Cold War.-

Recon Tu-16R of squadron leader Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Pliev, on 25 May 1968.

Searching for Essex in Norway sea, a pair of Tu-16Rs from Severomorsk. Tu-16R piloted by Pliev overflew the USS Essex on the Norwegian sea at such low level (15-20 m) that the wingtip hit the water on turn manoeuvre and the plane cartwheeled killing all aboard.

Essex rushed to smoke trail visible on the water, and rescue choppers were rised in the air (they are barely visible on footage among smoke trails), but rescue team has found no one alive, as documentary says.

Second Tu-16R, serving as retranslator during leader low-level flight, lost the signal from a leader and descended to trying to understand the situation. US forwarded footage to USSR via diplomatic channels, but it's still classified here, so Wings Of Russia studio documentary team took it from US National Archives.

Pliev was an ace of low-level flights, that were a part of force demonstration efforts, reportedly ordered by C-In-C Amel'ko. May be, he was trying to get better photos. Efforts to blame US Navy fighters failed after footage has appeared, but still there were a rumours that Pliev went into manoeuvre trying to "...avoid collision with RC-controled drone from Essex."

The story is still curtained.