10 Weirdest Cold War Stories You Probably Haven't Heard

This is the story of Mathias Rust, an inexperienced German pilot with less than 50 flight hours to his name. He would shoot to fame in 1987 for one of the most improbable flights in the history of aviation. At a time when the world was still gripped by the fear of apocalypse, he set out to ease tensions and build bridges between East and West, using a rented light aircraft!

Rust left his hometown on 13 May 1987 and set out on a tour of northern Europe. He had already had the idea of flying to Moscow, but wanted to test his piloting skills so he flew to Iceland and then Norway. With it now firm in his mind, Rust flew to Helsinki to refuel before flying on to Moscow. Before leaving Helsinki, he informed air traffic control of his intention to go to Stockholm.

When he crossed into Estonia, he was unsurprisingly picked up on Russian radar whereupon a pair of MIGs were dispatched to intercept. In his first stroke of luck, the pilots misidentified his plane as a Russian Yak-12 and were refused permission to engage. This would start a trend. During his flight, he was picked up on radar many times but was never actually engaged - at one time he was confused for a rescue helicopter!

Approaching Moscow, Rust decided that the most visible place for him to land would be Red Square. After landing, he was arrested (kinda had to expect that!) and was sentenced to four years imprisonment, though he would only serve 15 months. The fiasco turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Gorbachev, who was now provided with the opportunity to get rid of the commanders who did not follow his ideals.