Researcher claims damaged U.S. spy plane fled to safety over Finland in 1954

Reconnaissance flights over Finnish airspace were routine in the early years of the Cold War

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By Juha Merimaa
     
      The violations of Finnish airspace by Russian aircraft that caused a recent spat between Helsinki and Moscow look rather small beans when set against the things that went on in the years from the end of World War II up to the mid-1960s.
      In those days, Finland was overflown on numerous spy-plane missions to the Soviet Union. The majority of the recon overflights went unspotted and unreported by the air surveillance crews of the time.
      "Before the 1960s, ground-to-air radar did not extend beyond around 10,000 metres altitude, and Finland was not then equipped with the sort of aircraft for airborne surveillance", says Senior Lecturer Pekka Visuri from the National Defence College.
     
It was not until a good deal later, when the archives were opened up in the mid-1990s, that the number of such flights became apparent.
      But not all the clandestine flyovers went unnoticed, even by the Finns. One of the most dramatic incidents occurred on May 8th 1954, when a bona fide dogfight took place in the skies close to the Russian border in Southern Lapland.
      We are talking about a spy flight by a large USAF Boeing RB-47E Stratojet photo reconnaissance aircraft, based at Fairford in the U.K. The plane had made a lengthy journey up the Norwegian coast and "over the top", photographing Soviet airbases in the Kola Peninsula.
     
The 3-man crew of the RB-47E had been assured that the MiG-15 fighters used by the Soviet Air Force to intercept intruders would not be able to catch the relatively new (the first documented flight was in 1953) turbojet plane, which flew high and fast.
      However, the intelligence officers had got it badly wrong. To their great dismay, it turned out that the Soviets had got hold of some newer and more advanced MiG-17s to patrol the northern flank, which contained plenty they did not want prying eyes to see. 
     
Somewhere over the Kola Peninsula, four such MiG fighters intercepted the spy-plane and opened fire.
      The attack took the Americans completely by surprise. There had been no preparations for any contact with hostile aircraft, and the RB-47E's weapons systems malfunctioned. The spy-plane took a hit in one wing, leaving a gaping 50cm hole.
     
The damaged aircraft  nevertheless managed to escape with the MiGs on its tail across the Finnish border near Salla. The Soviet fighters did not follow it into Finnish airspace.
      From Finland, the plane flew over Sweden to Norway, where the refuelling rendezvous with a tanker aircraft was apparently unsuccessful. From there it struggled slowly back to the Fairford base in Gloucestershire.
     
The dogfight that had approached the Finnish border was also noticed from the ground.
      However, bringing the matter to light in the media would have been impossible in the political climate of the time. The Frontier Guard officers who reported the battle above were told that their observation was merely "a high-altitude electric storm".
      The daily newspaper Uusi Suomi nevertheless got wind of the incident and published a piece about it. The Political Section of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs immediately branded the news item as a cock and bull story.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 9.6.2005

More on this subject:
 BACKGROUND: Just routine for the Cold War years

JUHA MERIMAA / Helsingin Sanomat
j.o.merimaa@gmail.com