How The USSR Shot Down a Spy Plane

On 13 June 1952, a Swedish Air Force DC-3 vanished over the Baltic Sea with eight men on board. It was a signals intelligence aircraft, and the Cold War mission it had been flying against the Soviet Union was something the Swedish state would spend the next thirty-one years refusing to admit. Two days later, a search aircraft found one of the plane's life rafts drifting in open water. It had never been opened, and it was punctured with holes. What the Swedish state knew, and what it told the families, were two very different things. This is the story of Hugin. Also Known as the Catalina Affair Map animation by Thomas White:    / @thomaswhitex   Support the channel on Patreon:   / whitetreehistory   Images and footage used in this video are public domain, licensed, or used with attribution. If you hold the rights to material used here and have a concern, contact the channel and we will respond promptly. 0:00 The last transmission 1:43 Three days of searching 4:39 The Catalina is attacked 7:52 A neutral country on the seam 10:11 What the plane was really doing 15:42 The eight men on board 16:36 Friday 13 June 1952 19:26 The official statement 22:02 The wife who would not stop asking 25:08 The pilot's son 27:14 The Soviet Thaw 30:55 Eight failed searches 33:32 Found on the seabed 36:10 The final five minutes