What was going on when I was born?

Mrs. Kirkpatrick's speech, page A15. UNITED NATIONS, N.Y., Sept. 6 - A hushed and intent Security Council today heard 11 minutes of the tape-recorded voices that the United States said were those of the Soviet fighter pilots involved in the downing of a South Korean airliner with 269 on board. On five television screens placed around the Council chamber, the Council's 15 members and dozens of other diplomats read the translation and listened to these climactic reports attributed to the Soviet fliers: ''Now I will try a rocket,'' said the pilot of the SU-15 who United States officials say shot down the airliner. ''Twelve to the target,'' a second pilot added. This meant 12 kilometers, or about 7 miles.

At 3:15 P.M. today, the call went out that no marine on the base here likes to hear. ''Into the bunkers!'' shouted a marine to his comrades. ''Condition One!'' A siren sounded to signal the danger - Condition One heralds the most serious of threats - and troops scrambled into holes in the ground covered over with metal, the walls reinforced by wood and steel and the entire shelter surrounded by sandbags.

A debate vital to the nation's security is going on among military experts and lawmakers over how much a network of smaller missiles, dubbed Midgetman, would cost, when it could be built and how it should be deployed. This week the Air Force expects to get a secret report on the technical requirements and feasibility of a Midgetman system. What it recommends about building such a system may add fuel to the argument that has been growing since President Reagan endorsed the concept of the small missile last spring. The report will also bear on the continuing controversy over development of the much larger MX missile, which Congress approved earlier this year after a long and bitter debate. ''Closet patriots in the bureaucracy keep telling me the Air Force is doubling the Midgetman schedule and padding the cost by half to make MX look good,'' said Representative Thomas J. Downey, Democrat of Suffolk.

IN the past I have written about the many successful dishes that can be made without salt merely by replacing what it adds to meat, fish and vegetables with the piquancy of fresh herbs, lemon or lime juice, garlic, or cayenne or black pepper. Until recently not many interesting salt-free prepared condiments were on the market. The cook who wants to make a sauce gribiche of mayonnaise, minced herbs and chopped pickles has been faced with a grocery shelf of pickles laced with sodium. The addition of a teaspoon or two of prepared mustard to a salad dressing or sauce is something that those on salt-free diets cannot afford to be casual about. Recipes that call for a dash of ketchup or barbecue sauce or for pickled peppers, canned tomatoes or tomato sauce pose a problem for those who want to avoid salt.

A Federal grand jury sitting in Manhattan indicted two former executives of the General Dynamics Corporation yesterday on charges they accepted $2.7 million in kickbacks, part of a $5 million embezzlement scheme involving General Dynamics and the now-defunct Frigitemp Corporation. William M. Tendy, Acting United States Attorney, charged that they took the money in return for securing for Frigitemp more than $45 million of subcontracting work on tankers and submarines. The vessels were built at the General Dynamics shipyards in Quincy, Mass., and Groton, Conn. Also indicted were two former executives of Frigitemp, who were charged with arranging and paying the kickbacks.

Syrian- backed Druse militiamen captured a key mountain town 10 miles east of here from Christian Phalangists after heavy fighting Tuesday. Early today, Beirut radio broadcasts reported that some Lebanese Army positions were coming under shell fire and that Beirut International Airport was also being hit by shells. On Tuesday, Druse groups clashed with Lebanese Army soldiers south of the capital through the early morning and much of the day. Two United States marines were killed and three wounded at dawn when rockets, mortars and artillery shells landed in and around the Marine base at Beirut International Airport. Shells also struck the area of the Italian contingent of the multinational peace- keeping force, slightly wounding six soldiers.

Coleco Industries formally presented today the final version of its long-awaited home computer system and said it would sell for a somewhat higher price than analysts had been estimating. Officials of Coleco, best-known for its video games, had shown an earlier version of the home computer, called the Adam, but without one major element - its device for memory storage. That came out today. Coleco said it had developed a high-speed tape drive - similar to a tape recorder - that will shuffle information between the memory and the screen of a computer terminal as fast and efficiently as the more complex, commonly used floppy-disk drive. A floppy disk stores memory on a record-like device. Coleco, at a news conference, also said it halted one month ago its United States production of Colecovision, the company's popular home video game, to make room for production of the Adam, which is Coleco's first computer. But the company said it planned to resume production of Colecovision early next year.

Stock prices rose sharply yesterday, buoyed by the growing conviction that interest rates would soon decline because of slowing growth in the nation's money supply. The Dow Jones industrial average opened higher and then gradually increased its gains throughout the session. At the final bell, the key barometer was up 23.27 points, to 1,238.72. It was the largest one-day gain in the Dow average since July 20, when it rose 30.74 points. Yesterday's surge puts the Dow within striking distance of its record close of 1,248.30 June 16.

Mayor Koch announced yesterday that, in an effort to instill ''a work ethic'' in homeless New Yorkers, his administration was requiring residents of some shelters to peform odd jobs in exchange for their room and board and a small weekly stipend. About 200 residents, most of them men, are cleaning shelters, picking up litter in parks and working in a laundry. The volunteers work 20 hours a week, and each Tuesday they receive $12.50 in cash. The program, known as the Work Experience Program, is under way at three of the 16 city-run shelters, with city officials hoping to expand it to others by next spring. They said as many as 1,000 of the 4,800 people now in the shelters might eventually be put to work, though they stressed that no one would be forced to work.

Twenty-two women, the first in New York City history, will be granted full status as firefighters at the end of their probationary periods this month, the Fire Department announced yesterday. Of the 34 women nearing the end of probation in firehouses around the city, two will be sent back to the Fire Academy for what is called re-evalution. Ten others will stay on probation in the firehouses for one to six months. Last week, officers of fire companies recommended the dismissal of the two women who will be re-evaluated.

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 7, 1983 Markets Stock prices soared as hopes rose that the latest money supply decline means interest rates will soon decline, too. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 23.27 points, to 1,238.72, its biggest gain since July 20. On the Big Board, advances outnumbered declines by more than 3 to 1 and turnover rose to 87.5 million shares. (Page D1.) Short- and long-term interest rates rose slightly. (D7.) Plans for the largest private offering of securities ever were announced by the Financial Corporation of America. (D7.) The dollar was mixed, while gold prices dropped $3.75 an ounce, to $412.50, in New York. (D12.) Livestock futures prices were sharply higher. (D12.)

As Lieut. Gov. Alfred B. DelBello tries to establish a role for himself in the Cuomo administration, New York's Secretary of State, Gail S. Shaffer, is emerging as a rival for political influence. Last week Governor Cuomo signed an executive order officially naming Miss Shaffer the state's ombudsman - a politically significant post that Mr. Cuomo used as a platform for statewide elective office. The order transferred the job of ombudsman from the lieutenant governor's office, where it had been while Mr. Cuomo was Lieutenant Governor. Mr. Cuomo, as Secretary of State, developed the ombudsman's office. Miss Shaffer also controls $45 million in Federal development funds for small communities - a responsiblity that Mr. DelBello had suggested for himself.