Low pass with a deadly ending.
Low flybys of Russian planes on U.S. Navy warships (and vice versa) are somehow frequent as the reports of Russian Su-24 Fencer bombers buzzing USS Donald Cook in the Baltic Sea prove.
Usually, such “shows of force” are uneventful: the aircraft fly by, some nice pictures or videos are shot and that’s it. However, about 50 years ago, a close encounter at sea had a deadly ending.
On May 25, 1968, a Soviet Badger-F aircraft (a reconnaissance variant of the twin-engined jet strategic heavy bomber used by the Soviet Union, equipped with ELINT sensors) flew some very low flybys close to USN carrier USS Essex in the Norwegian sea.
After the last pass, the aircraft, piloted by Colonel Andrey Pliyev, stalled and crashed into the sea in a huge explosion, killing all six crew members. Debris were reportedly found about 240 km west of the Norwegian coast.
According to “Cold War Warriors” the footage was considered classified by the Soviets and never shown in Russia until 2008.
