The Man Who Stopped WWIII

REDACTED: Declassified Mysteries with Luke Lamana

Wondery | Ballen Studios

True Crime, History

4.3 • 668 Ratings

🗓️ 4 February 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1983, the Cold War escalated to new heights after the Soviet Union mistakenly shot down a passenger jet, Korean Air Flight 007, killing all 269 people on board. Just weeks later, Russian Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov was on duty when the nuclear missile detection system reported an incoming U.S. strike. With Cold War tensions already at a breaking point, Petrov had to decide whether to follow protocol – or launch a retaliatory attack and unleash nuclear war.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Love unsettling stories.
0:02.4	Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to redacted, declassified mysteries,
0:06.4	early and ad-free, as well as another twisted tale from Bollin Studios and Wondry called Wartime Stories,
0:12.8	also hosted by me, Early and Ad-Free on Wondry Plus.
0:16.7	Start your free trial today.
0:30.6	In the early hours of September 1st, 1983, Korean Airlines captain, Chung Bayung,
0:33.6	guided his Boeing 747 through the vast darkness over the North Pacific Ocean.
0:39.3	Bayung had been flying this exact route for five years.
0:43.3	This flight, number 007, was a 4,000-mile, eight-hour route from Anchorage, Alaska, to Seoul, South Korea.
0:52.3	Captain Bayung, a former Korean Air Force pilot, brought years of experience to the job.
0:58.0	Along with the plane's advanced navigation system and his first-rate crew, he could fly to Seoul and his sleep.
1:04.0	Technically, he could sleep, since the autopilot did much of the flying, as it was right now.
1:10.0	The plane held 246 passengers and 23 crew members. since the autopilot did much of the flying, as it was right now.
1:14.4	The plane held 246 passengers and 23 crew members.
1:17.5	Most of the passengers were Koreans heading home.
1:24.4	There were also a few dozen U.S. citizens and a handful of people from Japan, Taiwan, and other countries.
1:29.1	The flight was so routine that the captain and his first officer were casually chatting with the crew of another plane a few minutes behind them. The conversation drifted to upcoming
1:35.2	plans, like taking time off to enjoy the changing autumn leaves. At about 3.25 a.m. local time,
1:43.0	the plane began approaching Sakalin Island in the North Pacific Ocean.
1:47.7	In the warm cocoon of the cockpit, Bayong and his crew were unaware that they were being closely watched.
1:54.2	Their false sense of comfort was about to come to a horrifying end.
1:59.5	They had no idea that the plane had gone completely off course
	...

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