1953 Avro Lincoln shootdown incident

The Avro Lincoln was operated by the Central Gunnery School at RAF Leconfield and was on a routine long-distance training flight. The aircraft was intercepted by two Soviet MiG 15 fighters and after it failed to respond to challenges it was shot down by the fighters' 23 mm cannon. The Avro Lincoln crashed east of Boizenburg, on the border of the British and Soviet zones, impacting in a wood between Vierkrug and Horst in the Soviet Zone. German civilians on the ground reported that two British airmen bailed out from the doomed aircraft, only to be strafed and killed by one of the MiG 15s. ==Aftermath==

The British government represented by the United Kingdom High Commissioner in Germany protested to the Soviet High Commissioner in Germany against the attack on a British aircraft and death of British servicemen. British historian Richard Aldrich claims that while the bomber was not directly involved in airborne intelligence-gathering, "its progress was being carefully tracked by a British 'sigint' unit on the ground at RAF Scharfoldendorf in the British Zone of Germany". ==References==