1964 T-39 shootdown incident

On 28 January 1964, an unarmed T-39 Sabreliner aircraft of the United States Air Force was shot down while on a training mission over Erfurt, East Germany, by a MiG-19 jet fighter of the Soviet Air Force. The occupants of the aircraft were Lieutenant Colonel Gerald K. Hannaford, Captain Donald Grant Millard and Captain John F. Lorraine. All three died, becoming direct casualties of the Cold War in Europe.

The Cold War developed between the Soviet bloc and the United States, Canada, and Western European nations. Tensions were highest between the United States and the Soviet Union in the regions bordering the Iron Curtain, notably West Germany and East Germany, and relations between the two superpowers were characterized by hostile attitudes, spying, and numerous incidents resulting in loss of life and equipment. One of the most famous of these is the 1960 U-2 incident when the Soviets shot down a Lockheed U-2 spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers over the Soviet Union in May 1960.

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