How and why did Soviet Fighters down Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in Sept 1983?
KAL 007, which was carrying U.S. Rep. Lawrence McDonald from Georgia, who was also the second president of the John Birch Society, flew into Soviet airspace during a time of increased tensions from a United States under Ronald Reagan that was rattling swords and the Soviet Union. The incident also occurred around sensitive Soviet naval and air force installations on the Kurile Islands. Tensions in the area were raised in early 1983 when aircraft from the USS Midway and USS Enterprise carriers overflew Soviet installations on the island during FleetEx ’83. A number of Soviet commanders in the area were sacked because they did not aggressively go after the American overflights. On the night KAL 007 was flying through the area, the United States had an RC-135, a electronics-equipped aircraft based on the Boeing 707 (KAL 007 was 747) off the coast as well. And there have been whispers since 1983 that the Soviets were right in their allegations, that American intelligence had some airline p
