Английская Википедия:Catalina affair

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Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Use dmy dates Шаблон:Infobox aircraft occurrence Шаблон:Infobox aircraft occurrence

The Catalina affair (Шаблон:Lang-sv) was a military confrontation and Cold War-era diplomatic crisis in June 1952, in which Soviet Air Force fighter jets shot down two Swedish aircraft over international waters in the Baltic Sea.

The first aircraft to be shot down was an unarmed Swedish Air Force Tp 79, a derivative of the Douglas DC-3, carrying out radio and radar signals intelligence-gathering for the National Defence Radio Establishment (Försvarets radioanstalt, FRA). None of the crew of eight survived.

The second aircraft to be shot down was a Swedish Air Force Tp 47, a Catalina flying boat, involved in the search and rescue operation for the missing DC-3. The Catalina's crew of seven were saved.

The Soviet Union publicly denied involvement until its dissolution in 1991. Both aircraft were located in 2003; the DC-3 was salvaged.

Aircraft and crew

DC-3

The first aircraft involved was a Swedish Air Force Douglas DC-3A-360 Skytrain,[1] a military transport derivative of the DC-3 known in Swedish service as Tp 79. It carried the serial number 79001. In the media coverage following the event, it became known simply as "the DC-3."

The aircraft was manufactured in 1943 with original US serial number 42-5694, and was delivered to USAAF 15th Troop Carrier Squadron (61st Troop Carrier Group). It saw action in northern Africa before being stationed at RAF Barkston Heath. It was flown on 5 February 1946, from Orly Air Base via Hanau Army Airfield to Bromma and was registered as SE-APZ on 18 May 1946 as a civil aircraft to Skandinaviska Aero AB.[2][3]

Файл:DC-3 wreck at the Swedish Air Force Museum (starboard propeller and front).jpg
DC-3 wreckage exhibited at the Swedish Air Force Museum

On 13 June 1952, it disappeared east of the isle of Gotska Sandön while carrying out signals intelligence-gathering operations for FRA.[4] The aircraft was lost with its entire crew of eight in the incident. Three of the eight crew members were military personnel from the Swedish Air Force, and the other five were civilian signals intelligence (SIGINT) operators from the FRA.[5]

Catalina

Файл:Catalina TP 47 Mattias B.JPG
Tp 47 Canso (Catalina) at the Swedish Air Force Museum

Three days after the initial incident, on 16 June 1952, two Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina flying boats, known in Swedish service as Tp 47, searched for the DC-3 north of Estonia. One of the aircraft, carrying airframe serial No. 47002,[4] was shot down by Soviet aircraft, but the crew of seven ditched near the West German freighter Münsterland and were rescued.[6][7][8][9]

Aftermath

Sweden maintained for nearly 40 years that the plane was undertaking a navigation training flight.[10]

Only after pressure from crewmembers' families[11] did Swedish authorities confirm that the DC-3 was equipped with British equipment and had been conducting surveillance for NATO.[12] In 1991, General Шаблон:Ill, a colonel in the early 1950s, admitted he had ordered the DC-3 shot down in 1952 by scrambling a MiG-15bis to intercept it.[13]

Recovery

On 10 June 2003, airline captain and former Swedish Air Force pilot, Anders Jallai, and historian Carl Douglas with the Swedish company Marin Mätteknik AB found the remains of the downed DC-3 by using sonar at Шаблон:Cvt depth.[1][12][14][15]

After 52 years, the remains of the DC-3 were lifted to the surface on 19 March 2004. Debris from the area was also recovered by freeze dredging. Шаблон:Cvt of surrounding sediment was frozen and lifted together with the object on and in it.[16] The wreck was transferred to Muskö naval base for investigation and preservation; it was finally put on display at the Swedish Air Force Museum, Linköping on 13 May 2009.[17] A 1:12 scale model of 79001 was loaned to the Air Force Museum on 5 May 2009.[18]

Conclusion

Файл:Galär kyrk 2009c.jpg
Memorial stone to the fallen crew at Galärvarvskyrkogården in Stockholm

Bullet holes on 79001 showed that the DC-3 was shot down by a MiG-15bis fighter. The exact splashdown time was also determined, as one of the clocks in the cockpit had stopped at 11:28:40 CET.[19] The remains of four of the eight-man crew have been found and positively identified.[20]

See also

Further reading

  • Agrell, Wilhelm. 2021. Catalinaaffären. Historiska Media.

Notes

Шаблон:Reflist

References

Шаблон:Commons

Шаблон:Aviation accidents and incidents in 1952 Шаблон:Aviation accidents and incidents in Sweden Шаблон:Cold War

  1. 1,0 1,1 Ошибка цитирования Неверный тег <ref>; для сносок Magnusson 2007, p. 9 не указан текст
  2. Magnusson 2007, pp. 9, 46
  3. Шаблон:Cite web
  4. 4,0 4,1 Magnusson 2007, p. 11
  5. Magnusson 2007, pp. 42–43
  6. Шаблон:Cite web
  7. Шаблон:Cite web
  8. Шаблон:Cite web
  9. Шаблон:Cite news
  10. Grisell 2007, p. 3
  11. Шаблон:Cite web
  12. 12,0 12,1 Шаблон:Cite web
  13. Magnusson 2007, p. 12
  14. FRA 2003, p. 3
  15. Шаблон:Cite web
  16. Шаблон:Cite web
  17. Шаблон:Cite web
  18. Шаблон:Cite web
  19. Magnusson 2007, p. 137
  20. Holmlund 2008, pp. 5–9