Incident at Sakhalin: The True Mission of KAL Flight 007 (Hardcover)

by Michel Brun (Author) "Seoul, September 1, 6:00 A.M. It was the end of summer, 1983, and the "Land of Morning Calm" was still waking up..." (more)
Key Phrases: outgoing radio communications, constant magnetic heading, intruder plane, United States, Sea of Okhotsk, Korean Air Lines (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Brun, a pilot and aeronautical engineer, presents here the result of a decade's research into the 1983 destruction of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 when it was shot down by Soviet fighters over the Sea of Japan. He describes the tragedy as part of a clandestine U.S. operation to test Soviet air defense capabilities. Flight 007 was a Trojan horse whose destruction occurred in the context of near-simultaneous violations of Soviet air space by American planes, resulting in a sharp clash between the superpowers' aircraft. When the gamble that a civilian airliner would be safe did not pay off, the U.S. embarked on a comprehensive cover-up that endures to the present, according to the author. Brun's conclusions overlook the difficulties of concealing this kind of deception for any length of time. They also fail to take into account the elements of fog and the friction on both sides that most probably are the real roots of the 007 catastrophe. This provocative title is ultimately unconvincing.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
The Cold War still holds many mysteries; the downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in September 1983 is one of its major puzzles. For Brun, a multilingual pilot and "aeronautical investigator," it became a personal obsession. His technically detailed, sometimes disjointed argument is that a major air battle took place near the Soviet island of Sakhalin, ending with the destruction not only of the airliner but also "ten or so (U.S.) aircraft," all "the result of a U.S. clandestine operation that had gone dreadfully wrong." Brun's case is built around conflicting newspaper accounts; published transcripts of cockpit communications; voice analysis; maps; other Soviet, Japanese, and U.S. evidence; and a junkyard of ocean debris, some of which the author collected himself. Although Brun's claim startles, his choppy style distracts. For larger collections.
John Yurechko, Georgetown Univ., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 328 pages
• Publisher: Four Walls Eight Windows (December 29, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568580541
• ISBN-13: 978-1568580548
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,030,795 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Fantasy, February 14, 2005

By	Michael J Edelman (Huntington Woods, MI USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Brun's telling of the downing of KAL 007 has be refuted long ago. His supposed transcipts of Soviet air defense pilots and controllers doesn't agree with the actual recordings, his facts can't be double checked, and none of it agrees with the declassified records that have been made available in the wake of the collapse of the USSR.

So why do people continue to defend Brun, and claim that he alone is correct, and all others are somehow corrupt?

Conspiracy theorists are motivated by a great many things. Some are simply looking for verification of their existing predjudices. Many revel in the ideal that they alone are privy to secret information not available to others. And some find solace in conspiracy theories that mirror their own paranoid delusions.

Whatever the case, Brun's work has long been discredited- see, for example, the tremendous amount of research that Soviet aerospace expert James Oberg has put in on this at his own web pages (www.jamesoberg.com). And yet, the hysteria lingers on.

16 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars post Cold War declassification, May 18, 2002

By	Chapulina R (Tovarischi Imports, USA/RUS) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Only a year ago, I watched a History Channel presentation of the "official" story of KAL 007, whose flight-number designation seemed so cruelly appropriate. Shortly thereafter I was recommended "Incident at Sakhalin" by a person who had been heavily involved in US Cold War strategies of the eighties. "Read this," he insisted, "if you want to know how close to the brink of nuclear war we came." He refused to say more, but the book is an eye-opener. On 1-Sept. 1983, Korean Air Lines Flight 007, enroute to Seoul from New York via Anchorage, disappeared over the Sea of Japan. An extraordinary propaganda campaign and coverup ensued immediately following the events surrounding this incident -- on both sides of the Cold War Iron Curtain. In that perilous and paranoid time, the disaster nearly precipitated World War lll. To this day, the four governments involved in the Sakhalin Incident would prefer that the "official" conclusion remain in effect: that is, the passenger jet had innocently strayed off-course and was mistaken for the Cobra Ball spy plane which was detected at the same time in violation of Soviet airspace. That story generated much suspicion, which resulted in numerous Congressional investigations and accusations regarding CIA use of foreign civilian airliners for its surveillance missions over the USSR. Passengers were routinely and unwittingly used as pawns, a chilling revelation in itself. But Brun's book goes way beyond that. The author has impressive credentials; he is a French aviation expert and aircraft accident investigator, fluent in five languages. Moreover, his political neutrality ensures an unbiased presentation of the facts he had spent some ten years gathering. Several mysteries of the Sakhalin incident are widely known. For example, neither the wreck of the plane nor the remains of the 269 passengers has ever been found in the shallow area of the Sea of Japan over which KAL 007 was allegedly shot down. Meticulous research, aided by post-Cold War release of previously classified materials, reveals more of the disturbing story. In fact, Flight 007 was not lost over Sakhalin, but continued to fly and transmit messages for nearly an hour after other intruding aircraft were intercepted there by Soviet MiGs. The evidence shows that a poorly-conceived US intelligence and provocation operation launched a two-hour-long air battle with Soviet fighters over Sakhalin. In this battle, US Air Force and Navy aircraft and personnel were lost, and KAL 007 disappeared some 435 miles from where it was "officially" claimed to have crashed -- by means and reasons after all these years still unexplained. Boris Yeltsin, in his 17-June, 1992 speech to a joint session of the US Congress, mentioned Soviet-held American POWs in conjunction with the KAL 007 incident. This was interpreted by the American press as reference to the Korean and Vietnam eras; and the Reagan Administration offered no enlightenment to the public. We Americans have become accustomed to some misinformation and coverup on the part of the government, some of which is conducted in the name of national security. It appears that the Incident at Sakhalin was the result of a massive blunder with tragic, embarrassing, and nearly devastating ramifications. Get the book! Loaded with technical facts and stats, it is a fascinating read.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars True story? Gimme a break!, July 21, 2004

By	N. D TARKALANOV "Book eater" (Tallahassee, FL United States) - See all my reviews

No doubt, that Ronald Reagan could have send the entire world to a nuclear oblivion.

However: I have a couple of questions:

In 1983 USSR was at the top of her military might.

1.What on Earth made Andropov and his comrades to admit to the world, they shot a civilian airplane, IF THEY DID NOT? (as the book suggest)

and:

2. Why on Earth did the soviets keep silent about the battle, especially after they won? If there was such battle, the whole World would have known. Things like this would not be kept secret, there would be books, and movies, and poems, and songs, and shows, abd statues to the heroes.

If you believe in toothfairy and in James Bond, then this book is for you.

Just, do not try to convince me, it is a true and documentary stry: Please, Gimme a break.