I need some help if any of you can provided from your experience and knowledge. There are two reports related to the The RC-135 that was in the vicinity of KAL 007 on Sept. 1, 1983 the night it went into Soviet airspace over Kamchatka, only to be shot down just after it had passed Sakhalin Island. These reports concern the RC-135's capturing the Soviet ground chatter and radar lighting up as KAL 007 crossed into its airspace. Could you share what you think, really anything, about the veracity of these reports and any lead as to possible further verification? Related to this, and quite a long shot, does anyone know the names and ways of possibly contacting the crew members on that flight. As background - The Cobra Ball mission that night was to capture the telemetry of the illegal (according to Salt agreements) Soviet SS-25 as it was to come down on the Kliyuchi Target range on Kamchatka. Here are the sites for the two reports - http://www.rescue007.org/RC_135.htm
http://www.rescue007.org/RC_135_cont.htm

Thanks!
Bert Schlossberg
Director
International Committee for the Rescue of KAL 007 Survivors www.rescue007.org

Sorry Bert, but to the best of my knowledge, much of the official info relating to this incident has yet to be declassified. If anyone here (on this board) had a role in the aftermath, it would probably be in there best interest not to disclose any info. At least not until they checked with the appropriate AF officials to make sure it would be okay.

Took a look at your links and both articles were apparently written by you and posted to the website that is also run/managed by you. I've never heard of your organization so I can't/won't comment on its/your credibility.

I was reassigned to Osan shortly after this event. Day 2 in country, I was placed on an analytical team assessing all actions (ours, Soviet's, NK's, and China's) of the event. And to be perfectly honest, I can't remember much of the really detailed info (even if I could pass it on). As for others...well, that's up to them (if there are any).

JP RETIRED,
The organization is small and has been around for 5 years. I have been involved in the research since the early 90's. That came about since two members of my family were on the flight. Here in Israel,at the beginning of the 90's many Russians who had been in the military came to Israel as new immigrants. They are debriefed as to conditions in the Soviet Union, and now, of course, the Russian Federation. From one of them first and then others, the news came that there were survivors, and and that is basically how I got involved. The news went from Israel, and Senator Helms of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs got involved and the result was the Soviets handing over KAL 007's "Black Box".
I am the Director of the Organization, and I am the one that put together the two pieces mentioned above, but I am not an airman, and the pieces contain testimony of people involved in some way. What I am looking for, of course, are people to add to the info, correct, give leads, etc. There may be a security clearance angle that is prohibitive, but we have found that information coming in, has come from people involved in some way, that in the passing of almost 25 years, want to clear the air and get things off their chest, before they pass on. Tnis goes for the Soviet side as well as ours.

Thanks for posting the Oberg article, n1dp. Just a comment to his statement, "Within a few weeks of the shootdown, Soviet naval forces had secretly recovered the boxes and other debris from the ocean bottom in international waters off the west coast of Sakhalin Island."

Acutally, it was not within a few weeks, it was from day One. The Russian civilian divers, flown in from the Crimea and from Murmansk, went down, according to their interviews in Izvestia, 1991, starting September 7, just 6 days after the shootdown. But they also state that the Soviet military divers had gone down to KAL 007 prior to them, both visiting and moving the aircraft by trawl. All this is while the Soviets maintained that they know nothing about KAL 007's whereabouts and they pretended to search with the U.S. for the plane and the Black Box. Here is a Photo Essay of the Soviet Deception and harassment of the U.S. SAR/SAS naval operation - http://www.rescue007.org/photo_essay.htm . Oberg is against the idea that the U.S. intentionally used KAL 007 for intelligence purposes with the pilots of KAL 007 in on it. I also really see no evidence of an intentional deviation. The inquiry above about the RC-135 tracking KAL 007 into Russian airspace has to do with statements of people, involved or close to it, of an unintentional intrusion but one used by the RC-135 as an intelligence bonus, without any idea that the Soviets would actually shoot it down. I might add, with reference to JP Retired's post, When we have posted the comments of the people somehow involved, we have not included their names or any identifying info - if that helps any to encourage people to share. I guess that's the best I know how to do.

In response to the Photo Essay (above) of the confrontation between Soviet and U.S. Naval Forces over search for KAL 007 and its Black Box, this report of courage in the face of brutality has come in from a sailor involved. He has given permission to be posted in its entirety:

"The Search for KAL 007
" On September 1st 1983 the Soviet Union shot down Korean Airlines flight 007, which had strayed off course, killing all aboard. Since then there have been many investigations, documentaries, reviews, and conspiracy theories. Much has been said about the plane and the events in the air. Little has been said about those in the search area and what they endured and faced. This is one such story.
" I was relatively new to the Navy, reaching 10 months enlisted and assigned to my first ship homeported in Subic Bay, Republic of the Philippines. I had recently taken over the job of Chart Petty Officer, responsible for updating over 400 charts and nautical publications. On September 1st 1983 my Leading Chief Petty Officer told me to go to the Chart Office on base and get a list of charts that we needed. He also gave me a peculiar order to not look at the chart numbers, names, or actual charts. I thought this was strange, but I respected it nonetheless.
"I retrieved the charts and returned to the ship to find it a flurry of activity. Cranes were hoisting on pallets, and sailors were hustling their bulging seabags across the quarterdeck. I learned that the Captain had made an announcement to the crew. “Men”, he announced, “Go home, pay you bills, kiss your wife, and grab all the uniforms you have. Be back onboard in three hours. Don’t know where we’re going, don’t know how long we’ll be there, and don’t know when we’re coming home.”
"My ship, the USS STERETT (CG-31), set sail that evening and steamed north at maximum speed past South Korea, past Japan, and continued north into the Okhotsk Sea. There an international search and salvage team searching for the wreckage met us. South Korea, Japan, Soviet Union, and United States all had vessels there conducting their own search of the deep, cold waters.
"The gray seas were large, dark, and unruly. We were constantly tossed and turned which was compounded by our slow speed and top-heavy superstructure. The fall temperatures got colder each day, and the skies were constantly overcast. The wind was bitter cold and made my eyes tear. This part of the world did not welcome us, and the ocean made that very apparent.
"Our Captain said our mission was to conduct searches for the wreckage and provide some protection, in the form of deterrence, to the other allied and friendly forces there. We were also tasked to locate the aircrafts in-flight data recorder, the black box. There were many US Navy ships as well as USSR Navy ships, each suspiciously watching the other. After all, this was in the middle of the Cold War, when tensions between the USSR and US were razor-thin, and any mistake by a commander at sea might open up war between the two nations.
"The South Korean’s conducted searches of the area by laying large, round, black buoys that were tethered by three large cables and held in place by three large cement blocks. It resembled a buoy on a tripod when it was sitting in the ocean. These buoys were used to mark the area into a grid and accurately conduct a systematic search. Not wanting to search the same area twice, these buoys were critical to the South Korean government search effort. We had received reports that rogue ships of other nations that were ramming these buoys to hamper the search efforts of South Korea.
"One gloomy, cold day we received a call over marine band VHF bridge-to-bridge communications. It was from a frantic vessel master of a South Korean ocean going salvage tug. He reported that he was under attack and needed help desperately. Under attack? Our bridge team notified the Captain, and he gave orders to make best speed through the gray water to the South Korean vessels position. We were anxious and nervous, not knowing what we would find when we got there. We manned gun mounts, got missiles ready, and surged forward with all our steam plants at maximum capacity.
"We arrived to the area to find the South Korea tug and a rogue Group 3[1] vessel. We found out that this Group 3 was trying to ram a buoy and the South Korean tug was protecting the buoy. We arrived and everyone stopped. These three large ships floating slowly in the ocean, watched each other, waiting for a move.
"Suddenly, the water behind the Group 3 began to churn into green and white foam indicating it had ordered its engines to full power. It made a hard turn to the right and made a line for the buoy. We cranked our engines forward as well, sending our ship into its path to cut it off. Wait a minute. This was a US Navy cruiser, weighing nearly 10,000 tons, laden with guns and missiles, and we were using it like a bumper car to block another huge vessel. The Group 3, seeing us trying to cut it off, reversed its engines making it stop. We shuddered past it, trying to slow and stop, but were going to fast and slipped past as if skidding on ice. The Group 3 again surged forward aiming for the buoy, but the South Korean tug came from our port side just in time to force the Group 3 to turn.
"For the next three hours that was the scene; three captains, each determined in his mission. One ship was sent to destroy, two ships assigned defend and protect. The three ships surged forward, backward, made hard turns, and reversed rudders. Our Captain expertly rode our warship like it was a trained mustang, each anticipating the move of the other. We were determined to not let this buoy get hit. Then, as if clouds parted to show a sudden ray of light, everyone stopped again, breathing hard, sweating, but ready for the next move. What happened next hit me as nothing had before, and still leaves vivid images.
"I watched as the South Korean tug set their small rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB) into the water and set two crewmen into it. They were decked in ocean survival suits of international orange and inflatable devices. This RHIB then shot out at high-speed toward the buoy. The high seas made the RHIB disappear then reappear from view as it climbed and banked the heavy swells. When they had arrived at the RHIB, they tied their boat to the buoy. That’s when it hit me; these men were so dedicated in their effort, so justified in their cause that they were willing to risk, in fact give their life for that reason. I had never beheld such a selfless act and I was painfully honored to bear witness.
"This seemed to be a new wrinkle for the rogue ship, and I thought that it would end this madness. I was wrong though, as the Group 3 surged forward and once again aimed for the buoy and the two terrified men. And again the STERETT responded, surged, and shuddered forward. We were trying to protect not only the buoy, but now the lives of the men being tossed in the seas and wakes made by three skirmishing ships.
"This continued for another forty-five minutes until unexpectedly the Group 3 calmly turned away and steamed into the cold gray drizzle beyond the horizon. The RHIB returned to the tug and the South Korean crew recovered their boat and two shaken crewmembers. The master of the tug gave us emotional thanks on the radio; I could tell he was nearly, if not already, in tears. Mission complete, we turned and resumed our patrol.
Epilogue
"Almost ten years later, in January 1993, I was leaning back in my front room, flipping through 200 channels of nothing-to-watch. I came across yet another news flash, and was about to continue to the next channel if it weren’t for something on the screen that caught my eye; zero zero seven. I sat up with eyes alert and quickly turned up the volume. There on the news was a press conference of Russian president Boris Yeltsin handing over the Korean Airlines Flight 007 black box to South Korean President Roh Tai Woo.
"Memories came flooding back to me. I remembered the boiling seas, the bitter wind, and the gray doom-filled skies. I remembered the sixty-six days on station searching in vain for any clue about the fate of the aircraft. I remembered the long days that turned into weeks, then ended up being months. But what I lingered on were the two dedicated men, tossed in a tiny boat surrounded by giant ravenous waves. To the ocean they were small and the search for their comrades mattered not. For them, however, it was all that mattered in the world, and I remembered them.


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[1] Merchant ships are categorized by hull, superstructure, stern, and bow. These are further categorized by size, location, and type. A Group 3 resembles a small oil tanker, with a raised superstructure over the stern, some masts, cranes, and kingposts amidships, and a raised bow."

About the author of the above report, Don Downing:
“The author began his Navy career onboard USS STERETT (CG-31) 1983-1987, homeported in Subic Bay Philippines as an Operations Specialist Seaman (OSSN). While onboard STERETT he was a Surface and Air watchstander, Chart Petty Officer, and witnessed much tense interaction with the Former Soviet Union fleet during the Cold War. During his tour he visited many ports throughout Seventh Fleet, and obtained the rank of Operations Specialist Second Class (OS2) before transferring to his next command.”

Robert S. Hopkins knows more about these flights than anyone. This is the only email address I have.

drbob@shemya.net

I haven't read your links.
It looks like this incident was 25 years ago, right?
Maybe you could try a Freedom of Information Act request...