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Soviet Penetration of US Airspace
- Thread starter Fly Navy
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Because they did not do it, at least not that I have seen in any history books I have read. Call it ithe Pearl Harbor effect, but the US was/is pretty obssesive about trying to find out about our enemies and their capabilities, which is why we still maintain an extensive reconnaisance capability. The secrecy of the Soviet Union and the complete lack of knowledge about the country in general contributed to the aggressive recon flights off the USSR that cost us about 30 lost aircraft through the 60's.
Fly Navy said:
C'mon man, I don't think anyone on here is going to spill those kind of beans either.
That and the whole "Unknown Rider" program...it's pretty tough to get an aircraft into US airspace w/o ATC knowing well in advance.
Now Firefox? maybe...
btw, nice topic choice nonetheless, I am fvcking tired of "Ooooooo hurricane, when do I start API?", or "Does anyone know how many pilots the Navy will take in 2008?".
If you REALLY want to know, you could do this: First, you have to find out if such an incident occured, where it would have been recorded (ie Navy, Air Force, FAA files etc.) Call the National Archives and the friendly (I'm not kidding, the archivists at College Park are the most helpful government employees I've ever met) will be able to give you a good idea of where such an incident would be recorded. If they don't know, they will find out and contact you promptly (less than a week) with what they've found. Then you fill out a FOIA request for said documents. If the incident occured in the 1950s-early 80s it should be declassified. Documents older than 25 years are automatically declassified unless the issuing agency (DOD, DOJ, etc.) deems that they are still sensitive and that they're declassification would still be a threat to national security. Then you wait, and wait, and wait, and wait, and by the time you have completely forgotten that you ever even filled out the FOIA, the file will arrive in the mail and any parts that are still classified will be blacked out. OR, the next time you are in the Washington D.C./ College Park area you can visit the archives yourself and make copies of the files. When I was doing research I chose the latter since I have heard stories about the FOIA backlog being insane.
Soviets penetrated U.S. airspace several times over Alaska. Airspace beginning at the 12 mile out line, Soviet bombers and recon aircraft penetrated the lines several times during the 80's, probably more during the 70's. There's a few documented times that specifically account for some moron who strayed away from their survey package, nothing meant to be intentionally hostile but flew into the airspace regardless. In fact, I think you can do a search on several search engines to find some of this, but don't quote me on that.
Nonetheless, it happened...more than once. No biggy, though...thankfully cooler heads prevailed before our minute-man wonders launched all-out hell thinking they were bombing Anchorage!
Peace.
Nonetheless, it happened...more than once. No biggy, though...thankfully cooler heads prevailed before our minute-man wonders launched all-out hell thinking they were bombing Anchorage!
Peace.
Yes. :icon_rage
Well, sometimes... 
Hard to get an aircraft into U.S. airspace? While I'm a big fan of Customs and the ANG, all those drugs didn't all come here via pack mules on the Mexican border. ATCs loses radar contact all the time with normal flight parameters. If one was TRYING to evade, I think one would have a pretty good shot.
jacksonwt2g
Registered User
I grew up in Key West and I seem to remember a mig defecting from Cuba circling the island for about 15 mins while radioing NAS Boca Chica for permission to land before the navy figured out what was going on. They were probably high from all the drugs making it past customs
EDIT: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/cuba/af.htm
EDIT: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/cuba/af.htm
I can provide an example. There are two islands in the Bering Strait, in between Alaska's Seward Penninsula and Siberia. Little Diomede and Big Diomede. Little Diomede is US and Big Diomede is Russian, and they are only 2.5 miles apart. The international dateline runs between them. Little Diomede has a very small native village on it, facing Big Diomede. Big Diomede has a military base of sorts on it, not sure if its still active.
I have read accounts by natives of Soviet helicopters circling Little Diomede. It is quite possible they even landed on the east side of the island. I have been on Little Diomede, and given it's isolation and proximity to the Soviet base, I'm sure it happened. In winter time it freezes up and you can actually walk from one island to the other.
I have read accounts by natives of Soviet helicopters circling Little Diomede. It is quite possible they even landed on the east side of the island. I have been on Little Diomede, and given it's isolation and proximity to the Soviet base, I'm sure it happened. In winter time it freezes up and you can actually walk from one island to the other.
I misspoke in my earlier post, I was not thinking of Alaska when I wrote it (who does, except for the Great Alaskan Bush Company). I am sure there were several penetrations but there have not been for a long time. The Russkies used to run flights into the N Atlantic and down to Cuba, mainly with Bears and some Badgers. The AF pilot in my squadron intercepted a Bear off the Mid Atlantic coast in the early 80's in a T-33 once (interesting story) and he said it was a fairly regular occurence. Must have been a morale booster for the Bear crews, from the frozen north to steamy Havana.
They did not do it on the same scale we did, where we would fly off the big red bear constantly.
They did not do it on the same scale we did, where we would fly off the big red bear constantly.
Having grown up in Alaska I can attest to the multiple penetrations of ADIZ by Soviet a/c. Pretty much every time there was a launch of the ready alert a/c outta Elmendorf it made the news. Usually the gov't would release some video of the intercept. I don't think that they frequently violated our 12 mile limit (except maybe for around Little Diomede). I do remember that through the 80's it was a fairly regular occurrence. We also tended to not violate their 12 mile limit except with a few special a/c. Even if they did come over Alaska, there ain't much there to see until you've traveled quite a ways in - by which time they'd have been shot down.
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