Today In History:  01 September  [1983]   --  Korean Airlines flight 007 shot down by Soviets in Russian airspace

Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was a scheduled flight from New York City to Seoul via Anchorage, Alaska. On September 1, 1983, the flight was shot down by a Soviet Sukhoi Su-15 interceptor. The Boeing 747 was en route from Anchorage to Seoul, when owing to a navigational mistake made by the crew, the airliner drifted into Soviet prohibited airspace. The Soviet Air Forces treated the unidentified aircraft as an intruding US spy plane, and destroyed it with air-to-air missiles, after firing warning shots. All 269 passengers and crew aboard were killed.

PHOTO: HL7442, the aircraft that was shot down, landing at Zurich Airport in 1980.

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Photo Attribution:  GFDL 1.2 via Wikimedia. Udo K. Haafke - https://www.airliners.net/photo/Korean-Air-Lines/Boeing-747-230B/2377142/L