Airliner shootdown incidents have occurred since at least the s, either intentionally or by accident. This chronological list shows instances of airliners being brought down by gunfire or missile attacks β including during wartime β rather than by terrorist bombings or sabotage of an airplane.
This incident is believed to be the first commercial passenger plane attacked by hostile forces. The American pilot Hugh L. Woods and two others survived. It was later believed to be an assassination attempt on Chinese president Sun Yat-sen 's only son, Sun Fo , who was believed by the Japanese to be aboard but missed the flight. The plane was refurbished, renamed the Chungking , and was later involved in a second shootdown incident, in The pilot made a forced landing near Arques , killing the navigator and injuring 2 passengers.
The surviving crew and passengers were taken POW. The bombers opened fire with their machine guns and badly damaged the Kaleva , causing it to ditch into seawater in the Gulf of Finland , a few kilometers northeast of Keri lighthouse. All seven passengers and two crew members on board died. The sole occupant was killed. All 4 occupants were killed. The plane made a forced landing in a rice field and was strafed, but both occupants survived.
On 29 October , the same DC-2 involved in the previous shootdown incident as Kweilin , now renamed Chungking , operated by CNAC, was destroyed by Japanese fighters at Changyi Airfield , Yunnan , China, after it made a scheduled landing and was coming to a stop.
The plane caught fire and never flew again. All 7 on board, including Jean Chiappe , are presumed to have died. No wreckage has been recovered, the plane radioed they were hit by machine-gun fire before disappearing; it has been theorized they were shot down in the nearby Battle of Cape Spartivento that occurred on the same day. The plane made a forced landing near Samarinda and all 3 occupants survived, but the plane was written off.
