mrtravel wrote:
nobody wrote:

Nop, the claim was that the Korean jets were equipped with spying
equipment (cameras), and as I recall, years later, some UN/ICAO report
agreed with the soviet's claim. (still not a valid reason to shoot it down).

Are you saying the Soviet didn't originally claim they didn't know it
was a passenger plane? Or, are you saying they knew it was a commercial
747 and also that it had cameras, before they shot it down? How did they
know this?

As I remember the story, the Russians were holding some kind of top
secret events when the 747 flew into the restricted area. The mig came
from behind and under the 747. They claimed from that angle, the plane
wasn't identified as a commercial flight. The order was given to fire
just before the 747 was leaving the restricted air space.