T-39 Aircraft Incident
Encyclopedia
The 1964 T-39 shootdown incident occurred on January 28, 1964, when an unarmed United States Air Force
T-39 Sabreliner on a training mission was shot down over Erfurt
, East Germany by a Soviet
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19
fighter aircraft.The occupants of the aircraft were Lieutenant Colonel Gerald K. Hannaford, Captain Donald Grant Millard and Captain John F. Lorraine. All three died, becoming some of the few direct casualties of the Cold War.
, a situation which came to be known as the Cold War
developed between the United States
, Canada
, Western European nations, and the Soviet bloc
. Tensions between the United States and Soviet Union
were most felt in the regions bordering the Iron Curtain
, notably West Germany
and East Germany and during this time relations between the two superpowers were characterised by hostile attitudes, spying, and numerous incidents resulting in loss of life and equipment. One of the most famous of these is the shooting down of a Lockheed U-2
spy plane, piloted by Francis Powers, over the Soviet Union in May 1960.
, West Germany, at 14:10 on a routine three-hour training flight. On board the trainer were three men, Captain John F. Lorraine and students Lieutenant Colonel Gerald K. Hannaford and Captain Donald G. Millard. Lorraine was the qualified instructor, while Hannaford and Millard, both pilots with experience on other types, were being trained in order to qualify on the T-39.
The flight proceeded uneventfully until, 47 minutes after takeoff, radar
at two U.S. air defense stations noticed a fast-moving blip speeding toward East Germany at 500 mph. Hoping to divert the plane from its misdirected flight, each station began hailing the plane on Air Force frequencies and a Russian-monitored international distress band. Repeated calls to the T-39 went unanswered. It appeared that the T-39's radio systems malfunctioned and the crew were unable to respond.
The T-39 crossed the border into East Germany. Within five minutes, two blips appeared near the American jet. For 11 minutes, radar blips indicated the three planes were moving eastward, then two blips suddenly veered west and one blip disappeared. American personnel monitoring the T-39's flight could not determine what had happened, although it was later reported that residents in Vogelsberg
, 50 miles (80.5 km) from the border, had heard machine-gun and cannon fire and had witnessed the plane crash. The incident is believed to have occurred at 15:14 hours.
At 17:00 hours on January 28 the United States Military Liaison Mission
(USMLM), in Berlin
, received a warning to stand by for possible search and rescue of American airmen. By 18:00 hours, a search team left Berlin for the Erfurt area of East Germany. At 19:15 hours, the chief of the USMLM met with his Russian counterpart to request help in finding the plane and rescuing survivors (per the Heubner–Malinin Agreement).
At 20:00 hours, a second search team left Berlin. About this same time, the first team arrived at the crash site, 20 kilometres (12.4 mi) north of Erfurt. The first team received a report from an East German civilian that a U.S. plane had crashed, burned, and the crew was dead. Throughout the night, the American teams tried to approach the aircraft and were repeatedly sent away by the armed Soviet forces on site. These forces denied that any aircraft had crashed, and two American search teams were detained briefly before being released at 14:00 hours on January 29.
called the action a "shocking and senseless act." Through the Soviet press agency, Tass
, Moscow claimed that the plane had intruded over East German territory and failed to react to signals, and then a warning shot. The Soviets said they were compelled to take the measure that brought down the U.S. plane.
On January 30, the Soviets agreed to allow US personnel access to the crash site. This occurred the following day and later the bodies of all three servicemen were returned to the United States through Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. General Curtis E. LeMay met the plane and participated in an honors ceremony. The aircraft wreckage was also recovered and was taken back to Berlin, arriving there on February 1, 1964.
in Thuringia
erected a memorial to the three downed pilots, once the "Iron Curtain
" was lifted.
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
T-39 Sabreliner on a training mission was shot down over Erfurt
Erfurt
Erfurt is the capital city of Thuringia and the main city nearest to the geographical centre of Germany, located 100 km SW of Leipzig, 150 km N of Nuremberg and 180 km SE of Hannover. Erfurt Airport can be reached by plane via Munich. It lies in the southern part of the Thuringian...
, East Germany by a Soviet
Soviet Air Force
The Soviet Air Force, officially known in Russian as Военно-воздушные силы or Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily and often abbreviated VVS was the official designation of one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces...
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 is a Soviet second-generation, single-seat, twin jet-engined fighter aircraft. It was the first Soviet production aircraft capable of supersonic speeds in level flight. A comparable U.S...
fighter aircraft.The occupants of the aircraft were Lieutenant Colonel Gerald K. Hannaford, Captain Donald Grant Millard and Captain John F. Lorraine. All three died, becoming some of the few direct casualties of the Cold War.
Background
Following the cessation of hostilities at the end of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, a situation which came to be known as the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
developed between the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Western European nations, and the Soviet bloc
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
. Tensions between the United States and Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
were most felt in the regions bordering the Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
, notably West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
and East Germany and during this time relations between the two superpowers were characterised by hostile attitudes, spying, and numerous incidents resulting in loss of life and equipment. One of the most famous of these is the shooting down of a Lockheed U-2
Lockheed U-2
The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed "Dragon Lady", is a single-engine, very high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force and previously flown by the Central Intelligence Agency . It provides day and night, very high-altitude , all-weather intelligence gathering...
spy plane, piloted by Francis Powers, over the Soviet Union in May 1960.
Event
On January 28, 1964, an unarmed USAF T-39 twin engine jet trainer departed WiesbadenWiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
, West Germany, at 14:10 on a routine three-hour training flight. On board the trainer were three men, Captain John F. Lorraine and students Lieutenant Colonel Gerald K. Hannaford and Captain Donald G. Millard. Lorraine was the qualified instructor, while Hannaford and Millard, both pilots with experience on other types, were being trained in order to qualify on the T-39.
The flight proceeded uneventfully until, 47 minutes after takeoff, radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
at two U.S. air defense stations noticed a fast-moving blip speeding toward East Germany at 500 mph. Hoping to divert the plane from its misdirected flight, each station began hailing the plane on Air Force frequencies and a Russian-monitored international distress band. Repeated calls to the T-39 went unanswered. It appeared that the T-39's radio systems malfunctioned and the crew were unable to respond.
The T-39 crossed the border into East Germany. Within five minutes, two blips appeared near the American jet. For 11 minutes, radar blips indicated the three planes were moving eastward, then two blips suddenly veered west and one blip disappeared. American personnel monitoring the T-39's flight could not determine what had happened, although it was later reported that residents in Vogelsberg
Vogelsberg
Vogelsberg is a municipality in the Sömmerda district of Thuringia, Germany....
, 50 miles (80.5 km) from the border, had heard machine-gun and cannon fire and had witnessed the plane crash. The incident is believed to have occurred at 15:14 hours.
At 17:00 hours on January 28 the United States Military Liaison Mission
Military Liaison Missions
The Military Liaison Missions arose from reciprocal agreements formed immediately after the Second World War between the Western allied nations and the USSR...
(USMLM), in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, received a warning to stand by for possible search and rescue of American airmen. By 18:00 hours, a search team left Berlin for the Erfurt area of East Germany. At 19:15 hours, the chief of the USMLM met with his Russian counterpart to request help in finding the plane and rescuing survivors (per the Heubner–Malinin Agreement).
At 20:00 hours, a second search team left Berlin. About this same time, the first team arrived at the crash site, 20 kilometres (12.4 mi) north of Erfurt. The first team received a report from an East German civilian that a U.S. plane had crashed, burned, and the crew was dead. Throughout the night, the American teams tried to approach the aircraft and were repeatedly sent away by the armed Soviet forces on site. These forces denied that any aircraft had crashed, and two American search teams were detained briefly before being released at 14:00 hours on January 29.
Aftermath
By January 29, the United States State Department charged that the Soviet Union shot down an unarmed plane and caused the needless deaths of three officers. Secretary of State Dean RuskDean Rusk
David Dean Rusk was the United States Secretary of State from 1961 to 1969 under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Rusk is the second-longest serving U.S...
called the action a "shocking and senseless act." Through the Soviet press agency, Tass
Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union
The Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union , was the central agency for collection and distribution of internal and international news for all Soviet newspapers, radio and television stations...
, Moscow claimed that the plane had intruded over East German territory and failed to react to signals, and then a warning shot. The Soviets said they were compelled to take the measure that brought down the U.S. plane.
On January 30, the Soviets agreed to allow US personnel access to the crash site. This occurred the following day and later the bodies of all three servicemen were returned to the United States through Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. General Curtis E. LeMay met the plane and participated in an honors ceremony. The aircraft wreckage was also recovered and was taken back to Berlin, arriving there on February 1, 1964.
Memorial
Residents from the nearby town of VogelsbergVogelsberg
Vogelsberg is a municipality in the Sömmerda district of Thuringia, Germany....
in Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
erected a memorial to the three downed pilots, once the "Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
" was lifted.
See also
- Cold War (1962–1979)
- USA-USSR air-to-air and shotdown incidents
Further reading
- Olsen, Arthur J., "U.S. Jet Lost in East Germany; It May Have Been Shot Down", The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, January 28, 1964. - Raymond, Jack, "U.S. Says Soviet Shot Down Jet", The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, January 29, 1964.