RED PILOT’S ESCAPE TO SWEDEN
(10 a.m.) STOCKHOLM, May 19. Russia has asked Sweden t<? hand over a Russian Air Force pilot who escaped unhurt when his Yak fighter was wrecked in a crash landing yesterday near Soedertoern, the Swedish military airport south of Stockholm. The pilot told interrogators he was a political refugee and added: “I didn’t lose my way here. I planned this flight.” i He is being held by the Swedish police. The Swedish Foreign Office today rejected a request by the Soviet Embassy for permission to interview the 27-year-old Russian Air Force lieutenant. The pilot asked for asylum in Sweden. Yesterday, three embassy officials tried for six hours to gain admittance to the Soedertoern airfield 'where the lieutenant landed. They were turned away by General Benot Nordenskield, Commander-in-Chief of the Swedish Air Force. The pilot told the police this morning that he took off from an aerodrome in White Russia and reached Sweden after three hours’ flight. “I am tired of the Soviet system,; he said. His plane will probably be returned to the Soviet Union if the embassy asks for it. the Foreign Office spokesman said.
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Bibliographic details
Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22951, 20 May 1949, Page 5
Word Count
191RED PILOT’S ESCAPE TO SWEDEN Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22951, 20 May 1949, Page 5
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