“Eight Zero Five,” Shilin addressed his neighbor, “this is Five Zero Three. You’ve got a passenger jet in front of you!” The other plane was flying at an altitude two kilometers lower and was presently seven kilometers away from the target. Shilin’s voice sounded awfully weak in his own ears, and he thought no one would hear it or pay it any attention. “Eight Zero Five,” Shilin said again, straining his voice and trying to overcome the general commotion on the airwaves. “Do not attack the target, it’s a passenger plane!”
No one paid any attention to his words, neither the ground nor the other fighter planes in the air. The intruder had already come right up to the Soviet border and now it only had to cross it. Later, when Shilin visited Division X, I asked him if he had had any hope that
