On November 28, 1973, a largely unknown incident occurred in Soviet airspace on the border with Iran. At that time, Iran belonged to the Western camp, and its territory was an ideal base for spy flights into the "soft underbelly" of the USSR.
As part of the "Dark Gene" program, reconnaissance flights were regularly carried out with RF-4 aircraft equipped with special acoustic devices. That morning, an RF-4 piloted by Iranian signalman Mohammad Sokounia and electronic systems officer American commandant John Saunders took off for a test flight of Soviet air defense capabilities, but also to familiarize the Iranians with the type and the mission.
The "Dark Gene" program was developed from the 1960s to the late 1970s with the cooperation of the CIA. In 1971, the US supplied Iran with 24 RF-4C detectors, which had optical and acoustic systems. The aircraft also carried four air-to-air missiles.
Typically RF-4C reconnaissance flights were conducted twice a month with small US-Iranian crews. That morning Soviet radar detected the intruder and sounded the alarm at Vaziani Air Base, Georgia, where the 982nd Fighter Regiment was based. 35-year-old squadron leader Gennady Eliseev, deputy squadron commander, immediately took off in a MiG-21 fighter and headed for the target.
The Soviet fighter lagged dramatically behind the American one. However, it caught up with the RF-4C as it prepared to leave Soviet airspace. The Soviet operator fired two K-13 missiles at the Phantom, but to no avail.
Curiously Eliseev did not use his cannon, probably because it had jammed. So he decided to ram the enemy aircraft. So he did. The conflict was terrible. The MiG-21 went airborne with its pilot.
The RF-4C was also badly hit and went into a spin. But its two operators managed to leave it safely and save themselves, although they were arrested by the Soviet border guards. They remained in custody for two weeks and were returned to Iran, after being exchanged for a Soviet satellite that had fallen on Iranian soil.
Sokunya went on to serve in the Iranian Air Force. In 1982 it was shot down by an Iraqi MiG-21 during the Iran-Iraq war. The only thing Eliseev won... posthumously was being declared a Hero of the USSR.