Shootdown: Flight 007 and the American Connection

Presents evidence that the Korean airliner shot down by the Soviet Union was on an American intelligence mission

When Korean Airlines flight 007 was shot down by a Soviet fighter in 1983, many questions and contradictions emerged that still haven't been answered. Johnson's absorbing study explores the complex affair from various angles and provides a broad context, including an assessment of the strategic balance in Northeast Asia, the use of civilian airlines for espionage and the way international crises are handled by the Reagan administration. Presented here are the four major theories of what happened and why: that Flight 007 strayed off course by accident; that the pilot tried to take a shortcut to save fuel; that the Soviets lured the plane off course through electronic interference with navigational equipment; and that 007 was, as the Soviets have claimed, on a surveillance mission. In the book's piece de resistance, Johnson reruns the sequence of events surrounding the flight as if hypothesis four were true, and most readers will likely agree that it is the only one that makes sense. Johnson is a Fellow in Politics at Oxford. Photos. 50,000 first printing. (June
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Johnson, an Oxford political scientist, reviews publicly available information on the 1983 Soviet downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007, and critically evaluates hypotheses put forward to explain the many mysteries still surrounding the tragedy. While acknowledging that the evidence remains incomplete, he concludes that KAL 007 was most likely on a U.S.-directed intelligence mission designed to reveal Soviet air defense radarsa finding similar to that of Alexander Dallin's Black Box ( LJ 5/1/85) and at odds with Richard Rohmer's Massacre 747 (Paperjacks, 1984). Readers will find more detail on many points than in earlier analyses as well as an accusation of Reagan Administration dishonesty on the matter. A readable and useful contribution to the debate. Recommended for most libraries. James R. Kuhlman, Univ. of Georgia Lib., Athens
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.