The Nation - News from Dec. 1, 1987

Two Air Force jet fighters were scrambled to chase off a pair of Soviet bombers over the Bering Sea along the Aleutian Islands, a spokesman at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage said. The U.S. F-15s from the King Salmon air base intercepted the Soviet Bear G bombers on Thanksgiving Day, he said. When the Air Force fighters appeared, the Soviet bombers continued toward the Alaska mainland for a while before turning back, the spokesman said. He said the closest the bombers got to land was 97 miles north of Dutch Harbor, and the jets stayed with the Soviets for 75 minutes. Bear G bombers specialize in sea protection with air-to-surface missiles, the spokesman said. It was the 29th interception this year involving 53 Soviet planes off Alaska.