Pictures of Cold War aircraft. (56 Viewers)

[syscom3]

Sept 6 1976.

A Soviet Air Forces pilot, Lieutenant Viktor Belenko, broke away from a routine training flight from the Chuguyevka Air Base in the far southeastern portion of the Soviet Union, and flew to Japanese airspace with the USSR's newest warplane, the MiG-25 "Foxbat" fighter. Intending to find the Chitose Air Base near Sapporo and land the new MiG-25 jet fighter there, Belenko ran out of fuel and landed at 1:57 PM at a civilian airport at Hakodate, where he over ran the short runway. He requested political asylum in the United States. In that the MiG-25 was new and had never been seen close enough for an inspection, American and Japanese experts gradually disassembled what was, at the time, "considered the world's most advanced fighter," which included defusing self-destruct devices that had been wired into the sensitive electronic equipment. The U.S. granted Belenko's request for asylum the day after his defection.

The fighter would turn out to be much less impressive than its reputation.

 

[special ed]

Belenko has a book about the time. The west was surprised, as I remember, to find the "sensitive electronic equipment" was vacuum tube powered (Valves to the Brits) and much steel in the structure. I remember he and the pilots of his unit drove tractors during the harvest season. Something none of the pilots knew was when low on fuel, a woman's voice comes on in the headset warning of very low fuel.

 

[Viking1066]

The first air-to-air photographs of No. 38 Group's new Gazelle-powered, tactical helicopters airborne from R.A.F. Odiham. Belonging to No. 66 Squadron, these Belvederes are to be transferred next year to the Far East Air Force photot 2 the net

 

[Viking1066]

Sea Harrier FRS.1s the net

 

[Viking1066]

The Hawker Sea Hawk was a British carrier-based jet fighter that entered Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm service in the early 1950s the net

 

[Viking1066]

Mitsubishi T-2 Aggressor Tsuiki AB 1985 photo 1 the net

 

[Viking1066]

McDonnell F-101 (CF-101 in RCAF service) Voodoo the ne

 

[Viking1066]

Max Holste MH.1521M Broussard 1980s the net

 

[Viking1066]

A KC-130F Hercules assigned to VMGR-252 pictured on the ground at MCAS Cherry Point 1977 the net

 

[syscom3]

The Soviet MiG-25 is covered after pilot Viktor Belenko landed to defect at Hakodate Airport on September 7, 1976 in Hakodate,
Hokkaido, Japan.

 

[MIflyer]

A left-side air-to-air view of an F-111 aircraft dropping four bombs on a target range the net

Tail markings indicate it was from Upper Heyford AB in the UK. UH had F-111E but in the 80's they were replaced with F-111F that had been based at Mountain Home AFB in ID. The F-111F were used in the air strike on Libya in 1986 and in Desert Storm in 1991. I worked for over thee years 1975-1978 trying to get the F-111D/F sir conditioning system working properly. The sensor used to regulate the airflow was a poorly designed piece of equipment and the overhaul manual was so terrible as to constitute sabotage. I got transferred before the last of the problems could be fixed but then they found the company, Airesearch, had been shipping a key component without it being calibrated and when that last problem was fixed the system started working properly. Would have been nice to get it fixed a few years earlier but I kept getting pulled off to fix A-7D, F-105 and other F-111 problems as well as to perform vastly more important duties, such as investigating $101 missing from the Commissary and an airman's lost $27 flight jacket.

 

[MIflyer]

The Soviet MiG-25 is covered after pilot Viktor Belenko landed to defect at Hakodate Airport on September 7, 1976 in Hakodate,
Hokkaido, Japan.

Victor Belenko's book, Mig Pilot, is very interesting. When first brought to the USA he assumed that everything he saw, from shopping centers to Air Force Bases were carefully staged props. The he asked to see a USN aircraft carrier and while on board it at sea he realized it was real. And therefore it all was real, not props.

 

[Viking1066]

Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer S2B "XW544" 16 Sqn the net

 

[Viking1066]

Max Holste MH.1521M Broussard 301M the net

 

[Viking1066]

Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer S2A 12 Sqn 1973 the net

 

[Viking1066]

Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer S2 801 Sqn 1966 the net

 

[Viking1066]

A Grumman F-14A Tomcat of Fighter Squadron VF-213 is hoisted aboard the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) in October of 1977 the net

 

[Viking1066]

F-102 Delta Dagger in its moment of glory the net

 

[Viking1066]

Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer S2B "XX889" the net

 

[Viking1066]

An Iowa class battleship leads a battle group at sea in the 1980s the net