May 28, 1987
A Cessna plane piloted by Matthias Rust landed on Red Square. The 18-year-old German traveled more than 1000 km, crossed the Soviet border unhindered, and, landing at St. Basil's Cathedral, signed autographs for an hour before being arrested.
The German plane is flying -
One hundred pounds of solid armor.
From the misfortune of the Busurman
Mother of God, save us!..
The evil force fears no one and nothing, Where are you, Holy Trinity? Where is our native air defense?Igor Irtenyev, 1987)
Born in 1968. In 1986, he earned his pilot's license at the Hamburg Aeroclub. On May 13, 1987, he chartered a plane. From Uetersen, he flew to Scotland. Then to Iceland. There, he visited Höfði, the place where Reagan and Gorbachev met in 1986.
I was filled with emotion and disappointment from the failure of the summit, from the fact that I couldn't be here last fall. This motivated me
Rust then flew to Norway, and from there to Finland. In Helsinki, he wavered: "Yes, I have to do this/No, this is crazy." On May 28, he refueled the plane, filed a flight plan for Stockholm with air traffic controllers, turned off all communications 20 minutes after takeoff, and set course for Moscow.
Hello, my dear Kinder,
A guest, not expected by anyone,
In our world squabble
Desperate dove!
He flew in, chirped, spread his wings, and immediately disgraced the enormous arsenal!Yuliy Kim, 1987)
Due to a series of accidents, Rust's flight over Soviet territory was not interrupted. Fighter jets were unable to force him to land due to his low altitude and speed. Following the scandal involving the South Korean Boeing, orders were issued not to shoot down civilian aircraft. As he approached Moscow, the air defense commander was simply not informed of the intruder. At 6:30 p.m., Rust landed on the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge.
Rust was charged with hooliganism and sentenced to four years in prison. He was amnestied in 1988. Newspapers reported on the failure of the Soviet air defense system. Personnel purges took place in the Armed Forces. Red Square became known as "Sheremetyevo-3," and jokes about it became commonplace:
A police post has been set up at the fountain near the Bolshoi Theatre in case an American submarine surfaces.