Stealing a fighter jet to defect with!!

[tigisfat]

A bit of plageurism from Wikipedia:

Victor Belenko was not the only pilot to have defected from the USSR in this way, nor was he the first such to defect from a Soviet-bloc country. In March and May 1953, two Polish Air Force pilots flew MiG-15s to Denmark. Later in 1953, North Korean pilot No Kum Sok flew his MiG-15 to an American air base in South Korea; this MiG is on permanent display at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force near Dayton, Ohio. In 1985 and 1987, USSR-owned helicopters in the Afghanistan theatre of operations defected to Pakistan. Captain Alexander Zuyev flew his MiG-29 to Trabzon, Turkey on May 20, 1989.

I'm wondering if any US or Western countries have had aircraft dissapear to other countries on promises of riches? Sure, we treat our people better and we're all generally patriotic, but you gotta wonder. I've heard of the Soviets trying to set this up before. Who knows, you learn something knew every day, like when you guys told me that Russian ships used to tail ours all the time.

We've had units testing foreign hardware for a long time. As time goes by, more and more of the cold war will become declassified.

What I found most interesting about my reading today was the fact that Soviet pilots were told that there was a self destruct mechanism tied to the ejection controls, and sufficient timing was allowed for the pilot to clear the aircraft. American reverse-engineering revealed that there was no delay, and any pilot trying to eject from a MIG-25 would've been instantly killed.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Cold_War_pilot_defections

[butchm]

In those days you could expect getting 'click clacked' by the KGB if you where discovered. I remember how upset the Russians got when they lost the Foxbat. Now a days, you can travel to Russia as a tourist and pay for a joy ride in frontline fighter models!

Additionally, any third world country can buy virtually anything from the Russians...

How times change.

Cheers
Butch

[norab]

I went to high school with the son of the second Polish pilot to defect. Because he was the second he did't get bounty money. his son always resented this and thought his father was stupid for not being first,even though his dad was an airline pilot and they were living far more comforatably then if they had stayed behind the Iron Curtin.

[Bjoern]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Cold_War_pilot_defections



Saudi Arabia



In autumn 1990, a Saudi pilot defected with F-15C Eagle to Sudan. Saudi Arabia paid US$40 million for return of the aircraft, three months later.

Made me chuckle. :icon_lol:

[Bone]

My first helicopter instructor was an S-3 Sea king pilot in the Iranian Navy in the late 70's. When the Shah was deposed, he stole one and then picked his family up and fled the country. I remember hovering in a Hughs 300 over a San Antonio shopping mall at 1500 feet one night when he started telling me some of the details of his escape. I'll never forget that lesson because it was so bizarre.

[tigisfat]

My first helicopter instructor was an S-3 Sea king pilot in the Iranian Navy in the late 70's. When the Shah was deposed, he stole one and then picked his family up and fled the country. I remember hovering in a Hughs 300 over a San Antonio shopping mall at 1500 feet one night when he started telling me some of the details of his escape. I'll never forget that lesson because it was so bizarre.

:173go1::icon_lol:
I save lots of photos, this one of yours included. As long as we're on the subject of stealing planes and running...

[Bone]

:173go1::icon_lol:
I save lots of photos, this one of yours included. As long as we're on the subject of stealing planes and running...

Hahaha. My facebook friends have made a number of comments about that one, too. Glad you like it.

[Ken Stallings]

Didn't you say you were in the USAF, Tig?

You should know the history of this, man! Indeed, it has never happened in the history of the USAF, nor USAAF, that a pilot defected with his aircraft as a monetary prize. Nor am I aware of any USN pilot who did it nor Marine pilot.

We did have some crews divert to Russia out of clear safety reasons during World War II, such as the one B-25 crew from Doolittle's Raiders, and a few B-29 crews with significant combat damage, divert to the Soviet Union and be interned. It should be stated that they were treated very well, but since the Soviet Union was not at war with Japan, the Russians had to intern the crews and the aircraft (which they did).

There are reasons an American should be proud of their military! The money prizes (which were offered) were never accepted!

Ken

[Ken Stallings]

My first helicopter instructor was an S-3 Sea king pilot in the Iranian Navy in the late 70's. When the Shah was deposed, he stole one and then picked his family up and fled the country. I remember hovering in a Hughs 300 over a San Antonio shopping mall at 1500 feet one night when he started telling me some of the details of his escape. I'll never forget that lesson because it was so bizarre.

He was a VERY wise man! He likely kept his family alive!

Go and do your own online research into what happened to most of the American-trained Iranian pilots shortly after the Iran-Iraq war ended!

After the Iranian Air Force played a major role in keeping Iran from being defeated wholly in that war, the government ended up purging most of those western-trained pilots. And when I say purged, I mean done so in the Stalin way! Bullets to heads sort of stuff!

Many years ago, we had an Iranian expatriate who was a member here at SOH (I cannot remember his name -- my bad) but he knew this situation first hand! This just proves the adage that it's a small world we live in!

Ken

[TARPSBird]

The story of MiG-29 defector Alexander Zuyev is both inspirational and sad. When he defected he only knew enough English to say "I am an American" to hopefully avoid being shot by the Turks after he landed the MiG. Barely a year later he already had a conversational command of English and was able to tell his own story and answer questions at a briefing I attended with other folks from NAS Oceana. Alex did the air show circuit for a while and was a lot more accessible to the public than MiG-25 driver Viktor Belenko, who had to be tucked away after he defected to protect him from the KGB. The sad part is that Zuyev was killed in 2001 while flying a Yak-52 with a friend.

[Bone]

He was a VERY wise man! He likely kept his family alive!

Go and do your own online research into what happened to most of the American-trained Iranian pilots shortly after the Iran-Iraq war ended!

After the Iranian Air Force played a major role in keeping Iran from being defeated wholly in that war, the government ended up purging most of those western-trained pilots. And when I say purged, I mean done so in the Stalin way! Bullets to heads sort of stuff!

Many years ago, we had an Iranian expatriate who was a member here at SOH (I cannot remember his name -- my bad) but he knew this situation first hand! This just proves the adage that it's a small world we live in!

Ken

It gets even better. I've flown with a First Officer at my company who is a retired Air Force pilot. He flew F-15s for the majority of his career, but he was a T-38 FAIP after UPT. His distinction in Iranian affairs was that he was Reza Pahlavi's (the Shah's son) T-38 IP. The Shah's son had a souped up Bonanza, and when he graduated from UPT he wanted to give it to the guy I know, but the Air Force said NO WAY.

[tigisfat]

It gets even better. I've flown with a First Officer at my company who is a retired Air Force pilot. He flew F-15s for the majority of his career, but he was a T-38 FAIP after UPT. His distinction in Iranian affairs was that he was Reza Pahlavi's (the Shah's son) T-38 IP. The Shah's son had a souped up Bonanza, and when he graduated from UPT he wanted to give it to the guy I know, but the Air Force said NO WAY.

Oh man....

After UPT they don't have a student/instructor, supervisor/subordinate relationship, and they aren't even in the same military!! That stinks that someone put the kibosh on it. It makes me wonder what was done to the Bonanza.

[Ken Stallings]

Oh man....

After UPT they don't have a student/instructor, supervisor/subordinate relationship, and they aren't even in the same military!! That stinks that someone put the kibosh on it. It makes me wonder what was done to the Bonanza.

That would have violated federal laws regarding gifts given to a federal employee. Not just the DoD, but any federal employee would have had to turn the gift over to the US government, and then agree to buy it at market value in order to collect it!

Sounds harsh, but it is very fair. Essentially, Uncle Sam doesn't want you to get compensated by someone other than Uncle Sam for doing Uncle Sam's job. In this case, the only reason the Shah's son wanted to give the plane was because the IP was performing the job the government was paying him to do.

Cheers,

Ken

[Panther_99FS]

My how times have changed....
I can still remember when a defector (by any means) was news, news, news...

And then the Olympics...talk about national pride, to beat East Germany, CCCP, was really something!

[Bjoern]

And then the Olympics...talk about national pride, to beat East Germany, CCCP, was really something!

That sentence made my day. In a positive, non-humourous way. :)

[Panther_99FS]

That sentence made my day. In a positive, non-humourous way. :)

I thought about you commenting on it while I was writing it since I do know that you're from the former East Germany :)

[Bjoern]

I thought about you commenting on it while I was writing it since I do know that you're from the former East Germany :)

Talk about leaving an impression. :d


Yeah, the sportsmen/-women were fairly good back in the day...but not entirely sober. *Cough*

[Panther_99FS]

Talk about leaving an impression. :d


Yeah, the sportsmen/-women were fairly good back in the day...but not entirely sober. *Cough*

Hmmm....Not sure what you're referring to here...:engel016:

[Ken Stallings]

Talk about leaving an impression. :d


Yeah, the sportsmen/-women were fairly good back in the day...but not entirely sober. *Cough*

Since you live there, I would be curious if you knew of the general health fates of the female athletes (especially the swimmers and track athletes) who did all the HGH, steroids, and blood doping.

Did they get off that stop early enough not to kill them, or did the amounts they consume really harm them?

Ken

[Bjoern]

Hmmm....Not sure what you're referring to here...:engel016:

What you posted. Steroidbabes. :d




Since you live there, I would be curious if you knew of the general health fates of the female athletes (especially the swimmers and track athletes) who did all the HGH, steroids, and blood doping.

Did they get off that stop early enough not to kill them, or did the amounts they consume really harm them?

Not that I know of. Off the top of my head I don't know of anyone who died prematurely from doping. Minor health issues at worst, but extensive damage? Not really.


- Edit:
Apparently I'm wrong.
Wikipedia says that at least 1% out of seven to ten thousand sportsmen/-women got severe physical and psychological damage from doping. Especially bad if you consider that nearly no one of them knew they were doped by their trainers.
The amount of uncovered doping cases during world cups and olympic games until the early 90s wasn't any higher than with any other participants though.