Iran Air Flight 655

[Eki]

I just saw a documentary about Iran Air Flight 655, civilian jet airliner shot down by U.S. missiles. That was new to me. It's funny that I've so often heard about the Lockerbie bombing but never about this:

Iran Air Flight 655 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Iran Air Flight 655 was a civilian jet airliner shot down by U.S. missiles on July 3, 1988, over the Strait of Hormuz, toward the end of the Iran–Iraq War. The aircraft, an Airbus A300B2-203 operated by Iran Air, was flying from Bandar Abbas, Iran, to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, over Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf on its usual flight path when it was destroyed by the United States Navy guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes (CG-49), killing all 290 passengers and crew aboard,[1] ranking it twelfth among the deadliest disasters in aviation history. It was the highest death toll of any aviation incident in the Indian Ocean and the highest death toll of any incident involving an Airbus A300 anywhere in the world. Vincennes entered into Iranian territorial waters after sending one of its helicopters to buzz Iranian speedboats located inside Iranian waters, and the helicopter drew warning fire from the speedboats. IR655 was within Iranian airspace at the time it was shot down.

Not suprisingly, the US awarded those in responsible medals and never apologized. Typical.

Medals awarded

The men of the Vincennes were all awarded Combat Action Ribbons for completion of their tours in a combat zone. Lustig, the air-warfare coordinator, received the Navy Commendation Medal, often given for acts of heroism or meritorious service, but a not-uncommon end-of-tour medal for a second tour division officer. According to the History Channel, the medal citation noted his ability to "quickly and precisely complete the firing procedure."[2] However, in 1990, The Washington Post listed Lustig's awards as one being for his entire tour from 1984 to 1988 and the other for his actions relating to the surface engagement with Iranian gunboats. In 1990, Rogers was awarded the Legion of Merit "for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service as commanding officer ... from April 1987 to May 1989." The award was given for his service as the Commanding Officer of the Vincennes, and the citation made no mention of the downing of Iran Air 655.[34] The Legion of Merit is often awarded to high-ranking officers upon successful completion of especially difficult duty assignments and/or last tours of duty before retirement.

Aftermath

The U.S. government issued notes of regret for the loss of innocent human life. The government never admitted wrongdoing, and did not accept responsibility nor submit an apology to the Iranian government.

[driveace]

thought the Americans has regretted this incident,and said it had been a misunderstanding ,but could be wrong

[Eki]

thought the Americans has regretted this incident,and said it had been a misunderstanding ,but could be wrong

Maybe, but it's strange that they can't apologize for the mistakes and even give medals to those who made the mistake.

How hard it is to say "our bad, sorry"?

[Mark]

The medals were not awarded for shooting down the plane! Medals are routinely awarded to service personnel after a duty of duty in a particular theater. These are distinct from medals awarded for exceptional valour.

[schmenke]

Ugh, Wikipedia

As I understand it, the crew of the USS Vincennse did nothing wrong. They executed the missile launch as per procedure. They also tried repeatedly communicating with the pilots of the jet warning them to divert their flight path away from the U.S. navy warship.
The Iran air jet was flying in an unexpected flight path and was not transponding the usual civilian identification code.

President Reagan did publically express his sympathy when he learned about the tragedy.

And, as Mark said, medals were not awarded for this specific incident.

[Eki]

Ugh, Wikipedia

As I understand it, the crew of the USS Vincennse did nothing wrong. They executed the missile launch as per procedure. They also tried repeatedly communicating with the pilots of the jet warning them to divert their flight path away from the U.S. navy warship.
The Iran air jet was flying in an unexpected flight path and was not transponding the usual civilian identification code.

President Reagan did publically express his sympathy when he learned about the tragedy.

And, as Mark said, medals were not awarded for this specific incident.

According to the documentary, the flight was on a right path and the Americans mixed the flight's signal with the signal of an Iranian F-14 that took off after the commercial flight. It was also said, they would have noticed it if they weren't in the Iranian waters fighting with Iranian gunboats. Apparently they didn't even know they were in the Iranian waters. The American radar operator even claimed the plane was descending towards them, while in fact it was ascending as normal. They said he may have panicked, or something.

Iran Air Flight 655 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This version was finalized in a report by Admiral William Fogarty, entitled Formal Investigation into the Circumstances Surrounding the Downing of Iran Air Flight 655 on July 3, 1988.[21] Only parts of this report have been released (part I in 1988 and part II in 1993). The Fogarty report stated, "The data from USS Vincennes tapes, information from USS Sides and reliable intelligence information, corroborate the fact that [Iran Air Flight 655] was on a normal commercial air flight plan profile, in the assigned airway, squawking Mode III 6760, on a continuous ascent in altitude from take-off at Bandar Abbas to shoot-down."
When questioned in a 2000 BBC documentary, the U.S. government stated in a written answer that they believed the incident may have been caused by a simultaneous psychological condition amongst the 18 bridge crew of the Vincennes called 'scenario fulfillment', which is said to occur when persons are under pressure. In such a situation, the men will carry out a training scenario, believing it to be reality while ignoring sensory information that contradicts the scenario. In the case of this incident, the scenario was an attack by a lone military aircraft.

[Eki]

The Iran air jet was flying in an unexpected flight path and was not transponding the usual civilian identification code.
.

According to the documentary, the Americans didn't use the flight's identification code (apparently they didn't even know what it was) and since the flight was on a normal track, they didn't realize the Americans were talking to them. If I remember correctly, they even used military frequencies that commercial airplanes don't have or listen.

[schmenke]

You could be right EKi, I haven't paid much attention to an incident that occurred over 20 years ago .

[Knock-on]

It was a terrible incident that happened during a time of extreme tension.

Was the liner shot down on purpose? I doubt it but the Captain of the gun boat was known to be rather volatile in a very high risk area. Not a great combination when everything and everyone is stretched to breaking point. You have a real powder keg and the problem with that is that one little spark blows it up. It was lucky that this did not escalate into a full blown conflict.

What is undoubtable is that the fault was with America for this appalling accident and they paid compensation to the innocent victims.

[yagoda53]

How about KAL007?