Carson

American History

03/17/2020

Mathias Rust’s Flight into Moscow

In May of 1987, a German named Mathias Rust decided it was time for the Cold War, a tense standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union, to end. The nineteen-year-old was new to flying, but while he was building up flight time, he conjured up a plan. With barely fifty hours of flight time, Rust resolved he would fly his plane straight into Red Square, a plaza near the center of Moscow. Driven to accomplish his goal of ending the Cold War, Rust left Helsinki, the capital of Finland, for Moscow. During the course of his 680 mile flight, he was confused by the Russian air traffic control towers for a local pilot. They believed since Rust wasn’t attempting to evade them by flying at a high altitude, he was a friendly pilot. At one point in his bizarre journey, two Soviet fighter jets intercepted him. However, they circled him a few times and left him alone. He eventually spotted the Red Square and landed near a crowd of bystanders, shocked as he taxied near them. The soviet citizens smiled at him and asked where he came from. 

Rust explained, "I said I was just here to deliver a peace message to Mikael Gorbachev, and that I just came from Germany."

The citizens accepted him as a friend of the Soviets until he added, "And I said, no, not East Germany. I'm coming from West Germany."

At this point the KGB, a soviet equivalent of the CIA, weaved through the crowd and told Rust to get in their car. The plane was temporarily roped off and Rust was sentenced to four years in prison for “hooliganism.” However, he was released after only fourteen months. Rust returned to live in Germany, where he has had many further adventures, including stabbing a nurse at a hospital, committing tax fraud, stealing clothes from a department store, and refusing to pay a furniture bill. Rust, now 51 years old, has no regrets of his flight, explaining, “I think my flight to Moscow helped bring both sides closer to each other.” Mathias Rust attempted to bring peace in the Cold War by flying his plane straight into the Red Square of Moscow.

Boyd, Clark. Remembering Mathias Rust's Flight to Red Square. Public Radio International, 7 Dec. 2012, https://www.pri.org/stories/2012-12-07/remembering-mathias-rusts-flight-red-square, accessed 16 Mar. 2020.