The 1953 Avro Lincoln shootdown incident was the shooting down of a British Avro Lincoln four-engined bomber which had intruded into

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

airspace during a training mission on 12 March 1953. While the aircraft was flying on the Hamburg-Berlin air corridor over East Germany it was shot down by a MiG 15 Soviet fighter.

Incident

The Avro Lincoln was operated by the

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RAF Leconfield Royal Air Force Leconfield or more simply RAF Leconfield is a former Royal Air Force station located in Leconfield (near Beverley), East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The site is now used by the MoD Defence School of Transport Leconfield or ...

and was on a routine long-distance training flight. The aircraft was intercepted by two Soviet MiG 15 fighters and after it failed to respond to challenges it was shot down by the fighters' 23 mm cannon. The Avro Lincoln crashed east of

Boizenburg Boizenburg () is a municipality in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Elbe, 53 km west of Ludwigslust, 25 km northeast of Lüneburg and 50 km east of ...

, on the border of the British and Soviet zones, impacting in a wood between Vierkrug and Horst in the Soviet Zone. It was initially reported that six of the seven crew had been killed and one wounded; the wounded airman was one of three who had bailed out, but later died in hospital. German civilians on the ground reported that two British airmen bailed out from the doomed aircraft, only to be strafed and killed by one of the MiG 15s.

Aftermath

The British government represented by the United Kingdom High Commissioner in Germany protested to the Soviet High Commissioner in Germany against the attack on a British aircraft and death of British servicemen. The Soviet news agency stated that the Lincoln had been flying over the German Democratic Republic and had failed to respond to lawful commands to land at the nearest airfield and had shot at the fighters. The British Foreign Secretary

Anthony Eden Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, (12 June 1897 – 14 January 1977) was a British Conservative Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1955 until his resignation in 1957. Achieving rapid promo ...

described it as a "barbaric" act. The British Prime Minister

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

condemned the attack in a statement to parliament and emphasised the Avro Lincoln was not armed and within the agreed air corridor. British historian Richard Aldrich claims that while the bomber was not directly involved in airborne intelligence gathering, "its progress was being carefully tracked by a British 'sigint' unit on the ground at RAF Scharfoldendorf in the British Zone of Germany".

References

{{reflist 20th-century aircraft shootdown incidents Aviation accidents and incidents in Germany Cold War military history of the United Kingdom 1953 in East Germany March 1953 events in Europe Inner German border Cold War military history of the Soviet Union Soviet Union–United Kingdom relations