I like the american view! When it came to Iraq, they thougt otherwise.
All the US-planes shot down outside national borders were operated by fools?
The Cuban government in force has the right to defend its national airspace, no question about that. But it is limited by international law to that. When Cuba declares its national airspace as a war-zone, they can shoot down everything flying around.
Doing not so, it is an ordinary air-policing mission and this has to stick to international rules. The intrusion of the Cessna before was a violation of Cuban law, no question about that. Not respecting internatinal laws is a crime too.

Remember, the Cessnas were shot down over INTERNATIONAL waters..that doesn’t give the Cubans much a a legal leg to stand on…
And I don’t recall the Americans shooting down any unarmed LIGHT non-military planes..

IIt is suggested that the BttR did engage in supplying weapons to anti-Castro groups in Cuba with their lightplanes. If that’s true (it’s only reported by the Cubans, somehow BttR itself doesn’t mention it) would you still hold your position on the shootdown?

If it were a DC-3/AN-12/C-130 actively dropping arms to a known and active rebel group….but only after it was ordered an given the chance to land. If it ignored the order, than I think it would be fair game.
But a Cessna 337?
It doesn’t have the capacity to carry (many) arms, nor was it suspected of doing so. It was just an embarassing irritant…nothing more than that.

johny
the point is…anybody will have to be really stupid to go asking for trouble like that, what were they thinking??? :rolleyes:
they’ve suceeded once or twice playing with fire and in the end they got burned, its just as simple as that.
shame is only on your mind, agression is agression and that’s what they were doing.
Camaro.

Believe me….You have no idea what’s on my mind!!! 🙁

Sure it was foolish, but the planes were destroyed over international waters. We have a different definition of what aggression is.
I doubt any civilized person would agree with you that the Cessna Pilots and passengers had it coming to them.
Wow, I thought Canadians were mellow…and supported free speech. 🙂

So now n i g h t w a t c h m a n is offensive!!!

And I thought I had a dirty mind.
In the words of Austin Powers…”I didn’t see that one coming.”

Back in the early days of American aviation, the “Barnstormers” flying Jennys, Standards and WACOs would hire local boys to spend the night with the planes kept in pastures to prevent such occurences.

It’s something about the dope on the fabric that attracks the cows/bulls.

In return for their nigh****chman duties and other chores, the kids would get a free flight. A lot of boys who went onto fly in the war got their first flights that way.

That’s not what you said.

Obviously, I was writing about this incident, not a war between two military forces!!
Sure it’s okay for the RAF to have shot down a German photo plane.

Putting this incident in the same league is farcical.

What’s Australia’s gripe with Indonesia anyway? It’s like Spain citing Morocco as its prime threat.

Yes, I’d like to know too! 🙂
We don’t get a lot of Australian news here in the U.S.
I suspect a general distrust due to perceived backing of terrorist/rebel threats?

I hate commies, but I would have shot down those little ba$tards too. Challenging an air defense network like that deserves a Darwin Award. Better you are dead than pollute the human race with that kind of stupidity.

I was under the impression that the Borthers to the rescue planes were shot down over international waters.

And despite the provocation the intentional shooting down of an UNARMED planes is murder.
I’m disturnbed that soi many posters on this site appearently have no problem with that simple fact. If i were Cuban, I don’t think I’d be too proud of it. I certainly wouldn’t post photos of the “Heros of the Revolution” . If this is an example of Castro’s work, maybe the U.S. is correct in not having anything to do with the Cuban government.

It doesn’t take much bravery to shoot down a Cessna in a Mach 2 fighter!

Remember the old western films….you never shoot an unarmed man.