Viktor Belenko
Viktor Ivanovich Belenko (Виктор Иванович Беленко) (born February 15, 1947) is Soviet defector and aerospace engineer and lecturer. Belenko was sentenced to death in the Soviet Union for state treason.[1] He was born in Nalchik, Russian SFSR in a Ukrainian family. Lieutenant Belenko was a pilot with the 513th Fighter Regiment, 11th Air Army, Soviet Air Defence Forces based in Chuguyevka, Primorsky Krai. His name became known worldwide on September 6, 1976, when he successfully defected to the West, flying his Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 "Foxbat" jet fighter to Hakodate, Japan. This was the first time that Western experts were able to get a close look at the aircraft, and it revealed many secrets and surprises. His defection caused a lot of damage to the Soviet Union Air Force.[2] Belenko was granted asylum by U.S. President Gerald Ford, and a trust fund was set up for him, granting him a very comfortable living in later years. The U.S. Government interrogated and debriefed him for five months after his defection, and employed him as a consultant for several years thereafter.
The MiG was disassembled, examined, and returned to the USSR in thirty crates. Belenko had brought with him the pilot's manual for the MiG-25 "Foxbat", expecting to assist American pilots in evaluating and testing the aircraft. However, the Japanese government only allowed the U.S. to examine the plane and do ground tests of the radar and engines.[citation needed]
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.
In 1980, the U.S. Congress enacted S. 2961, authorizing citizenship for Belenko. It was signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on October 14, 1980, as Private Law 96-62.[3]
As a result of Belenko's defection, fuel was limited for fighters on Sakhalin bases, which required Maj. Gennady Osipovich, the pilot of the Su-15 interceptor that downed Korean Air Lines Flight 007, to return to base almost immediately after the attack.
While residing in the United States, Belenko married a music teacher from North Dakota and had two children. However, he later divorced. He also has a son from his first marriage. Belenko has never divorced his Russian wife.[4] After the breakup of the Soviet Union, he visited Moscow in 1995 by the way of business.[5]
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[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ (Russian) 25 лет назад советский военный летчик лейтенант Виктор Беленко угнал новейший истребитель "Миг-25" с приморской авиабазы в Соколовке в Японию.
- ^ (Russian) Предатель - Беленко Виктор Иванович.
- ^ 96th Cong. S.2961, A bill for the relief of Viktor Ivanovich Belenko, Bill Summary and Status
- ^ (Russian) [1]
- ^ (Russian) Vladivostok News: 25 лет назад советский военный летчик лейтенант Виктор Беленко угнал новейший истребитель "Миг-25" с приморской авиабазы в Соколовке в Японию.
[edit] Further reading
- MiG Pilot: the Final Escape of Lt. Belenko, by John Barron, 1980, ISBN 0-380-53868-7
[edit] External links
- Information and excerpts from MiG Pilot: The Final Escape of Lieutenant Belenko by John Barron[dead link](Archive as of Feb. 12, 2008); (McGraw Hill, 1980)
- 1996 interview with Belenko
- (Russian) Article 'Mission "Foxbat': 30 years past when CIA spy Belenko steal the outperformed Russian MiG-25P plane" (Google translation) (Claiming Belenko was a CIA mole.)
- Article on Belenko at Everything2
