Rust's plane on new `peace flight'

The single-engine plane that West German teen-ager Mathias Rust flew to Moscow's Red Square last May left the Soviet Union Sunday for another ``peace flight'' - this time for a West German cosmetics company. The Cessna 172-B aircraft, flown by a West German pilot with a Soviet navigator on board, was expected to land in Hamburg yesterday, according to the West German Embassy.

The Cessna, which belonged to a Hamburg aviation club at the time of Rust's flight, has been sold to a Munich cosmetics company, Azuma Royal, for $60,000, company spokesman Rudi Neumann said.

The plane will be flown to Munich to be exhibited at the downtown Marienplatz square, and then the company plans to fly it to six other West German cities on another ``peace flight,'' Neumann added.

The plane will carry two books, one addressed to President Reagan and the other to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. People will be invited to write in the books their suggestions for achieving world peace. ``By flying around West Germany and collecting suggestions on global peace by citizens, we want to continue Rust's mission,'' Neumann said.

Mr. Rust flew the plane from Helsinki, Finland, landing on Red Square on May 2. He was tried by the Soviet Supreme Court in September for violating Soviet airspace and hooliganism among other crimes. His parents and several West German politicians have appealed to Soviet authorities to pardon the young pilot.