In 1952, a Soviet MiG-15 fighter jet destroyed a transport aircraft from Sweden. All eight crew members on board survived, and the aircraft crashed into the seabed together with the aircraft. In an instant, there was an uproar around the world, with long guns and short guns rushing to get to the Soviet Union's lips. It was during the Cold War, and the Soviet Union was being watched by Western countries all the time. It was obviously unwise to attack a permanently neutral country at this time. The Soviet Union responded domineeringly to this incident and the spy plane must be shot down. What exactly did Swedish planes do? How did the Soviet Union determine that the Swedish transport plane was a spy?
Why is it irrational to use force against Sweden? Let's first take a look at the specific rights of a permanently neutral country. One of them is that "no country may launch a war against it." The Soviet Union used its own fighter jets to attack Swedish transport planes. If there was no legitimate reason, this would be suspected of launching a war. However, Sweden has never been a white rabbit, but more like a fox cloaked in hypocrisy. Some people say that neutrality is a mask disguised as Sweden's war fortune.
Although Sweden remained neutral during World War I and World War II and did not participate in the war. But there was no idleness in diplomacy. The machines in the military factory were running all night long, and the weapons and equipment produced were sold not only to the Axis powers, but also to the Allies. As long as they gave them money, they could do anything. Sweden would also assess the situation. At that time, Germany dominated the European continent, so it not only provided weapons, but also timber and iron ore resources, and allowed German aircraft to fly over Sweden, properly "scheming" the country. Sweden's ability to become a military-industrial power was largely due to World War I and World War II.
According to data, Sweden helped Germany transport 2.14 million Nazi soldiers and 100,000 wagons of supplies to the front line. It can be said that Sweden also took credit for the heinous crimes committed by Germany during World War II. It can be said that Sweden took the blame for both the good and the bad. After the end of World War II, Sweden saw that Germany was no longer able to do anything, and began to act according to the prevailing situation. It soon attached itself to Britain and the United States. Not only did it continue to provide military products, it also used its status as a neutral country to spy on Soviet intelligence and act as a pawn for Britain and the United States.
Of course, Sweden's "old fox" will not work for Britain and the United States in vain. After all, no one is born to work hard. At this point, Britain and the United States have long come up with countermeasures, sending 8 DC-3 transport aircraft to the Swedish Air Force, and installing various advanced electronic equipment on the aircraft. Two of the transport aircraft were sent to Westeros, Sweden, and installed with the AN/APR-9 radar, which had just been developed by the United States at the time. You know, this new equipment is not even installed on a few current aircraft in the United States, which shows how important Sweden is in its mind. After that, the two DC-3s, surface transport aircraft and actual reconnaissance aircraft, began their "spy" careers.
It is worth mentioning that the two Swedish transport aircraft are named "Fujin" and "Wuni" respectively. Looking at it this way, it doesn't seem like there's anything wrong with it, but it's actually a bit ironic. "Fujin" and "Wuni" are the names of two crows in Norse mythology, and their duty is to collect intelligence from all over the world for Odin, the king of the gods. It’s hard not to think that Britain and the United States are actually metaphors for Sweden, like these two crows, working for the “master” behind it.
We don’t know whether Sweden understood it or not. Anyway, it got the benefit and began to do its best to collect intelligence for Britain and the United States. Over the past few years, two Swedish transport planes have been appearing over the Soviet border from time to time under the guise of transportation, collecting intelligence on the Soviet Union's radar signals and military arrangements along the Baltic Sea "fairly" and then passing it on to the United States.
With the frequency of Swedish transport planes appearing so high, the Soviet Union would naturally notice that someone’s transport plane keeps hovering in front of other people’s homes. However, the Swedish plane was too cautious and stopped moving forward once it reached the Soviet border. It never actually entered Soviet airspace. Moreover, when they were collecting intelligence, there were no fighter jets around to escort them, so they acted boldly and left no trace. Therefore, even if the Soviet Union had suspicions, there was no direct evidence to prove it, and they never found a chance to deal with this matter. However, as time went on, the Soviet top brass became a little restless. Every time their strategic deployment was not fully covered, the United States would spy on it. So the Soviet Union began to investigate, always keeping an eye on its own airspace.
Perhaps even God could not bear it, but the Soviet Union quickly seized a rare opportunity. On June 13, 1952, Sweden's "Forkin" transport plane took off again, taking the 8 crew members on board to embark on the 27th reconnaissance mission on familiar roads.
At the beginning, everything went very smoothly, and the pilot even detected a rare scene. When "Fukin" flew to the middle of the Baltic Sea, it suddenly discovered that the Soviet Navy was conducting large-scale military exercises, and even the latest Soviet cruisers were among them. You know, the United States and the Soviet Union had a "lunar hegemony" before, and then a technological hegemony. Once one side developed a new weapon, it was big news and a big challenge. The new Soviet cruiser is also equipped with the Soviet Union's most mysterious radar system. If Sweden captures this information, wouldn't it be a great contribution?
This is not only an opportunity for Sweden to show its strength, but also to gain some benefits from the United States. As a result, the "Fukin" transport plane did not just hover at the border of Soviet airspace as usual, but unknowingly and slowly approached the Soviet navy that was conducting military exercises, unaware that the danger was quietly coming to it.
After a while, the "Fujin" transport plane flew above the Soviet cruiser, successfully captured the electronic signal, and also took a large number of photos of the scene to prepare for transmission to the United States. As everyone knows, before they took action, the Soviet Union's Qom Air Force Base had already sent a MiG-15 fighter jet, following behind them early, waiting for the right opportunity to take action. Now that they have brought it to their doorstep and are blatantly doing this immoral thing, no wonder the Soviet Union is ruthless.
At 11:25, the "Fujin" transport plane seemed to have forgotten that it was facing the powerful Soviet Union, and actually intensified its preparations to approach the Soviet warships to obtain more intelligence. The Soviet Union completely concluded that the Swedish aircraft that had been stealing their intelligence were the Swedish aircraft that had been lingering in their airspace, and immediately launched a thunderous attack. Unable to bear it, the MiG-15 began to output powerful firepower. It is said that in just 4 minutes, the MiG-15 fired 120 rounds of bullets with the 23mm cannon and 27 rounds with the 37mm cannon. After firing 127 shells wildly, the Swedish transport plane that had not yet reacted was riddled with holes, the fuselage burst into flames, and it crashed into the sea with the eight crew members in the cabin. Perhaps these eight people never thought until their death that their ordinary intelligence-gathering behavior would cause them to lose their lives unexpectedly.
It is said that the transport plane sent a distress signal to the Swedish Air Force base at the last moment. But when the base tried to get in touch, there was no response. After repeated attempts to contact without success, Sweden quickly dispatched 15 reconnaissance aircraft and 7 warships to search the waters near where the signal was sent. But looking for planes and people in the sea is like looking for a needle in a haystack, finding nothing that day.
Fortunately, they persevered and found the lifeboat of the "Fujin" transport aircraft two days later, and found that it was covered with bullet holes left by Soviet MiG-15 fighter jets. Only then did the Swedish side know that the Soviet Union had discovered their reconnaissance operation, and the hidden reconnaissance plane was shot down by the Soviet Union.
It stands to reason that Sweden suffered a big loss. After all, they were the ones who did not follow the rules in the first place and could only endure it. But he probably refused to admit that he was conducting military reconnaissance on the Soviet Union because he had the support of big bosses behind him. They insisted that the "Fujin" transport plane was conducting a communications system drill over the Gotland area, but was accidentally struck by lightning, causing the fuel tank to explode and then crash. The Soviet Union caught him on the spot, so naturally he would not believe this statement. In the face of international public opinion, he always insisted on biting Swedish planes just to collect intelligence, and also violated Soviet airspace.
Both sides insist on their own opinions, but the truth is the truth. No matter how much Sweden explains, it is self-deception. Sweden will no longer quibble about anything and plans to deal with it coldly. But before that, they still sent a plane to continue to search for the wreckage in the sea area where the "Fujin" transport plane crashed. It is understood that on June 16, a Swedish seaplane appeared in Soviet waters. Before it could make any gains, it was chased and attacked by two Soviet MiG-15s. However, the Soviet Union did not intend to kill him this time. Instead, they played with him like a cat and a mouse. They took turns shooting at the aircraft 6 times before shooting it down on the sea. In the end, the Swedish pilot floated at sea for about an hour and was rescued by a passing German businessman's cargo ship.
Sweden was once again defeated by the Soviet Union. Due to the situation in which it was at a disadvantage, it could only choose to swallow its anger and pretend that nothing happened. This unilateral "beating" at sea has come to an end. Sweden, which had seen the power of the Soviet Union, still had to find a way to repair relations with the Soviet Union. It seemed that it really didn't want the past to happen again. It has to be said that Sweden is very capable of adapting to the wind. Even if it is in the center of the storm, it can protect itself to the greatest extent.
However, the most troublesome problem for Sweden at this time should be that the Soviet Union had not discovered so many previous reconnaissance operations. How come it was caught and even followed this time? Even if they lingered too many times, how did the Soviet Union know that the transport plane was actually a spy plane?
In fact, it was their own people who sold their own people, and the Soviet Union just provided some money. The person who betrayed this news was the Swedish Air Force colonel and diplomat, Stig Wennerstrom. He was targeted by the Soviet Union early on. When he was serving in Moscow in 1948, he accepted the Soviet spy recruitment job, and then provided military secrets to Soviet intelligence agencies for 15 years.
When the Swedish reconnaissance incident first emerged, the Soviet Union proposed to Stiger that it wanted to know all the content obtained by the Swedish reconnaissance of the Soviet Union, and was willing to deliver 600,000 Swedish kronor in exchange for information. Stig may have failed to resist the temptation of money, or he may have liked the thrill of being a spy, so he informed the Soviet Union of all the information. This leads to the drama of the Soviet Union waiting for help and destroying "Fujin".
Although Sweden chose to ease relations with the Soviet Union, it did not forget to recover the missing "Forkin" transport plane and the eight crew members. Before they found the wreckage, another theory was circulating internationally, that is, the "Fukin" transport plane was not destroyed, but was forced to land in the Soviet Union, and the surviving crew members were sent to concentration camps in Siberia. . This statement cannot be verified, and the appearance of the wreckage of the "Fujin" transport aircraft has shattered this absurd statement.
In June 2003, I don’t know whether it was time, or whether the Swedish high-level officials did not let the search and rescue team look for it. A private shipwreck expedition team successfully discovered the underwater ship 55 kilometers east of Gotland. The wreckage of a DC-3 aircraft. The families of the victims, who had been waiting for many years, immediately asked Swedish senior officials to send someone to salvage the plane. Because the weather at sea is unpredictable and bad weather occurs from time to time. Coupled with the limited level of salvage technology at the time, the salvage work was carried out intermittently and was a laborious effort. Finally, the entire aircraft finally saw the light of day and was delivered to the Musk Naval Base near Stockholm.
Unfortunately, of the eight crew members who died, only the remains of four were found, and the remaining four were missing. At this time, 51 years had passed since the incident occurred, and the Soviet Union had also disintegrated. Only then did Sweden finally admit that the "Fukin" transport aircraft was a reconnaissance aircraft, specially used to conduct reconnaissance and photography of Soviet military activities in the Baltic Sea coast. It seems that only when the threat does not exist and people who have done bad things will tell the truth.
The Soviet Union’s shooting down of a Swedish reconnaissance plane has come to an end. The person who played an important turning role in this incident should be the Swedish spy Stig. If he hadn't leaked the secret, the Soviet Union might not have been able to solve this problem in the short term. It has to be said that Stig's life was also very exciting. He was asked if he regretted being a spy. Stig's attitude was very firm, saying that even if he could live his life over again, he would never choose another way of life. So why did he embark on the path of espionage?
In Stig's autobiography, "From Beginning to End: Memories of a Spy," Stig argued that the reason he chose to provide intelligence to the Soviet Union was to promote world peace. At the same time, the balance of the world's military forces was maintained so that the Soviet Union and the United States could be evenly matched and avoid or divert the crisis of war. And he initially became a spy, not only because his pride and self-confidence were hit, but also because he wanted to follow the friendship in his heart with the Russian diplomatic corps.
However, his remarks were quickly overturned, and the Swedish side showed the so-called real reason in a subsequent research report.
It is said that this research report was written while Stig was imprisoned, but this has to make people wonder whether they coerced Stig to say it, or whether Swedish senior officials saw that Stig could no longer convey it to the outside world. news, and made it up myself. The real truth is unknown. According to reports, Stiger agreed to be a spy for the Soviet Union because the Soviets knew that he had spied for Germany during World War II. If Stig did not agree to be a spy for the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union would announce his experience to the outside world.
In fact, this reason is somewhat convincing. After all, Stiger was not very popular in Sweden at the time. If this incident was exposed, he might even lose his position. On balance, working for the Soviet Union not only provides high rewards, but also gives you the feeling of being valued, which is not a bad choice. No matter what the reason was, in short, Stig began his espionage career in 1948 and provided the Soviet Union with a large number of Swedish defense secrets, such as missile launch plans, air defense control systems, etc. Stiger's leaks are said to have caused losses to the Swedish military amounting to tens of millions of Swedish kronor.
Although Stig hid his identity as a spy very deeply, he did too many immoral things and there would always be some loopholes. The Swedish secret police had long targeted him. Unfortunately, Stig was more rigorous in his work, and the police never found enough evidence to arrest him. The hard work paid off, and Swedish police disguised as maids broke into the Stig family and successfully discovered many confidential documents and photos in the attic.
Soon after, Stig was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment. But due to good behavior, Stig was released from prison at the age of 68. Perhaps it was God who sent him a lifelong punishment. Stig's family members all died before him, and his final years were lonely and peaceful. So what do you think, if our country were from the Soviet perspective, how would it handle actions like Sweden's? Everyone is welcome to express your opinions in the comment area. If you have different opinions on the content, please point them out one by one.
In 1952, Swedish military aircraft provoked the Soviet Union, and the MiG-15 fighter jet decisively took off and shot it down on the spot