Hercules Crash early 1980's

[racedo]

Remember reading of the loss of an Israeli Air Force Hercules (?) in early 1980's which was close to or across USSR border while carrying weapons to a 3rd party.

No record on Herc crashes list of it which given it would have been carrying to Iran its not a great shock as some stuff just doesn't exist.

Clearly would have been in the Turkey / Armenian / Georgia area but remember the story stating crash rather than being shot down.

Wonder anybody every come across reading of this.

Another Q is when Israel / US shipping stuff to Iran I assume elements done via Turkey or did all go via long way round ?

[Golf Charlie Charlie]

I wonder if you may be thinking of an incident involving an Argentine CL-44 :

ASN Aircraft accident Canadair CL-44D4-6 LV-JTN Yerevan (http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19810718-0)

[racedo]

GCC

Can't say 100% probably only 99.9999% :ok:for sure but seems to fit the bill and time would be about right.

I was wrong on aircraft type and owners but do remember it was an Arms shipment with Israeli involvement and was always a puzzle about crossing into USSR.

An Israeli Herc would maybe have been a bit to obvious.

Kudos GCC on solving that mystery.

Added:

Guess the signs were there of who was keeping both sides armed in the Iran - Iraq war early on but as usual nobody bothers to join up the dots.

Could have been a very different mid east.

[Pontius Navigator]

Here are the dots joined up:

Iran-Contra affair - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran-Contra_Affair)

Re-reading the Iran-Contra bit, that was supposedly 4 years after this crash. So were Israel doing it off their own bat before the US got involved?

Anway, why Azerbaijan? It was well off track to get to Azerbaijan. If it was going to penetrate Soviet airspace then Armenia was far more likely as it lies only 45 miles NW of Tabriz and the Tabriz-Van route. Obviously, to reach Azerbaijan they would have been 50-70 miles, or more, off track. From Tehran, about one hour to Tabriz, they would have had to have steered 12 degrees right of the correct course.

Were they seduced or simply lost? Given the state of nav aids then I would surmise that Tabriz was off the air and it was simple navigation error.

[racedo]

Pontius

US were supplying Iran within days of Ronald Reagan taking office. Deal was done to ensure Embassy hostages were not let out before election to ensure Carter lost. Hostages let out within days of Reagans inauguration.

Israel was supplying Iranians with weapons as it knew who was more risky i.e.Iraq and there have been suggestions (never proven) that IAF F4 were flying in Iranian colours as well as Israeli service crews keeping F4 in the air. Iran was under such an embargo that it would have lost substantial territory without the US weapons. No way Iran would have been getting that quantity of weapons with US knowing.

Israel and Iran had good relations as Jews within Iran had never been persecuted or expelled unlike in the arab countries .....situation holds even now despite the Spy trial of a couple of years ago as most of those jailed were released after their jail term. There is a seat in parliment reserved for a member of the Jewish faith for a very long time and this has not changed even since the Iranian revolution. I think they still have good relations though the political ones are somewhat strained because of the nukes issue......but that will resolve itself.

In relation to the flight Azerbaijan is split in two with Armenia sitting across it (They still at war) and a Azeri enclave is right upagainst the border with Iran and Turkey so flight likely have entered into Azeribaijan first from Iran and quickly then into Armenia.

Just checking the dates and crash was 5-6 weeks after IAF attack on Osirak Nuke plant in Baghdad.

[ADVOCATE_56]

In fact the Tehran Embassy hostages were released on the day of Reagan's inauguration - they were en-route to the airport as the ceremony took place and were delayed until after he was sworn in.