Oso Roñoso

German racecar driver, architect, and KGB agent Manfred Ramminger competed in the 1964 Nürburgring 1000 km race, driving a silver Ferrari 250GTO. Ramminger later stole an American AIM-9 Sidewinder missile in 1967. The Aim-9 is one of the most successful air-to-air missiles in history, first entering service with the US Navy in 1956. Soviet engineers got their first look at an AIM-9 in 1958, when an undetonated missile fired by a Taiwanese F-86 Saber was recovered from a damaged Chinese MiG-15 during the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis. They disassembled the missile and referred to it as a “university course” on missile design and improved their own air-to-air capabilities with the resulting Vympel R-3S missile in 1960. Seven years later, the Soviets were eager to examine the newest version of the Sidewinder. This time they looked to Neuberg air base in West Germany. Ramminger orchestrated a brazen heist assisted by two others: Polish MPS agent (and locksmith) Josef Linowski and West German air force pilot Wolf-Diethardt Knoppe. The three men drove to an ammunition depot at Neuberg on a very foggy day. Knoppe’s military ID granted them gate access, after which the base’s guards lost sight of them in the fog. The men parked near the depot, cut through the barbed wire fence, and broke into a missile shed. They used a wheelbarrow to transfer a Sidewinder to Ramminger’s Mercedes, but had to break out the rear window due to the missile’s length. Ramminger covered the missile in a rolled carpet to avoid suspicion, and they left the base without incident. Perhaps more astonishingly, he then transferred the missile to the Soviet Union by disassembling it at home and shipping it to Moscow via air mail. The total shipping bill was $79.25. Ramminger and his cohorts were paid $81,000 for their roles in the intelligence coup. The Sidewinder helped the Soviets catch up to US capabilities with their new and improved Vympel R-13M. But in 1970 the three thieves were caught by West German authorities and sent to prison on charges of espionage and theft. Ramminger was released from prison and exchanged to the USSR in 1971. #nurburgring #ferrari #250gto #driver #coldwar