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| -Obits- |
| Viktor Belenko, Soviet Defector Who Hijacked MiG-25 To Japan In 1976, Dies In U.S. |
| 2023-12-01 |
| [RFE] Soviet pilot Viktor Belenko, who hijacked a MiG-25 military jet to Japan in September 1976, has died in the United States at the age of 76. The New York Times quoted Belenko's son on November 20 as saying that his father had died after a brief, unspecified illness in a nursing home in Rosebud, Illinois, on September 24. Belenko’s defection gave the U.S. Armed Forces an opportunity to study the jet, which was considered top secret in the Soviet Union at the time. In 1980, the U.S. Congress approved a law authorizing U.S. citizenship for Belenko. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Siberia.Realities, click here. *Rosebud* |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #4 Theft rather than hijack? Or perhaps a gift to the Americans of something that was not technically his to give away — that old ownership vs control philosophical argument the economists like to play with. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2023-12-01 23:22 |
| #3 And BTW, he didn't hijack the MiG 25. He was the assigned pilot. He just flew it somewhere that the Russians didn't want it to go. |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2023-12-01 19:33 |
| #2 An act that broke the Myth of the Arsenal of Soviet Superweaponsâ„¢ that was current at the time. Stainless steel parts and shoddy welds galore. |
| Posted by: magpie 2023-12-01 15:55 |
| #1 RIP. A man who followed his conscience. (Rosebud? Somewhere in the afterlife Orson Wells is laughing.) |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2023-12-01 08:57 |