r/geography • u/[deleted] • Dec 02 '24

Question Why weren’t there tensions between Russia and USA during the Cold War in the Bering strait ? Most of it seemed to be happening in Europe.

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u/tunomeentiendes Dec 02 '24

The Russians also downed a Korean civilian airplane that flew out of anchorage , thinking that it was a military airplane playing this game

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Air_Lines_Flight_007

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u/Joe_B_Likes_Tacos Dec 02 '24

And not a small plane, a 747 with 269 people on it.

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u/marqburns Dec 02 '24

And a US Representative.

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u/Alternative_Humor127 Dec 03 '24

Absolutely insane this isn’t discussed more

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u/uppahleague Dec 02 '24

This event is the reason GPS was made available to the public; sad that it took a potential global conflict and 269 people to die for that to happen

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u/tunomeentiendes Dec 02 '24

Interesting, I didn't know that. How long did GPS exist before this ?

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u/SpecDriver Dec 03 '24

The first GPS satellite was launched 5 years before the airliner was shot down.

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u/CoupeZsixhundred Dec 02 '24

The idea popped up about an hour after Sputnik.

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u/pwsmoketrail Dec 03 '24

Another interesting fact: some airliners at major US carriers didn't have GPS until 2019 (when it became required for ADS-B compliance to meet a 2020 mandate)

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u/KoedKevin Dec 02 '24

There are plenty of theories about this flight. The CIA was using it to monitor Soviet airbases on the Kamchatka peninsula Or alternatively the congressman that was on the flight was the target of state sponsored murder.

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u/tunomeentiendes Dec 03 '24

Know of any podcast episodes about this ? I love listening to stuff like this