The plane on Red Square
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The plane on Red Square

The plane on Red Square

 

28 May 1987 year on the day of the border guard sports aircraft of the American manufacturer Cessna violated the airspace of the Soviet Union. He landed in the capital not far from Vasilievsky Spusk in the very vicinity of Red Square. Namely, he landed on the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky bridge and drove back to St. Basil's Cathedral. A huge number of camcorders and cameras of tourists recorded this moment, when the pilot got out of the cab, surrounded him wishing to take an autograph. He was arrested in ten minutes. The offender was Matthias Rust, a nineteen-year-old sportsman pilot. His father is engaged in the sale of aircraft in Germany. In 14: 20 Ruta aircraft crossed the USSR air border at an altitude of 600 m above the Gulf of Finland near Kohtla-Jarve (Estonia). This was fixed by the air defense locators, as a result of which the missile divisions were brought to full combat readiness. The fighter was sent to intercept the Cessna. He quickly discovered it, but failed to shoot him down. Therefore, the aircraft violator "led" almost to Moscow itself. Since 1984, there was an order in the Soviet Union that forbade opening fire on sports / civil aircraft.

The plane on Red Square 1987

It is unlikely that Rust knew that near 15: 00, when he will fly in the vicinity of the city of Pskov, there the local aviation regiment will be training flights. Some planes came in for landing, others took off. At the same time, the code of the system of recognition was replaced at three o'clock, which meant simultaneous change of the code by all pilots. However, many inexperienced pilots did not perform this operation: failed lack of experience or forgetfulness. Whatever it was, the system recognized them as "strangers." In this situation, one of the commanders could not figure out and appropriated to all aircraft the sign of "I-my," including the sports aircraft of Rust. He made a further flight with a local air registration. But there was also a secondary legalization near Torzhok, where rescue work was carried out as a result of the collision of our aircraft - the slow-moving German "Cessna" was mistaken for a Soviet search helicopter.

 

The newspapers of that time were full of headlines: "The country is in shock! German pilot-athlete blighted the serious huge defense arsenal of the USSR on the Day of the border guard. " Also, the world media put forward more "romantic" versions - the guy was trying to win a bet or make an impression on a chosen one. They also said that the flight of Matthias Rust is nothing more than a marketing move. Since his father sold Cessna planes in Western Europe, and the rate of sales for this period has fallen. It is clear that such a PR move has become the impetus for the sale of aircraft. After all, in fact, this is the only aircraft that managed to "defeat" the air defense system of the USSR. The Soviet military were sure that such an action was the intrigues of foreign special services.

The plane sat on the Red Square

After this incredible incident, many people began to invent different jokes on this topic. For example, to refer to the Red Square as "Sheremetyevo-3". No less popular was the joke that the Moscow-Leningrad highway is the most mild, as it was covered with the patrons of generals and colonels. After the shock of the Russian people, he began to have fun with his enthusiasm. An anecdote was born about two pilots who met on Red Square, one of whom asked to smoke, to which the other replied: "What are you? You can not smoke at airfields! ". And one more: a crowd of people gathered in Red Square with things. Their passers-by ask: "What are you doing here?", To which they reply: "We are waiting for the landing of an airplane from Hamburg." There was another bike about the police patrolling near the fountain of the Bolshoi Theater. "What for?". "What if an American submarine emerges from there?"

 

Punishment Mathias Rust

 

2 September 1987, the panel of judges of the Supreme Court of the USSR at the beginning of the criminal trial of Rust. He was charged with disorderly conduct. According to the court, its landing threatened the lives of people who were in the square. He crossed the border illegally and violated aviation legislation. The case was held in open session. His positions have lost Alexander Warlocks (the head of the Air Defense Forces), Sergei Sokolov (Defence Minister) and about three hundred officers.

The plane on Red Square

Himself Mathias Rust said in court that his flight was a "call for peace". 04.09.1987 year he was sentenced to four years imprisonment for violation of the rules of safety, illegal border crossing and hooliganism. In total, he has spent on remand in prison 432 days and presidium of the Supreme Soviet pardoned him, but he was expelled from the Soviet Union.

 

Rust returned to Germany, but at home he is remembered as the madman who put the world at risk. He was deprived of all rights of piloting. He has worked as a nurse in a hospital in Ryssen. During his regular duty in November 1989 of Rust attacked with a knife on a nurse who refused him a kiss, for which the court decided to put him on a four-year, but was kept in prison for five months, he was released.

 

In the middle of 1994, Rust announced that he was going to live in Russia again. After which he disappeared on 2 of the year. Some said that he traded shoes in Moscow, others spread rumors about his death. In fact, Rust traveled a lot. After seeing the world, on his return home, he declared that he was going to marry the daughter of a rich tea merchant. The marriage ceremony took place in India according to a local ceremony. After the wedding, he and his wife returned to Germany. In 2001, he again appeared in court. This time he was accused of stealing at a department store, where he was going to pull down a cashmere pullover. As a result, the court sentenced him to a fine of 5 000 euros. As for his personal life, here, too, not everything worked out - he was divorced. According to him, he wanted to have a family, many children, but only could not find the one who would understand him. He makes a living as a professional poker player. At the same time, he restored his documents in South Africa and is again going to fly. 

 

The order to shoot down a civilian plane could only be given to an 2 person. MO and the Commander-in-Chief. Who was the Commander-in-Chief understood everything. Why did the MO not give the order? It's simple, he was not informed. Why? Because the calls of the operative duty brigade ZRV in the General Staff were not answered. Why did not you answer? On this question, a simple telephone operator of the air defense system can not know.

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