September 6: Pilot Viktor Belenko escapes to Japan in a MiG-25
On September 6, 1976, senior pilot Viktor Belenko stole a MiG-25P interceptor fighter jet—at the time, one of the fastest combat aircraft in the world—during a training flight in Primorsky Krai, flew it to Japan, and requested political asylum. It was one of the most high-profile defections from the USSR.
I longed for freedom in the United States. Life in the USSR hadn't changed from what it had been like during Tsarist Russia, where there was no freedom.
Who is Viktor Belenko?
Belenko was 29 at the time of his escape. Born in Nalchik, he was raised by relatives; his mother abandoned him when he was two. He graduated from high school with honors.
After the army, I graduated from a military aviation school and worked as an instructor in Stavropol. I wanted to transfer to a combat regiment, but it was not an option for a long time. In 1975, I even considered leaving the Soviet Army. I was assigned to the Far East, to a fighter aviation regiment of the 11th Separate Air Defense Army. I flew MiG-25P interceptors as a senior pilot.
He was a communist. He had positive references. But there were reasons for dissatisfaction: due to the command's sluggishness, he was not promoted to captain on time, and his entry into the academy, where he really wanted to study, was delayed.
I tried my best. I was one of their best fighter pilots. When I was young, I was captivated by the ideas of socialism and communism—they were very attractive because they promised full employment, free education, free healthcare, a good pension… But later I discovered that these ideas only served the communist nomenklatura, while the rest of the population were effectively slaves.
Questions for propaganda
The pilot, as his wife later recounted, ignored Western voices. Unanswered questions about the discrepancies between reality and Soviet propaganda arose in his mind.
Soviet propaganda at the time portrayed [the Americans] as a defective, rotten society that was about to fall apart… I said to myself: Okay, if things are so bad in the US, how did they manage to send a man to the moon and back? If things are so bad in the US, how do they manage to produce the best fighter jets in the world? If the US has already collapsed, how come they have so many Nobel laureates, more than what a progressive communist society has produced?
Flight on September 6, 1976
On September 6, 1976, at 6:45 a.m., Belenko took off from Sokolovka Airfield for a flight exercise. Beforehand, he persuaded his mechanic to fill the fuel tanks, saying he'd be able to fly a little longer. He soon broke away from his partner and headed for Japan. He flew over the sea at an extremely low altitude—about 30 meters—to avoid detection by either Soviet or Japanese radar. He had enough kerosene to reach Hakodate Airport on Hokkaido.
At 9:15 a.m., Japanese radio reported the landing of a Soviet aircraft, later confirming that the pilot had requested asylum. Belenko had a strong trump card: a then-state-of-the-art Soviet interceptor, which was of great interest to Western intelligence. The aircraft was dismantled for study by Japanese and American specialists and returned to the USSR on November 15.
It's hard to say the MiG-25 was a particularly successful combat aircraft. It was too expensive, unwieldy, and not particularly effective in combat.
Roger Connor, curator of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum
Sentenced in absentia and life in the USA
Belenko was flown to the United States on September 9. A few days later, TASS reported that the pilot had landed in Japan under duress and had been forcibly evacuated to the United States. Later, following an investigation, Belenko was sentenced in absentia to death for treason.
This had little impact on the pilot's life—soon after arriving in the United States, he received political asylum. In 1980, he became a citizen.
I had a hard time adjusting to the new reality. My first time in a supermarket, I couldn't believe a gigantic store with a huge variety of goods could have no lines. And after learning about the organization of service and the daily life of American soldiers—cottages instead of barracks, modern flight simulators—I declared:
If my regiment had looked at what I saw for even five minutes, a revolution would have started.
He worked as an aerospace engineer and consulted for the US Air Force—his knowledge and skills proved invaluable. He married and lived to be 76. The book "MiG Pilot" was published based on his manuscripts.
