Brian Kelly wrote:
"Dwight Stewart" wrote in message
. net...
"Brian Kelly" wrote:


. . . .

If the Soviets had
not already detected the plane and sent aircraft to intercept, they
certainly would have after being contacted by NATO. The Soviets, for
whatever reason, did not shoot down that plane. Whatever the reasons, it was
certainly not because he had penetrated Soviet air defenses undetected.

I've never dug into the details of who did or did not do exactly what
during that stunt but whatever actually happened is recorded recent
history which is inarguable. Versus you making the bunch of
suppositions and assumptions above instead presenting any historical
facts which refute my comments. That simply does not fly.

More than this, his assumption that the rest of it relies on, that
Rust flew directly and non-stop over the East/West German border to
Moscow (what's that, more than 1500 miles?) in a Cessna 172, seems
a bit silly.

Rust actually entered the Soviet Union after a stop in Helsinki, which
means he crossed into the air space either from the Gulf of Finland
or the Finnish land border, so NATO had nothing to do with it. As for
why the Soviet border defenses didn't pick him up, Rust himself believes
it may be because the day he flew (May 28?) happened to be a holiday for
the Soviet military, and this may have left their defenses where he entered
undermanned and/or inattentive.

Dennis Ferguson