Wing commander privateer sensors
In any case, the main doctrine recognizes that even in such events like the one analysed in this episode involving military aircraft, the use of force against the enemy intruder will result legitimate only if following some specific requisites. Therefore, the activity of air surveillance and spying above the high sea could not have been blamed by anyone.Īpart the political and military security implications, this principle has been considered a milestone by most of the international law jurists on the matter. Indeed, if it could have been possible to demonstrate that the US plane was unquestionably inside the Soviet airspace, the use of force could have been regarded as legitimate (this only if the Soviet government could demonstrate that the enemy plane refused to land upon request). It is hilarious to note how the focal point of the legal and diplomatic debate after the incident was not focused at all on the legitimacy of the activities of flying spying.Īgain the point of rupture between the competitors was the exact location of the intruder plane at the time of the facts. The response by the Soviets was instantaneous: they maintained that at the time of the incident the US plane was armed, was flying 21 kilometers inside the Soviet airspace and was shot down only after refusing the request for an immediate landing at the nearest available airfield. The results of the US investigation come to the conclusion that the crew followed the order to avoid flying any enemy territory and therefore the plane was on the airspace above the high sea at the time it was shot down.
![wing commander privateer sensors wing commander privateer sensors](https://www.oldgames.sk/images/oldgames/simulator/Privateer.GG/privateerg-320.jpg)
In a note dated 18 April 1950, the US Government stated the full responsibility of the incident to be attributed to the Soviets and asked for the need to start immediately a deep investigation on the incident. Leaving aside the various beliefs about the fate of the crew, even this incident brought to two opposite theories by both the competitors. Regarding the rests of the plane, in 1993, retired Soviet General Fyodor Shinkarenko stated that he believed the wreckage was secretly salvaged and sent to Moscow. Therefore the soviet pilots informed the ground control, which issued the “green light” to attack and shoot to kill.Īfter the attack, according to Gerassimov, the plane started to burn in the center and he saw ten parachutes coming out from the plane, then the “Privateer” exploded. They used internationally recognized signals like rocking the wings and turning to the new heading in front and left of the US plane.Īfter that Gerassimov noticed the US pilot smiled at him, waved “good-bye” and turned to a western heading. He stated that after intercepting the “Privateer”, the formation composed by four Lavochkin 11 fighters ordered the US pilot to follow them. Like the majority of biggest incidents (not only those involving planes), rumors and unbelievable stories started to spread out everywhere: a Soviet gulag survivor named John Noble, after coming back to the USA having experienced ten years of prison in various concentration camps, stated he had met two witnesses who claimed they had seen eight survivors of the “Privateer” crash.Īnatolij Gerassimov, one of the four pilots who had intercepted the US plane, several years after the incident, is believed to have reported to a Lithuanian newspaper a statement assuming that the crew had been taken prisoner. Days later two Swedish fishing boats recovered another damaged life raft and a nose wheel with a bullet hole. Air Rescue Mission stated right away the rafts supply pockets had been opened manually. On 15 April a search plane spotted an inflated life raft so that Capt. Search and rescue efforts started almost immediately after the plane was reported missing but were abandoned on 16 April, since no survivors or rests were found.īut a halo of mystery soon pervaded the days following the incident.
![wing commander privateer sensors wing commander privateer sensors](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0gjtgB9ee3g/maxresdefault.jpg)
After refusing the “follow me” signals from the fighters, the US Navy plane was immediately shot down and ten men of the crew was presumed dead and never found.