MfD: Czechoslovak air force shot down Polish plane in 1970s, then covered up deed

A Polish plane which was alleged to have crashed by accident near the Slovak-Austrian border in 1975 was actually shot down by the Czechoslovak armed forces, the daily Mladá fronta Dnes claimed on Tuesday. The pilot of the civilian plane was attempting to emigrate to Austria, the newspaper writes. A new investigation into the crash, being conducted by the Slovak and Polish authorities, suggests that the Czechoslovak government gunned down the plane, and then covered it up, claiming that the crash was a ‘tragic accident’. According to Mladá fronta Dnes, the firing down of the aircraft was against military directives, and the pilot who carried out the shooting repeatedly asked his superiors whether he was really supposed to do so. The newspaper reports that the Czechoslovak military consulted with Warsaw before shooting the aircraft out of the sky.

Author: Rosie Johnston