Russians failed to spot lost jet

Press, 26 April 1978, Page 8

Russians failed to spot lost jet

NZPA Oslo Russian air defences failed completely to detect an off-course South Korean airliner until it had already passed over some of the world’s most secret military installations, Norwegian military sources have said. Senior officials said that at least one of the two Soviet fighters, apparently Sukhoi 15s, that finally intercepted the lost Boeing 707, carrying more than 100 passengers and crew, fired on it with an air-to-air missile, which probably exploded away from the plane. The aircraft was picked up by Norwegian radar on Thursday, long before it entered Soviet air space, but technicians thought it was an ordinary Soviet flight and paid no particular attention to it at the time. Officials said that they continued to plot the plane for two hours as it flew on a southern course across Murmansk and the Kola Peninsula, site of the biggest concentration of warships, submarines, and missiles in the world.

The official said the plane was tracked for nearly one hour inside Soviet air space before it was intercepted, about 200 nautical miles over Russian territory. It then dropped down and off the radar screens, apparently after it was hit and made a forced landing just inside the Polar Circle near the White Sea.

Norwegian officials were reluctant to say exactly how much they-knew about the interception for security reasons, but it seemed obvious the lost plane flew right through what must be one of the most tightly guarded areas anywhere.

The pilot was obviously completely unaware he was over the Soviet Union. Officials said he reported .his position as being over Greenland to the air traffic control at Spitsbergen, 650 km north of the Norwegian north cape. The captain told passengers the plane’s compass had given false readings, and he realised the plane was off course only when he saw islands off the northern Russian coast.