The Crew of the USS Essex Saw It All Firsthand
Incidents between the U.S. and Russian forces – the Americans are typically involved in air-to-air close encounters – have been plentiful over the last 70 years. Most have been harmless. The vast majority of Americans never even know about lots of them.
![](https://avgeekery.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/USS_Essex_CVS-9_launching_S-2_1964-1160x590.jpg)
Bad Day for a Badger in the Med
But on May 25, 1968, a Russian Tupolev Tu-16 Badger reconnaissance plane crashed in the Mediterranean about five miles off the port bow of the USS Essex (CVS-9- a World War II era aircraft carrier converted for use as an anti-submarine carrier, pictured above). The plane had made several low-level passes over the Essex before augering in within sight of the carrier and the personnel on the carrier’s “roof.” Here’s the video (the audio is in Russian. Comrade.)
A Truly Dangerous Game
Russian pilots apparently loved to prove their testosterone edge with these figurative middle finger passes. But during the height of the Cold War – this incident was just five years after the Cuban Missile Crisis – it’s unfathomable that this kind of brinksmanship was being practiced. Imagine if whatever caused this Tu-16 to crash – a mechanical failure, perhaps – had occurred when it buzzed the carrier. Even if unintentional, a “kamikaze” crash of a Russian plane into a U.S. aircraft carrier could have led to war.
![](https://avgeekery.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/DN-SC-86-02559_Near-CVA-63a-1160x641.jpeg)
Smile Yankees- You’re on Comrade Camera
In the 1970s and into the early 1980s, the Soviets challenged the presence of the U.S. Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. The Russians often dispatched two aircraft – one to make 100-feet-off-the-deck passes while the other took photographs that could be displayed in military HQs in Mother Russia.
![](https://avgeekery.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/F-4B_of_VF-96_intercepting_Soviet_Tu-16_in_1963-1160x624.jpg)
Brushes and Bumps
A Soviet reconnaissance jet and an American F-4 Phantom collided over the Mediterranean in March of 1970. It was a mid-air fender bender – the Phantom suffered some scraped paint while the Russian plane came away with a bent wingtip.
![](https://avgeekery.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/F-4J_Phantom_of_VF-114_intercepting_Soviet_Tu-16_1975a-1160x714.jpg)
The Russians Still Play Their Games
While the Russians like to display their machismo by buzzing warships, aerial encounters with U.S. pilots tend to be more mutual respect and jovial. One U.S. pilot displayed the latest Playboy Playmate of the Month during a close encounter with a Russian pilot while on another occasion a Soviet pilot saluted his American counterpart and held up what appeared to be a bottle of vodka.
![](https://avgeekery.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/6692078439_d23e72ac8d_oa-1160x711.jpg)
What typically happens after such an incident is that the U.S. military attaché in Moscow visits his Russian counterpart to “express a level of concern.” Once that is done, case closed.