With the Mid-East peace talks in need of some original ideas, I thought of Matthias Rust. Matthias was the 19 year old West German who flew a light plane through the Iron Curtain in May, 1987, and audaciously taxied into Red Square. He said the flight represented an imaginary bridge to peace.

Matthias ‘Peace Prize’ was a Russian court sentence of four and a half years in labour camp. In fact, Matt only served 432 days, which he spent in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison reading books. But Matthias insists he played his part in ending the Cold War. The laughable breach of Soviet airspace enabled Gorbachev to sack two Defence Ministers and another 2,000 officers. This removed many military hardliners who were Mikhail ‘Call Me Glasnost‘ Gorbachev’s main opponents.

Matthias wasn’t the first pilot to gatecrash the Soviet Union. In 1938, a British engineer, Brian Grover, flew a light plane illegally into Russia and landed near Tver.

While working on an oil contract in Grozny, Brian had fallen in love with his Russian landlady (no surprise there) and the two were soon married. But when Brian’s visa ran out, rigid officialdom kept the couple apart for five years. During this time, Brian wrote from England to his exotic Yelena twice a week, took flying lessons and plotted his return.

Brian was arrested on landing in Russia and given a show trial as a spy. The trial made international headlines and set Beria against Chamberlain. Even Hitler predicted that the execution of the unfortunate lover would turn the West against Russia forever. In the end, the couple were fined 1000 roubles and given 12 hours to leave the country.

These two stories have an interesting connection: the international celebrity status of both pilots brought them no advantage in life. Matthias had a nervous breakdown after his release, became involved in an assault case and fled Germany for anonymity in Trinidad.

‘Spy’ Brian found it impossible to get a job in England and took Yelena to make a new home in Africa. However, the devoted couple stayed together until death parted them when Yelena was 92.