Seaboard World Airlines Flight 253
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Seaboard World Airlines Flight 253 was involved in a Cold War incident in 1968. A military charter flight with 214 American troops on board bound for Vietnam was forced to land in the Soviet Union. The incident was a diplomatic embarrassment for the United States and resulted in all 238 Americans being detained for two days.
On the afternoon of July 1, 1968, a Seaboard World Airlines Douglas DC-8 Super 63CF departed Anchorage, Alaska bound for Yokota Air Base in Japan. The plane was piloted by Joseph D. Tosolini, with copilot Henry Treger, flight engineer Earl Scott, and navigator Lawrence Guernon. Originally from McChord Air Force Base, Washington the flight was bound for Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam, with 214 American troops and 24 crew members aboard. The aircraft strayed westward of its planned track as it came into range of Japan, passing along the Kuril Islands. Japanese radar controllers notified the crew of the error. However before the crew could react, Soviet fighter aircraft, piloted by Yu. B. Alexandrov, V.A. Igonin, I.F. Evtoshenko and I.K. Moroz, intercepted the DC-8 at 7:20 pm and directed it to follow. The DC-8 was led to Burevestnik airfield on Iturup (Etorofu) Island, a small Soviet PVO interceptor base. It did so at 7:39 pm, touching down on the 2400 m (7900 ft) concrete runway.
Diplomatic negotiations between Washington and Moscow began, but foreign minister Andrei Gromyko said that there was no assurance the plane could be released. Since Burevestnik was a Soviet interceptor airfield served only by a military post and a small village, the passengers were confined to the aircraft and allowed outside to a radius of about 100 meters of the plane. Food in the galley ran out the next day, and the Russians delivered military rations of brown bread, canned cheese, butter, weak coffee, beef bullion, noodles, and cigarettes. The female cabin flight crew were allowed to sleep in a maintenance building on the second night.
The incident was a diplomatic embarrassment for all parties. It played into the hands of the Soviet Union by distracting the U.S. from arms talks. However, the Sino-Soviet split had reached a peak at this time and China viewed the USSR's release of the plane as aiding Americans in the fight against North Vietnam, one of China's allies. Soon after the landing, U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union Llewellyn Thompson informed Soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin that the airspace violation was unintentional, but Kosygin explained that his hands were tied and that the incident was under investigation.
It was on July 3 when the USSR lodged a formal protest with Thompson, allowing the plane to leave. After obtaining a written apology from Captain Tosolini, which he retracted afterwards saying the plane was not off-course, the Soviet Air Force released the plane for departure. It took off and landed at Misawa Air Base in northern Japan about an hour later.
