rust flew to Moscow without notice in a light-engine Cessna rented in Finland and landed on Red Square itself, he was no longer shot down, although he could have been. But for this, Secretary General Gorbachev fired Defense Minister Sokolov.
Another time came, and only in 1992 did the new Russian leadership decide to hand over to the West the “black boxes” of the downed Korean Boeing that had been kept in great secrecy in the USSR for nine long years. But before this, the very fact of their discovery was strictly denied!
I really want to hope that the promise of the first President of Russia Boris Yeltsin, given by him during the ceremony of handing over materials on flight KAL 007 to the South Korean delegation in the Kremlin on October 14, 1992, will come true: “Russia will build a world in which such incidents will become simply impossible.”
forward. Major Osipovich receives a command to shoot down the intruder (at the command post of the Soviet air defense post they are sure that they are dealing with an American RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft), for which he is forced to perform a series of maneuvers to take a position for attack
06.23. The crew of KAL 007 reports to the Tokyo dispatcher about the occupation of flight level 350
0654. At the command post of the Soviet air defense they understand that the intruder will very soon leave the airspace of the USSR again and demand that the interceptor pilots in the air speed up the attack. Major Osipovich takes a position to attack the target and captures it
06.26. From a distance of about 8 km to the target with an interval of 2 seconds, Major Osipovich launches two standard medium-range missiles for the Su-15TM (R-98R and R-98T), sees the flash and reports the destruction of the intruder. Due to the explosion of a P-98R warhead 50 m behind and slightly higher empennage The Boeing spontaneously sharply raises its nose and goes into climb mode (in about 40 seconds, the flight altitude increases by about 1000 m - to 38,250 feet or almost 11,700 m). The crew of KAL 007 is trying to understand the situation, checking the operating mode of the engines (all engines are working normally, which indicates that the second R-98T missile did not hit the target). A few seconds after the explosion of the first missile on board the Boeing, an alarm about depressurization of the fuselage goes off, which indicates that fragments of the missile warhead damaged the structure of the aircraft
06.27. 44 seconds after the launch of the first rocket, the crew of KAL 007 disables the autopilot and after another 28 seconds restores the original flight altitude. The crew reports to the Tokyo dispatcher about the depressurization and the decision to make an emergency descent to an altitude of 10,000 feet (3,000 m). In the passenger cabin, oxygen masks fall out, and passengers are informed several times about the emergency descent, the need to put out cigarettes and put on oxygen masks. 1 minute 44 seconds after the explosion of the first missile, the recordings of both flight recorders of the Boeing 747 simultaneously stop, which may indicate that the aircraft was destroyed in the air into several fragments as a result of an explosion in the damaged fuel compartment
06.28. On the radar screens of the Soviet air defense they continue to observe the mark of a target changing course, which causes bewilderment of the Soviet generals (apparently, the radars mistake one or more of its large fragments for a target)
06.29. Major Osipovich, having reported the destruction of the target, heads for his airfield. Other pilots in the air try in vain to locate the target or its debris.
06.30. A mark of a descending target was detected by radar at an altitude of 5000 m
06.33. The Soviet air defense radar operator continues to observe on the screen a mark of a large target fragment descending in a spiral at an altitude of 5000 m in the area of Moneron Island in Soviet territorial waters
06.38. About 12 minutes after the missile detonation, the Boeing mark finally disappears from the radars of ground-based radars at an altitude of about 300 m (the lower limit of the radar coverage area). The target (or its debris) cannot be seen by pilots of Soviet fighters in the air, who are given the command to return to base
06.47. The Soviet side is sending border guard ships and helicopters to the suspected area where the plane crashed.
06.55. The group of search and rescue forces aimed at searching for the downed plane is reinforced by nearby civilian ships, but they fail to find anything significant
Document ICAO Press Release No. RU 8/93
Montreal, June 16, 1993. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) released a report on the completion of its investigation into the crash of a Korean Airlines Boeing 747 on August 31, 1983.* The investigation into the accident was resumed in December 1992 after new facts and evidence emerged. , namely the transfer by the Russian Federation to ICAO of the original films of the flight recorders of the crashed aircraft.
On 14 June 1993, the ICAO Council adopted a resolution concluding the investigation into the crash of Korean Airlines (KAL) Boeing 747 flight KAL 007 (KE007) to Seoul caused by an air-to-air missile that killed all 269 people on board.
The ICAO Council calls on all states of the world to strictly comply with Article 3bis of the Chicago Convention, which contains the fundamental principle of international law that provides for the inadmissibility of the use of weapons against civil aircraft. The ICAO Council calls on states around the world to do everything necessary measures on security air navigation all civil aircraft in accordance with accepted regulations, standards and recommended practices approved by the Chicago Convention in 1944.
According to the accident investigation report, the crew of the Korean Boeing 747 shortly after takeoff from Anchorage engaged the autopilot and set it to maintain a magnetic course of 245°, agreed with air traffic controllers. Flight KE007 maintained the indicated course of 245° for more than 5 hours - from the 3rd minute of the flight until it was intercepted by a Soviet fighter. The fact that the aircraft crew did not notice its deviation from the calculated route for more than 5 hours indicates a lack of proper control over the situation on the part of the crew and unsatisfactory coordination of actions between its members.
The ICAO Commission concluded that the maintenance of a constant magnetic heading and the resulting deviation of the aircraft from the calculated route was a consequence of the fact that the crew did not notice that the autopilot remained in the constant magnetic heading mode, or was already included in the inertial navigation mode (INS). after the aircraft has gone beyond the permissible deviation from the calculated route, when the inertial navigation system can no longer maintain the specified route. The crew of flight KE007 did not fully comply with all procedures to ensure that the aircraft was flying along the specified route, as a result of which flight KE007 entered an area of USSR airspace prohibited for international flights.
The deviation of the actual route of flight KE007 in the area of the Bethel V0RTAC navigation control point (Bethel V0RTAC) from the specified one was 12 miles (22 km) to the north, after which it continued to fly in a westerly direction with an increasingly increasing deviation to the north from the accepted air corridor. Although flight KE007 flew within the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone and Alaska Air Command Buffer Zone, U.S. officials said there were no radar records of aircraft flying north of the R20 international air corridor and crossing the Alaska Identification Zones.
To the northeast of the Kamchatka Peninsula, in close proximity to the actual route of flight KE007, a US Air Force RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft was flying. As a result, the USSR air defense command assumed that approaching USSR airspace aircraft is an American RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft, and USSR air defense aircraft attempted to intercept flight KE007 over Kamchatka.
Flight KE007 then continued its flight towards the island. Sakhalin. The personnel of the USSR air defense command post on Sakhalin tried to find out the identity and actual location of the aircraft that violated USSR airspace, and came to the conclusion that they were dealing with a US Air Force RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft, after which an order was issued to destroy it.
Despite the fact that the Soviet side still had certain doubts about the identity of the intruder aircraft, no comprehensive measures were taken to identify it. It was established that before the attack on flight KE007, the Soviet fighter did not comply with all the measures required by ICAO standards and recommended practices to prevent accidental destruction civil aircraft. In particular, there were no attempts on the Soviet side to establish radio contact with flight KE007.
Flight KE007 was hit by at least one of two missiles launched from a Soviet Su-15 interceptor. The resulting structural damage affected the aircraft's controllability and led to its depressurization. The plane entered a spiral descent, and at an altitude of 5000 m its mark disappeared from the radar screens. The commission cannot establish for certain whether the crew had the opportunity to maintain at least limited control over the controls. As a result of the collision with the sea surface, the plane was completely destroyed.
The Commission found no basis for the assertion that the crew of flight KE007 deliberately maintained a constant magnetic course. The atmosphere in the cockpit of flight KE007 was normal and relaxed, and the crew members were not even aware of the presence of a Soviet interceptor in the immediate vicinity, either before or during its attack.
Among the newly identified physical evidence coming into the possession of the ICAO panel are the original cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and digital flight information recorder (DFDR) tapes discovered by the Soviet Union at the crash site in 1983 and handed over to ICAO in January 1993. Also by representatives The Russian Federation transferred to ICAO recordings and transcripts of negotiations between fighter-interceptor pilots and ground command posts, as well as negotiations between command posts. The United States provided certified copies of tapes and transcripts of air traffic controller communications in Anchorage, Alaska, and Japan provided recordings of air traffic controller communications in Tokyo.
During the investigation, all possible measures were taken to confirm the authenticity of the available tapes of conversations. Transcriptions of conversations, as well as films of on-board recorders CVR and DFDR, do not contradict each other known information on the incident under investigation and correlate well with other available data.
Records from the CVR and DFDR flight recorders indicate that there were no failures of the aircraft’s onboard systems, including damage to its structure as a result of an attack by a Soviet fighter.
Korean Boeing 1983
This case was included in World history. Above Sakhalin on the night of September 1, 1983 was shot down Korean passenger airplane Boeing 747. Airplane belonged to the state South Korea and flew Flight 007, New York - Anchorage - Seoul. Western means mass media was stated what's on board Korean Boeing shot down in 1983 was 269 passengers, not counting crew members. The passengers included US citizens. Among the dead was US Congressman Larry MacDonald, who was active critic of the USSR. THE WHOLE TRUTH was about this flight known only just TO A SMALL GROUP OF PENTAGON STAFF.
American President Ronald Reagan immediately after he was shot down over Sakhalin, he announced to the whole world that USSR in your fight for influence in the world can even use methods such as, destruction of passenger aircraft such as Korean Boeing shot down in 1983 year. After this statement American President swept across the progressive world thousands of protest demonstrations these countries. Peoples countries from America to Japan demanded accept drastic measures in relation to to the USSR. All The world shook. For the first time after the Cuban missile crisis appeared again the specter of nuclear war!
American intelligence always paid special attention maintaining electronic intelligence, especially using aviation. Starting since 1945 years began regular reconnaissance flying over the territory of the USSR and him allies.
Long before shot down Korean Boeing in 1983, starting from the late 50's years of the last century, American aerial reconnaissance started using new method conducting reconnaissance. Simultaneously with the advent of passenger jet plane Boeing 707, from American air reconnaissance there was a plane built based on Boeing 707. Respectively reconnaissance aircraft looked like on the radar screen as a passenger airplane . reconnaissance plane, unarmed deliberately invaded the territory of the USSR to a certain depth in order to detect operating parameters locators air defense, and then in a hurry was leaving back abroad! Later in the same capacity and for the same purpose an airplane was also used Boeing 747, How Korean Boeing, shot down over Sakhalin in 1983!
On the night of August 31st to September 1st, 1983 years the events happened like this. At 20 hours 3 minutes Moscow time time on Far Eastern radars Air defense an aerial object similar to American intelligence airplane R.C.-135. Intruder plane crossed the border exactly in the place where the Soviet strategic bombers were returning from educational tasks! Korean Boeing 1983 year definitely bypassed Soviet air defense zones, obviously knowing their location, and it turned out over the territory where was it located base Soviet strategic submarines!
To intercept the offenders were raised two Su-15 fighters And MiG-23. Define what kind of plane is it intruder, only succeeded from very close range! Fighters identified it as an airplane similar to Tu-16. Fighters served precautionary shots, but Korean Boeing over Sakhalin in 1983 no way this year didn't react on them and didn't answer to inquiries according to emergency international radio frequency.
After precautionary shots Korean Boeing over Sakhalin in 1983 made several complex air maneuvers, including sharply slowed down to 400 kilometers per hour. Apparently Korean Boeing pilots, intruder into airspace USSR in 1983, exactly knew that soviet fighter Su-15 at this speed may become unstable in flight! To the Soviet pilot Osipovich given order to shoot down intruder plane! Osipovich reported to the ground that rocket launch produced , airplane shot down!
Western intelligence recorded negotiations Soviet pilot with command post! Downed in 1983 turned out to be a plane Korean Boeing 747, state-owned South Korea, followed on a spacecraft flightL 007.
Just through 4 hours this case became known wide world community! IN Western media it was announced that 269 passengers died! This case all over the world was announced as attack on a defenseless civilian airplane! By around the world a wave rolled protests. E that case for good reason allowed to blame in hostility Soviet regime!
Let's try to reproduce details And details this ill-fated flight from the very beginning. IN 1983 August 30th Korean Boeing 747 takes off from New York airport named after Kennedy. The plane belonged to airlines, which was not a member of the association of international carriers, so tickets on this airline Sometimes cost about 3 times cheaper, than other airlines! Accordingly the airline saved on everything whatever was possible. The pilots chose the most shortest routes flight to save fuel.
WITH 1978 on Korean Boeing, owned by this airline in 1983 stood latest navigation INS devices(inertial navigation system) ! At this point there was a plane 3 such devices. With their help location aircraft is determined at any time time very accurately with a maximum possible error of 5 meters and such an error is only possible for very specific conditions! Moreover, these devices connected to two autopilots and can fly a plane independently according to a given program! Also on this Korean Boeing V 1983 navigation was provided 2 compasses, 2 VHF radio beacon signal receivers, 2 ADF receivers with remote measuring devices and 2 weather radars!
Commander Korean Boeing shot down in 1983 was Chang Bin Ying, most experienced pilot. He was colonel South Korean stock BBC! His flight experience was more than 10,000 hours. Flight distance along this route was 11,400 kilometers. The flight was supposed to be standard.
August 31st V 14 hours 30 the plane makes minutes technical landing for refueling And crew changes V Anchorage. Things are starting to happen here some oddities! No explanation reasons Korean Boeing V 1983delayed by 40 minutes and besides additionally poured 4 tons of fuel! That year it was only 3 cases, when the plane took off with full tanks fuel!
Around the same time near the Soviet border on Far East were spotted American reconnaissance aircraft. Also at this moment close Soviet borders cruised 3 US Navy ship.
Approximately in 4 minutes after in 1983 took off Korean Boeing flight 007, permission for takeoff gets another one South Korean Boeing flight 015! Fact departure TWIN AIRPLANE, which will actually fly to Seoul, later there will be keep quiet!
To the commander 40th fighter aircraft divisions Far Eastern military district Anatoly Kornukov V 1983 received a message from operational duty officer, What Korean Boeing violated air border, goes west Kamchatka to the side Sakhalin. Kornukov ordered to raise three duty officers fighter for escort or destruction violator - it will become clear according to the situation.
A minute before air defense command received urgent message, What over Yakutsk passed American military satellite And at 3 hours 7 minutes he should come to the north parts Sakhalin.
In general, it should be noted that in 1983 in case of air border violation Korean Boeing in Kamchatka, Americans used all types of military techniques that were only possible in this case! This and space satellites And high altitude reconnaissance aircraft And sea ships and airplanes AWACS And ground radar stations. Everything was coordinated like powerful reconnaissance operation.
Sky in the area of the incident this night was cloudy. To intercept Korean Boeing V 1983 3 Soviet fighters took off. Them in advance was given command, confirm target - reconnaissance aircraft and destroy his! When approaching the goal Su-15 pilot Osipovich caught the intruder on sight, But in the first approaching shooting did not produce. On big distance, at night it is forbidden was exactly define, what kind of plane was it and besides Osipovich hoped What order to shoot down violator will be cancelled! Osipovich reported to the ground that Korean Boeing, USSR in 1983, does not respond to requests, gains altitude And slows down, determine target type due to poor visibility can't, goal goes to low speed!
The land gave Osipovich new indication Korean Boeing, airspace violator USSR in 1983, don't knock down A force landing! Osipovich released the rocket capture,slowed down and saw in front of me big airliner with illuminated portholes! Came in first on the left, gave the signal with lights And swaying. Then I did same thing on the right.Intruder no way didn't react to fighter signals received international aviation rules And did not respond to requests via the emergency channel communications ! At the pilot's Korean Boeing V 1983 was rigid attitude, disobey neither on which requirements strength Air defense of the USSR, even taking into account risk be shot down!
After that Osipovich gave an order for Korean Boeing, violating airspace USSR in 1983, open warning fire! After this warning shooting from guns at Osipovich in ammunition left total 4 shells! Don't notice shooting from a cannon on a plane going on like this close distance, especially at night impossible!
After this precautionary shooting Korean Boeing, airspace violator USSR V 1983, reduced speed to 400 kilometers per hour, forcing Su-15 or go ahead or fall into a tailspin! Soviet ground services more tried get out get in touch with the intruder, but unsuccessfully!
To the violator was given not only passive role! At this time when Korean Boeing, airspace violator USSR in 1983, was approaching Sakhalin, appeared on air message, what the offender conveys encryption, above him, American satellite. In this encryption it was said that he observes clearly lying on depth up to 300 Soviet meters strategic submarines And takes pictures!
It was necessary take urgent action because the offender has already passed secret naval bases, and at Soviet fighters were running out of fuel. Kornukov gives an order Osipovich destroyKorean Boeing, violator in 1983 airspace USSR!
Osipovich with did intense turn and went out to the rear hemisphere to the violator distance approximately 1,5 kilometer He immediately on devices caught fire capture information goals. Osipovich in one gulp released two rockets. One hit Vtail violator , other V left wing.
Shot down in 1983 Korean Boeing began to fall sharply. IN 6 hours 24 minutes Far Eastern time time the target has disappeared from locator screens. Exactly the place plane crash failed to fix neither ground services , nor fighters. All that was truly known was that it Strait of Tartary And approximate location falls !
After being shot down in 1983 Korean Boeing a new round of cold has begun wars between USSR and USA. Literally the next day The USSR was declared an evil empire. Relationship between USSR and USA heated up to the limit. Armed strength both countries are given in full combat mode readiness! In the area where the Korean Boeing crashed V 1983 are going US, USSR navies and them allies! Japanese Air Force announce Alarm gathering! Simultaneously unwinds with this anti-Soviet company. Pilot Osipovich appears as desperate cowboy, A Soviet military command as capable without hesitation click on nuclear button!
After in 1983 was shot down Korean Boeing USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs it turned out not ready to timely And confident defend interests of the USSR!Partly this happened because head of government at that time there was Yu.V.Andropov, which was mortally ill! Country leadership at the moment when he was shot down Korean Boeing V 1983 by and large say was missing! Soviet government, without understanding the details affairs, instead of in order to praise for doing the right thing air defense forces, start it's unclear to make excuses! West clearly made sure that soviet government in such cases unable on correct action! Was informational lost war!
After being shot down Korean Boeing V 1983, Western media did emphasis that the plane deviated from the correct route as a result of a data entry error into the on-board computer of the aircraft, that is into autopilot airplane! At the same time no one could explain How, Korean Boeing, shot down in 1983 equipped with the most modern navigation devices, very controlled experienced pilot And accompanied ground dispatchers of several countries, deviated almost from the right route for 500 kilometers! Was it's impossible not to notice that the plane is flying wrong course during two and a half hours!
Korean Boeing, shot down in 1983 flew by exactly above the Soviet secret military objects on Far East, and also there is proof, that he deliberately tried escape persecution Soviet air defense fighters, doing certain maneuvers in flight!
Even more clarify the circumstances of the case could "black boxes" airplane . Korean Boeing, shot down in 1983 fell in Tatar Strait at a depth of approximately 180 meters . Began search airplane . Soviet divers found the wreckage of the airliner first! Soviet Navy thrown into the sea 2 beacon, imitating signals "black boxes" far from the crash site, thereby directing Americans falsely I'm following!
Wreckage Korean Boeing, shot down in 1983 turned out to be quite small and lying contentedly heap. Dimensions wreckage did not exceed 1.5-2 meters! Contrary to expectations were found remains approximately 35 people! Also A. Kornukov claims, What passengers V Korean Boeing, shot down in 1983 or there wasn't at all or was, but clearly not 269 people!
Baggage, found on a downed plane, looked Very Weird! Glasses, powder compacts, empty women's bags were found - without contents, clothes attached to a cable, passports of missing passengers, packed in one PACK! All found on Korean Boeing, shot down in 1983 personal belongings of passengers, fit in 6 boxes! All things raised from the bottom were transferred to South Korea, But relatives dead or considered dead passengers, these things are NOT received! This indicates that baggage, found on Korean Boeing, shot down in 1983 over Strait of Tartary, was IMITATION.
Also later it turned out from the foreign press, that relatives supposedly dead passengers met them under other names! Apparently passengers were LANDED IN ANCHORAGE And sent next by plane! On top of that, the Korean airline that owned Korean Boeing, shot down in 1983, obliged would be officially publish the list of dead passengers, A THIS WAS NOT DONE!
Now let us recall that he was detained in Anchorage on 40 minutes. This was necessary, among other things, to combine airplane flights And American satellite. The intruder flew by exactly above objects Air defense of the USSR And essentially revealed the air defense system of the USSR Far East! Those human remains that were found on the downed 1983 Korean Boeing, apparently belong to ELECTRONIC INTELLIGENCE OPERATORS, which were on board this plane and did their job!
IN 1984 July 20th analyst American intelligence Ernie Bockman spoke on air independent English TV channel, which reported that as a result of the flight Korean Boeing V 1983 American intelligence received invaluable intelligence about the Soviet air defense of the Far East! To her succeeded achieve inclusion almost all communication objects who worked about 4 hours on an area of more than 18 000 square kilometers !
Today, methods of obtaining intelligence significantly have changed! By using new technologies created more advanced means observations. But manipulation of public opinion, as well as various provocations, to a certain extent are still used in modern politics!
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