newman@utcsrgv.UUCP (Ken Newman) (09/10/83)
This stuff about the "Soviets not being very good at interception" is misinformed. According to the accounts I've read, the Soviet fighters were tracking the Korean airliner for 2-1/2 hours before they closed in. They apparently knew damn well the course of the 747 and let it go well into Soviet airspace before they attacked. That still doesn't explain why they didn't meet it early and escort it away though.... why did they let it come so far into their airspace at all?