At the head of Wim de Lar down Soviet MiG-23M. Bashny.Net

On the morning of July 4, 1989 19-year-old son of a Belgian farmer Wim de Lar peacefully sat on the veranda of his father's house in the village Kooihem until his head fell Soviet MiG-23M.





Police arrived a long time could not understand. Where in a 15-kilometers from the Belgian-French border that separates from the Soviet Union more than 1,000 kilometers and half of Europe could take the plane with red stars on the wings? So even without a pilot, as a fighter in the wreckage found no other bodies, except for the unfortunate body Wim de Lara. A pilot there and could not be - he was ejected for 900 kilometers from the scene of the tragedy, in the area of ​​the Polish city of Kolobrzeg on the Baltic Sea.

July 4, 1989 from the airfield one of the air units in North Soviet Group of Forces in the area of ​​Kolobrzeg was flown MiG-23M, piloted by 1st class Colonel Nikolai Skuridin (total flight time of more than 1,700 hours, including the MiG-23 - 527 hours ). Although it is a good touch, but it was not a combatant Skuridin pilot and head of the political 239 th Fighter Air Division (political officer in the Soviet Air Force to maintain the qualification of Flight, too, we had to bump yourself a certain amount of hours).

It was his second flight of the day and everything was fine until a certain height while the pilot did not hear the sound of the left air intake. At the same time the rate of cotton has fallen sharply and the aircraft lost engine noise. All this testifies to the engine is stopped and the pilot did as prescribed act in such cases, manual - a fighter he turned toward the sea, and ejected.



MiG-23M

Already in the air, dropping by parachute, Skuridin saw declining for turbine aircraft reaching black smoke. Above the sea locators Soviet fighter lost and taken off after it hooks a tow truck was found. Deciding that the plane crashed in the sea all calmed down and started writing reports.
And then something happened that later called themselves aviators unique phenomenon: 6 seconds after the pilot bailout due to changes in alignment of the plane stopped to decline, and it began to increase the engine speed. And MIG continued flying, gaining altitude automatic (autopilot continued to work) is strictly at the specified rate.

AIS "I - your" also remain involved because Service air defense in Poland and East Germany reacted to the appearance of its Soviet radar aircraft safely and accompanied him to the moment when the MiG passing the entire East Germany did not go to the border with Germany.

Flight without a pilot



Later, representatives of the West German air defense will argue that the Soviet aircraft spotted and led him to their very borders. However, the Bundeswehr fighter jets took off and tried to overtake MiG when he crossed the Dutch border. And only a couple of US F-15 fighters, up from the Dutch base Soesterberg to intercept it, overtook Soviet aircraft. Coming close to the car krasnozvёzdnoy American pilots considered it carefully and sent a message to the command post: "In the cockpit there is no one." Order to bring down the strange machine to give no one dared - as the Soviet Union would react to this is unknown (and perhaps in the USSR was very fond of this moment and start a war?) And also the flight had passed over densely populated areas of the Netherlands and Belgium. And while NATO officials have decided not to do anything - maybe MiG having spent fuel itself quietly make it to the English Channel and he willingly fall into the sea.

But he fell on his head tochnesenko poor Wim de Lara - unfortunately for him, to the great happiness to Moscow. The fact is that on this day, July 4, 1989, the visit of Mikhail Gorbachev to France and hold on MiG 15 more kilometers to the French territory, the scandal would have made an indescribable!
And the noise was hushed up. The Soviet Union has expressed condolences to the family of the deceased Belgian and quietly paid her compensation of 800 thousand dollars. "We barely escaped an incomprehensible disaster. It is hard to imagine what could have happened, the plane dropped on industrial districts of Lille, "- sigh of relief Interior Minister of Belgium Tobbek Lewis and expressed tacit desire to forget this story. Without exception, all officials of NATO countries that desire tacitly supported.

And forgotten. And of Mathias Rust landed his "Cessna" in the Kremlin May 28, 1987 heard almost everything and the Soviet air defense is not cursed just lazy, but that's about the flight "Headless Horseman" of the MiG-23M (hull number 29) July 4, 1989 year across Europe remember a few, like almost no one abuses in connection with the NATO air defense.

But uncontrollable flight MiG demonstrated that NATO's air defense system was the time also "not up to par." In fact, after the intersection of the "Iron Curtain" MiG flight passed over the West German, American and British groups of troops, their air defense systems and fighter airfields. However, to interrupt the flight of Soviet aircraft, NATO members did not dare (or could not).