Cold War craziness

I'm not altogether sure if you can really call this a story of "heroics" -but it does feature a war (albeit a cold one) and a couple of pilots with nerves of steel...

In the late 1950's, the Soviet Union's airspace was often penetrated by Lockheed U-2 spy planes, flying at altitudes of 20 km or more, safely out of range of Soviet fighters. Of course it was always just a matter of time before advancing Russian anti-aircraft technology would catch up with the U-2's.

In 1959, The Sukhoi Su-9 entered service with the Soviet air force. A high-flying, fast interceptor with radar-guided missiles that would be a real threat to American U-2's taking voyeur shots.
However: "entering service" is not the same thing as being available in sufficient numbers to be called a proper air defense. Production was rather slow, and new planes were supplied to the operational units sparingly -only one or two at a time. And of course the pilots and ground personnel would still need additional training.

When a U-2 was spotted over the USSR in April 1960, the new Su-9's scrambled but failed to intercept the plane. The U-2 escaped with some juicy footage of strategically important installations, and Nikita Khrushchev's famous temper -understandably- flared... and so, when another U-2 was detected just a few weeks later, he ordered it "destroyed at all cost".
As Captain Igor Mientiukov would soon discover, "at all cost" was not just a figure of speech. The Captain was scheduled to fly a brand-new Su-9 from the factory to its new operational unit; when the U-2 was spotted however, he was scrambled to intercept.

Dutifully, Mientiukov took his Su-9 aloft and headed towards the target. Unfortunately though, his plane was not yet equipped with missiles and -like many fighters and interceptors of the era- the Su-9 didn't even have internal cannons.. so in fact, the only thing he could possibly throw at the U-2 was foul language.

And so he received the order to ram the U-2 in mid-air, which basically was a suicide mission; even if he survived the collision, the high-altitude ejection would probably be fatal.

When the Su-9 was some 25 km from its target, the Captain dropped his external fuel tanks and used his afterburner to quickly reach Mach 2.
The U-2's pilot, Gary Powers, wasn't stupid of course. With the Su-9 closing fast, he made a turn... and the Su-9, not being very maneuverable at high speed & altitude, missed its target by "only" 8000 m -still some impressive flying by Capt. Mientiukov, all things considered.

By this time, the U-2 had blundered into the killzone of the Sverdlovsk SAM defenses; there was no more time for Mientiukov to brake, turn and have another go... the first missile was already on its way, and the only thing he could do was get the hell out of Dodge before it arrived.

The rest of this story is well-known; Gary Powers was shot down in the famous "U-2 incident", and we can assume that Mientiukov safely delivered the Su-9 to its new home without a scratch on it.

Both Powers and Mientiukov lived to tell about their encounter, but not for lack of trying by the fearless Su-9 pilot; if Powers hadn't banked away at the right moment, some 8000 kg of Sukhoi interceptor would probably have torn through his plane at Mach 2.

Sometimes, all you need is a bit of luck.

The build

Oh, lest I forget... a few words about the build itself. Not much to tell, really; a standard Su-9, with rather too much detail and not very mobile-friendly. Its armament is standard, with 4x Kaliningrad K-5 (NATO: AA-1 "Alkali") missiles.

Controls are simple; all standard, plus AG1 for drogue chute, AG2 for air brakes, and AG3 for drop tanks.

Now go chase some U-2's...