“In July 1989, a Soviet MiG-23 took off from Poland on a routine training flight - soon after, the engine failed and the pilot ejected.
The pilotless MiG, however, recovered from engine problems, and flew through western Poland, East Germany - and over the Cold War border into West Germany.
A pair of US fighter planes was scrambled to deal with it, but even after identifying that the aircraft was pilotless, could not shoot it down because it was travelling over built-up areas. The pair then planned to deal with it over water, but the MiG ran out of fuel and crashed into a Belgian farmhouse, killing a teenage boy.
”
