scw@ollie.SEAS.UCLA.EDU (Stephen C. Woods) (06/05/90)
From: "Stephen C. Woods" <scw@ollie.SEAS.UCLA.EDU>
An 'own goal' is a soccer expression that refers to putting the ball into
ones own goal (one presumes that it's an accident).
Own goals are not uncommon in Air combat, in fact the happen even in
peacetime (2 cases come to mind, 1975 off the coast of Virgina a Marine
F4D shoots down an Navy A4D with a Sidewinder, faulty missile fired
accidentallys, and in 1984? a Navy F14 shot down a Air Force F4?, rookie
pilot on a practice intercept got a tone, told the controller, the
controller said 'Shoot it', the rookie said 'Really shoot?', the
controller said 'Afirmative'...)
AP (From the LA Times, Monday 30APR90)(Paraphrased)
The Red Army newspaper \Red Star/ disclosed [29-APR-90] that the Soviet
ADIC scored an 'Own Goal' when they shot down Gary Powers' U-2.
Seems that they sent up 2 MiG-19s to attempt an intercept. One of them,
flown by a Boris Ivazya reported that the debris from Powers' U2 was debris
from a miss (the missile exploding at the end of it's run perhaps?). The
battery fired another missile, this missile struck the other Mig-19, piloted
by one Sergi Safronov, destroying the A/C and killing the pilot. Ivazya
later married Safronov's widow.
Also in the area was an new (still unarmed) Su-9 whick was attempting to
close with, and ram the U2.
The article was signed by a Col. A. Dokuchayev.