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[[Image:KAL007 in Ancorage.JPG|right|thumb|300px|The aircraft that flew Korean Airlines Flight 007 - HL7442 - on the ground in [[Hong Kong]], possibly just days before its final flight as KAL 007 on September 1, 1983.]]

[[Image:KAL007 in Ancorage.JPG|right|thumb|300px|The aircraft that flew Korean Airlines Flight 007 - HL7442 - on the ground in [[Hong Kong]], possibly just days before its final flight as KAL 007 on September 1, 1983.]]

'''Korean Airlines Flight 007''' was a scheduled passenger flight from [[New York City]] to [[Seoul]], [[South Korea]] between August 31 and September 1, 1983, when it was attacked and shot down by fighter aircraft of the [[Soviet Union]] after straying into Soviet airspace near the Kamchatka Peninsula and Sakhalin Island.  The reported deaths of 269 passengers, including one sitting Congressman - [[Conservative]] [[Larry McDonald]] (D-GA), and crew combined with massive Soviet [[deceit|deception]] as to the location of the crash site provoked international outrage, and may have been a catalyst leading to the collapse of the Soviet Union itself as a [[Politics|political]] entity.

'''Korean Airlines Flight 007''' (KAL007) was a scheduled passenger flight from [[New York City]] to [[Seoul]], [[South Korea]] between August 31 and September 1, 1983, when it was attacked and shot down by fighter aircraft of the [[Soviet Union]] after straying into Soviet airspace near the Kamchatka Peninsula and Sakhalin Island.  The reported deaths of 269 passengers, including one sitting Congressman - [[Conservative]] [[Larry McDonald]] (D-GA), and crew combined with massive Soviet [[deceit|deception]] as to the location of the crash site provoked international outrage, and may have been a catalyst leading to the collapse of the Soviet Union itself as a [[Politics|political]] entity.

It being a catalyst for the collapse of the Soviet Union may be inferred from the fact that [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization|NATO]] had decided, under the impetus of the U.S. administration, to deploy [[Pershing II]] and cruise [[missile]]s in [[Europe]], primarily [[West Germany]]. This deployment would have placed missiles just 6-10 minutes striking distance from [[Moscow]]. But support for the deployment was wavering and many doubted that the missile deployment would find enough support to effect it.

It being a catalyst for the collapse of the Soviet Union may be inferred from the fact that [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization|NATO]] had decided, under the impetus of the U.S. administration, to deploy [[Pershing II]] and cruise [[missile]]s in [[Europe]], primarily [[West Germany]]. This deployment would have placed missiles just 6-10 minutes striking distance from [[Moscow]]. But support for the deployment was wavering and many doubted that the missile deployment would find enough support to effect it.