Russians fire at their own aircraft, mistaking it for a Ukrainian drone
Ukrainian attacks on targets deep within Russia had an unusual effect. Russians—even in regions far from the front line—began to fear drone raids. As a result, they fired on their civilian aircraft. The aged structure proved surprisingly resistant to damage.
7:03 PM EST, November 29, 2024
The Russian city of Salavat is located in Bashkiria, approximately 800 miles from the border with Ukraine. It is a center for oil refining—the Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat plant processes 11 million tons of crude oil annually.
On the night of November 25, at the refinery, a flying object appeared, which was deemed to be a Ukrainian drone. The fire was opened on the intruder with machine guns and anti-aircraft guns. As it later turned out, the supposed drone was a civilian Russian An-2 aircraft conducting a scheduled flight.
The An-2, with a two-person crew and a photographer, was flying over the refinery to take nighttime photos, but the local air defense was not informed.
A video showing the aircraft's condition after landing shows that the ground fire was exceptionally accurate, the crew was very lucky, and the old biplane aircraft proved to be extremely resistant to damage.
The An-2 was hit dozens of times by machine gun fire of various calibers and received one direct hit from a 0.9-inch caliber shell. This is the heaviest shell against which the construction of a heavily armored attack aircraft like the A-10 provides safety. Meanwhile, the An-2 is a light civilian aircraft produced from the 1940s to the 1990s.
However, the old structure withstood the shooting surprisingly well, as noted by the Ukrainian service Defense Express. It even took a 0.9-inch shell hit in the wing, where fuel tanks with a capacity of 317 gallons did not cause a major problem. Despite the damage, the aircraft managed to land safely.
