On 15 July 1987 Thomas Krüger stole it from the Gesellschaft für Sport und Technik (an East German military youth organisation) and flew it from Schönhagen in East Germany to RAF Gatow (later General-Steinhoff Kaserne) in West Berlin in order to facilitate his defection to the West.
Schönhagen is a municipality in the district of Eichsfeld in Thuringia, Germany.