China's proposal for plane's return
to U.S. not without precedent
By Wayne Specht, Stars and
Stripes
China’s proposal to ship the Navy’s EP-3E Aries II aircraft
back to U.S. control in wooden crates is not without precedent.
Twenty five years ago, the United States did the same thing after
Soviet pilot Lt. Victor Belenko flew a MiG-25 to Hakodate, Japan, on Hokkaido.
Belenko took off on Sept. 6, 1976, from Chuguyevka military airfield
in the Soviet Far East and pointed the nose of what was then considered one of
Russia’s most prized and secret weapons toward Japan.
With about 30 seconds of fuel remaining, Belenko broke through the
clouds above Hakodate, narrowly avoided a departing Japanese airliner and landed at the
city’s commercial airport — plowing 800 feet off the runway before stopping a
few feet from a large antenna. He asked for political asylum.
Today, Belenko is a test pilot, aerospace engineering consultant and
a lecturer living in the United States.
Because the MiG was considered the most technological advanced
aircraft in the Soviet inventory, America sent intelligence and aircraft maintenance crews
to Hokkaido with the Japanese government’s permission.
Large tarps were built around the MiG, and it was taken apart down to
the rivets.
Surprisingly, what was thought to be an intelligence bonanza proved
less tantalizing than first believed.
The investigators discovered the U.S. technology was two decades
ahead of the Soviets. Instead of being built with titanium alloys, the fighter’s
fuselage was made of welded-steel, and the radar system was built around primitive vacuum
tubes.
Technicians found only basic stick and cable flight control systems,
and an archaic avionics system linked to a pair of somewhat zestful jet engines.
When investigators were through, the dismantled MiG was packed into
wooden crates and sent back to the Soviet Union aboard a ship.
Back to May stories
Page Two news roundup
Stories from April, 2001
Stories from March, 2001
Stories from February,2001
Stories from January, 2001
Stories from December, 2000
Stories from November, 2000
Stories from October, 2000
Stories from August and September, 2000
Stories from June and July, 2000
Home |
